The Key to Introducing Solids? Lots and Lots of Color

Those chubby little fingers grab for every thing you eat. Those giant curious eyes watch every bite you take. Each time you go to the grocery store, you linger around those neat on-the-go baby food pouches. Yep: it might be time for solid foods. Now what?

Before you run out and buy a meal planning notebook, recipe cards, and a handful of colored gel pens, let us stop you right there and tell you transitioning to solid foods for baby can be super easy. Generally speaking, you want to start baby with a single-ingredient puree—such as Beech-Nut Naturals Stage 1 flavors—before graduating to multi-ingredient options, so you’re sure that your LO tolerates each new food.

Once your pediatrician agrees that solid foods are appropriate, the key to making sure your baby is getting all the nutrients they need can be as simple as making sure you vary the color of food they’re eating. Think “taste the rainbow,” but the healthy version that bears no resemblance to the time you had a makeshift lunch of Skittles.

Different color foods offer different benefits to your baby. Red foods are high in Vitamin C and can contain anthocyanin, which is believed to reduce inflammation. Orange foods like carrots are naturally full of beta-carotene. Yellow foods also provide beta-carotene, Vitamin C and potassium. Green foods provide folic acid and Vitamin K. A good goal is to aim to feed your baby 3-4 different colors a day.

Now all you have to do is get all ROY-G-BIV with your baby! Here, we’ve provided a list of colorful and natural baby foods to get you started. (Once your baby’s highchair tray starts looking like avant garde finger painting, you know you’re moving in the right direction.)

Red

• Beech-Nut Naturals Just Apples

• Beech-Nut Naturals Beets, Pear & Pomegranate

• Golden and red beet puree

• Roasted carrot and cherry puree

• Apple raspberry and vanilla bean puree

Orange

• Beech-Nut Naturals Just Butternut Squash

• Beech-Nut Naturals Just Carrots

• Pureed sweet potatoes

• Pureed pumpkin

• Pureed squash

Yellow

• Beech-Nut Naturals Just Pears

• Beech-Nut Naturals Bananas

• Pureed nectarines

• Apple, pear and banana puree

• Apricot, pear and coconut oil puree

Green

• Beech-Nut Naturals Just Sweet Corn & Green Beans

• Beech-Nut Naturals Just Apple & Kale

• Pureed avocado

• Pureed green beans

• Pureed sweet peas

Blue

• Beech-Nut Naturals Just Pear & Blueberry 

• Beech-Nut Naturals Prunes

• Blueberry and plum puree

• Blueberry and banana puree

• Blueberry, apple, spinach puree