Can Babies Have Smoothies?

There is no hard and fast rule here. A small amount of a smoothie here and there is fine- but there is no need to offer your little one a smoothie. 

This has been another popular question in our lovely Facebook community. So, we thought it was about time that we put a post together to answer this question with the time and space to explain our answer!

Should we be offering smoothies before 1?

There aren't a lot of clear cut rules where it comes to feeding babies. We are BIG believers in giving guidance and recommendations, but ultimately leaving decisions to parents where possible.

While, there are few things that are clear cut, like not offering honey or cow's milk as a drink before one, what about a smoothie?

Generally, we suggest that parents avoid smoothies for babies. This doesn't mean that you can't offer them some of yours or make then one occasionally but there is no need to make your baby a smoothie. Many parents are under the impressive (thanks to instagram and good marketing from some infant and toddler food companies) that smoothies are a really healthy option for babies and a good way to get nutrients (and often veggies) into bub. We have seen a big increase in requests for babies smoothie recipes. But, you probably won't see us recommending recipes for babies any time soon.

Why don't we recommend them for babies?

It really comes down to this, before the age of 1 breastmilk or formula should be the main fluid offered to babies. We recommend that you also start offering water from 6 months but this should be sips over the day and not be displacing milk feeds. 

Smoothies.....

• Can fill babies up
• Displace solids or milk feeds 
• Are a uniform flavour and texture so doesn't giving them that exposure to the whole food 
• Don't help to build chewing skills
• Are often low in iron rich foods which we should be focusing on at each meal time. Or if there are iron rich ingredients in there, can also have high calcium foods like milk and yoghurt which reduce iron absorption. 
• Depending on the ingredients, may not be nutrient dense. When babies only eat small amounts at meals we want to offer nutrient dense meals. 

If you do want to include them:

Ideally we would suggest that you wait until after 1. Even then, we would recommend that you don't offer them every day and instead limit them to a few times a week. Food variety is really important and continuing to offer a variety of foods, textures and flavours is ideal!

Balance and boost the ingredients:

When making smoothies our go to ingredients can be a lot of fruit and some milk. Think about boosting the nutrient with things like:

• Nut butters and seeds
• Veggies
• Fats like avocado, nut butters, full fat yoghurt and seeds 
• oats

Avoid:

• Protein powders- toddlers usually meet their protein needs with ease over the day. Avoid these as they aren't needed, costly and we can't always guarantee they are safe for little people 
• Veggie powders- again super expensive, don't offer a lot of nutrition, don't teach kids to about the whole food

Consultations

Choose one of our professional services that best suits your needs > Book Now about Consultations