How to make the best baby mash ever

OHbaby! Nutritionist Anna Hansen shares nine tips for getting optimal nutritional value into your baby's food.

1.  By adding healthy fats to a baby's meal, your precious bundle will be absorbing more nutrients from the other foods. Good fats are also fabulous for baby's brain development. Include a little extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil, egg yolk, or fresh ripe avocado.

2.  Give your baby a chance to develop a taste for vegetables and protein-based foods by starting him on purées without fruit.

3.  Make meals colourful. Give your baby vegetables and fruit that are red, orange, yellow, and green.

4.  To aid your baby’s iron absorption, add vitamin C rich foods, such as citrus fruit, broccoli, tomato, or capsicum, to a meal with iron-rich foods.

5.  Offer soft finger-foods early on, like banana slices, ripe avocado pieces, cubes of roast vegetables (such as potato and kumara), and steamed courgette, broccoli, and carrot sticks. Remember to always supervise your baby when he's eating finger-food.

6.  It is now believed that you do not need to delay the introduction of potentially allergenic foods (such as nuts, fish, and eggs) beyond six months. However, whole nuts are choking hazards, so best to avoid those until toddler-age.

7.  Liver is super high in iron, but, if you are like me, the thought (not to mention the smell) of cooking liver isn't appealing. Instead, freeze pieces of liver in individual bags and, when your baby’s favourite vegetable is cooking, grate about 15g of the frozen liver into the evening meal. Alternatively, add grated liver into store-bought baby food and heat through until the liver is cooked.

8.  Soaked nuts, seeds, and oats are more easily digested, so your baby will be absorbing more goodness if muesli, like my Pear and Cashew Bircher Muesli, is soaked overnight.

9.  Grandma had it right – homemade bone broth is fantastic for the immune system and gut health. It's nutrient-dense and easily absorbed.

Anna Hansen (BSc, Human Nutrition and Psychology) is mum to three small kids and a nutritionist with a passion for showing women how easy it is to eat for health.