In previous generations, parents were advised to give babies as young as 3 weeks old rusk or cereal in their bottles. Official ‘weaning to solids’ would often occur at 3 to 4 months of age. If you’ve read article 31 (when to wean onto solid foods), you’ll note that in addition to being 6 months of age, there are several physical and physiological milestones that your baby needs to meet in order to be ready for solids. It is clear that a baby of 3 or 4 months has met none of these milestones. Historically, instead of concluding from this that these babies were simply not ready for solids, someone decided to turn solid food into liquid form so that it could be fed to young babies.

Despite guidelines changing over twenty years ago, purees have become'stuck' in our cultural norms as the starting point for solids. And so, many parents now believe that they must first offer their six-month-old babies purees before moving onto ‘finger foods’. The irony is that the 1980s and 1990s parents who fed their 4-month-old babies purees had moved onto ‘finger foods’ by the time they were 6 months old. So, when their babies were actually ready for solids, they moved onto what we would now think of as baby-led weaning.

So, if we examine this logically, by skipping purees, all we are doing is removing the inappropriate feeding of young babies anything other than milk feeds and then re-joining the weaning journey at 6 months with proper solids, just like the babies from the past.

I like the idea of starting with purees, so can I do it anyway?

You are your baby’s expert, and as such, you must decide the right way to feed your baby. There are a couple of points that are worth considering if you choose to go down the pure route:

Homemade purees are nutritionally superior to processed ones. Industrial machines make purees that are smoother than the homemade versions. This has a few effects:

The industrial breakdown of the food causes more of the carbohydrate content to become simple carbs (or sugars).
Industrial purees tend to have, on average, half the protein of equivalent home-made recipes.
The very smooth texture can make it difficult for some babies to accept lumpier foods later on.

Babies can get'stuck' on purees. Most parents now adhere to the 6-month guideline for starting solids, and if starting on purees, tend to offer these for a couple of months before moving onto finger foods. A small proportion of these babies will get stuck on purees and find the transition harder. It appears that they missed the opportunity to learn to chew and handle multiple textures in their early weaning experiences and are now less open to doing so.
Babies can develop a preference for sweet foods. Research from the University of Glasgow in 2013 found that 65% of commercial baby foods were sweet offerings. Baby taste preferences are developing in these months, and it’s important to offer them foods with a variety of taste sensations.

Guidelines if you are using purees

If you do choose to offer your baby purees, then it’s important to follow certain guidelines:

Don’t try to encourage a higher food intake. This means watching your baby for cues and signs that they would like to end the meal and respecting these cues.
Don’t use distractions to encourage eating. We want to encourage healthy eating habits in our babies, and using distractions like ‘here comes the aeroplane’ games or television can interfere with developing a healthy relationship with food.
Offer homemade purees where possible. In general, we want to avoid exposing our babies to too much ultra-processed food, which includes most commercial baby foods. A 80:20 attitude towards homemade versus commercial is often a realistic target; if 80% of their intake is fresh, homemade food, then likely 20% processed foods will be okay.
Introduce texture to purees as soon as possible. In order to prevent future issues and to encourage your baby’s learning journey with chewing and swallowing, try to keep some texture in your purees and move to ‘lumpy purees’ as soon as feels feasible.

Why do some parents start with purees?

For our Baby Feeding Journey, Unii Expert Wendy Lever looks at whether to start weaning with purees.