Nourishing First Foods

In last month’s blog post, I discussed my recommended strategies for successfully starting solids with your babies, but this month, I want to discuss what I believe are some of the most nourishing first foods you can feed your babies when starting solids. Dr. Alyssa of Thriving Foundations is an incredible resource on this topic, and I highly recommend diving through her Instagram, website, and online self-paced course if you want to go in-depth on why it’s so important to nourish your babies well from their first bites in order to set them up for a lifetime of protection against chronic illnesses. As we’re all very well aware, chronic illness is increasing in younger populations and so many children are suffering from conditions that were unheard of in their age group before. I believe this is, in part, due to our modern diet being devoid of so many crucial nutrients that children need to grow and develop optimally. However, if any aspect of the rise in chronic childhood illnesses is due to poor diet, the good news is that hopefully these issues can be prevented or reversed by consumption of a nourishing diet.

This is my driving force and main goal when I feed my daughter. Every single meal I feed her is an opportunity to shape her future health - and that is a responsibility that I do not take lightly. So, like I mentioned in my Starting Solids blog post, my daughter’s first foods were bone broth, egg yolk, and whipped bone marrow butter, but I want to elaborate on some of the other early foods I have been feeding her as well, to give you even more guidance when feeding your littles and understand why those foods are so good for them! It is important to incorporate a VARIETY of textures and tastes to establish a diverse palate and refine oral motor skills, and it is also important to prioritize the highest quality foods (organic fruits & veggies, minimal/no packaged processed foods, foods without additives/dyes/flavorings, etc.), since babies’ guts are so much more fragile than ours are as adults - although, I think adults need to prioritize higher quality foods as well, but that’s a story for another day!

I hope this blog post helps you put protective nutrition into practical application to booster your baby’s internal defenses. This book is also a fantastic resource for feeding babies and will give you many practical strategies and unique recipes for incorporating nourishment into your family’s diet. Ideally, baby’s first foods should contain protein, fat, cholesterol, and absorbable iron and zinc (all of which you can’t get from fruits and vegetables alone; they can only be found in animal-sourced foods like beef, lamb, wild game, poultry, organ meats, eggs, fish, and raw dairy). I have taken many principles of that book I linked above and have incorporated them into my own daily life for nourishing my daughter - and it’s a really easy and quick read for us busy mamas who don’t have much time to read these days ;), so I highly recommend it!

Now for the good stuff… nutrient-dense foods that are fantastic to feed your children of all ages, but especially when starting solids, include:

• liver (rich in zinc, iron, choline, copper, omega-3s, tryptophan, and antioxidants) & other organ meats (heart, kidney, tongue) from pastured, organically raised animals

  • I recommend cooking organ meats in raw butter or ghee and then pureeing them with breastmilk for an easy first food - this is a great recipe for liver pate!

• raw, grass-fed, organic dairy & cultured dairy

  • raw dairy is not at all scary like the modern food system has made it out to be - it’s a whole food packed full of nutrients! Visit this realmilk.com to learn more and find safe raw dairy near you!

• pasture-raised animal meats

  • red meat is the richest source of bioavailable heme iron

  • protein needs are great when children are growing, and protein deficiency negatively impacts the body’s ability to build enzymes and antibodies necessary for immune functioning and fighting off illnesses

• bone marrow & bone broth

  • bone marrow is incredibly easy to make - just roast bones from pastured beef, scoop out the marrow while it’s warm, and whip it up!

    • rich in immune-boosting nutrients, iron, vitamin A, and phosphorous

  • bone broth is ideally made at home from scratch, but two decent store-bought brands are Bonafide Provisions and Kettle & Fire

    • contains gelatin which supports digestion and is rich in minerals and electrolytes

• eggs from organic, pasture-raised chickens

  • these can be consumed raw if you trust the source and clean the shells well before cracking, and feeding baby just the yolk first will decrease any reactions to the proteins in the egg whites that some people have issues with digesting

• wild-caught seafood (Alaskan salmon, sardines, mackerel, oysters, haddock, cod, shrimp, etc.) & fish roe/eggs

• probiotic foods (like sauerkraut, kefir & yogurt)

  • rich in probiotics, lactic acid (for immune/intestinal health), antioxidants, and enzymes (support white blood cells for fighting pathogens)

  • varied microbial exposure from these foods primes the immune system and influences a lifetime of health!

• Celtic/Himalayan sea salt

  • salt is also crucial for protection against parasites and other infections

• high quality fats: cod liver oil, high-vitamin butter oil, raw butter, ghee, tallow, lard, coconut oil

  • fats are incredibly important for the growing baby (especially their brain), because minerals cannot be utilized or absorbed without an adequate quantity of consumed fat-soluble activators

  • cod liver oil is rich in DHA, vitamins A & D3, and fatty acids to fight inflammation; it supports cellular communication and nervous system function, and it assists the colonization of probiotics in the gut

  • saturated fat is necessary for:

    • cell structure and cell wall integrity

    • absorption and use of fat-soluble nutrients (like vitamins A, D, E & K)

    • mineral absorption

    • fueling cardiovascular function (the heart uses fat for fuel)

    • supporting healthy lung tissue

    • ensuring bone strength

    • providing antimicrobial and antiviral agents in the digestive tract

    • reducing the need for consumption of as many omega-3s by making them more efficient at their anti-inflammatory work

  • cholesterol-rich foods, like butter, help the body reduce its own cholesterol production so that it regulates what is needed for healthy physiological functioning

    • cholesterol is also an antioxidant; it is important for protection of cellular and nervous system function, as well as brain communication; it is needed to make hormones and metabolize vitamin D; and it is needed for proper digestive health

Although some of these foods may seem “weird” to our established and stubborn adult palates, I promise you that babies love them! (My daughter cannot get enough of bone marrow & raw cheese!) Partially because they are ancestrally primed to eat these foods that our ancestors had access to (cough cough, puffs didn’t exist in the 1800s!), but also because they are packed full of nutrients that babies are craving as they’re developing rapidly! Babies are just so gosh darn smart!

Let me know if you try these foods with your babies - I love to hear success stories of nourishing the littlest bodies :) And, if you’d like 1:1 guidance when starting these foods, let’s work together!!!