Name: Baked Sweet Potato
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 60 min
Ingredients: ½ medium sized sweet potato

An introduction to solid foods

It’s pretty overwhelming to start weaning and introducing solids to your little one. You are probably not sure when to start, with what food, how to prepare it or offer it to your baby. You’re not sure how your baby will take it and what to do next.

The most important thing to know is that whatever happens is fine. This is completely new for your baby and they might love it or hate it.

Firstly, choose one food at a time and offer it for about three days in a row for the first month. Later on, new foods can be introduced each day but always one at a time. That way you can easily identify any allergies.

We chose sweet potato. Why? Well, it’s loaded with great nutrients and its full texture and sweet taste should make it easier for the baby to accept it.

Nutritional stuff

Baked Sweet potato is a great source of beta-carotene and vitamin A as well as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients that help our bodies fight diseases.

Although the potato skin contains beneficial nutrients also, at 6 months we recommend removing because of potential pesticides and ease of eating.

Preparation

The easiest way to prepare sweet potato is to bake it in the oven for about an hour. This brings down the prep time to just 5 minutes and you still have an hour left before it is done and should be served.

It’s perfect for both baby-led weaning and pureeing/mashing. For BLW you can just serve as is since it’s already cut prior to baking. Otherwise, you can puree or mash as you prefer.

At 6 months of age, we suggest half a sweet potato for one meal… bearing in mind that at the very beginning, your little one might not have more than a couple of bites!

Just remember – this is completely new for your baby and if they show signs of resistance at first (or even a few times), that’s completely fine. Just keep going with it and over time your baby will get used to eating.