Fruit Juice For Your Baby

• Never give fruit juice to baby below 6 months of age
• Do not give sweet juices from a feeding bottle as this leads to early tooth decay
• Do not allow your baby to endlessly sip juice throughout the day

So far all the children that I have looked after do not have any problems eating their vegetables and fruits. In fact, they love eating so much I sometimes wonder where they put the food. I guess they must have hollow legs!

Instead of making fruits into purees for babies I prefer to scrape the fruit and give it fresh to the baby. I like to use this method until the baby is 1 year old.

• Cut the fruit into 4 big slices. It is best to start with one big slice per day and you can give more as your baby gets used to the fruit.
• Using a teaspoon, scrape the fruit until you get some pulp and juice onto the tip of the spoon.
• Offer it to the baby.
• Continue scraping and feeding it to the baby until the slice is finished.
Fruits which are suitable for ‘scraping’
• Apples contain both insoluble and soluble fiber and are an excellent source of antioxidants especially the peels. Apples' protective effects against free radical damage to cholesterol reach their peak at three hours following apple consumption and drop off after 24 hours, providing yet another good reason to eat a whole fresh apple a day.
• Avocados are a surprisingly complete food, with fourteen minerals to stimulate growth, including iron and copper. The sodium and potassium in avocados keeps the body chemically balanced, and their low sugar content and absence of starch make them an ideal fruit for diabetics. Vitamins in avocados include A, several B-complex, C, and E, as well as phosphorus and magnesium. They’re also a great source of antioxidants like vitamins E and C, fruit oil and digestible fats. Because of their density, avocados filling. When blended with other fruits, they make particularly nutritious baby food.
• Pears are rich in pectin, a soluble fiber, which helps the body to eliminate cholesterol and also protects against environmental toxins. Pears are also a good source of potassium, protein, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K. It is an ideal weight loss food therefore should not give too much to small children.
If the fruit is soft you can give it slice by slice instead of mashing it up. This will teach your baby to enjoy the real texture of the fruit and it is less messy.
• I like to use the local ‘pisang emas’ because the texture is smoother and one banana is just nice for small children.
• Peel the banana and using a teaspoon, slice off a small piece at a time.
• Feed your baby one slice at a time

Source : articlesbase