The.Baby.Dietitian

The.Baby.Dietitian Registered Dietitian + International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

08/31/2026

Babies are naturally in an adventurous eating phase between 6-9 months of age, which makes this such an important window to expose them to lots of different flavors, textures, and foods.

PMIDs: 18838198; 18222499; 18940212; 11301932; 19161546.

And YES — you can season your baby’s food! 🙌

Garlic, onion, paprika, oregano, basil, cumin, cinnamon, herbs, spices... babies don’t need bland food.

Comment “MEALPLAN” and I’ll send mg first four week meal plan. ✅

08/29/2026

✅ Have questions about introducing allergens? Comment “allergy” and I’ll send our evidence-based allergen blog post.

Have questions about the aquaphor comment? Here you go ✅⬇️

Before introducing a Top 9 allergen, consider applying a thin layer of Aquaphor or plain petroleum jelly around baby’s mouth and cheeks. This creates a barrier between the food and baby’s sensitive skin, which can help prevent contact irritation and redness.

This can be especially helpful because a red rash just where food touched the skin doesn’t necessarily mean baby is allergic. Reducing skin contact can make it easier to distinguish simple irritation from symptoms that are more concerning for a true allergic reaction, such as hives beyond the contact area, facial/lip swelling, vomiting, coughing/wheezing, or breathing changes.

Important: We don’t want to rub an allergen onto baby’s skin to “test” for an allergy. Food should be eaten in an age-appropriate form; skin contact alone can cause irritation and does not reliably tell us whether baby has a food allergy.

08/29/2026

 Back-to-school lunches don’t have to be complicated! This Cheesy Chicken Avocado Wrap is an easy way to switch up the lunchbox while adding fresh avocado. 

This is a Paid collaboration with Avocados - Love One Today 🥑 🥑🥑

Cheesy Chicken Avocado Wrap — Makes 2
🥑 ½ ripe avocado, mashed
🌯 2 flour or whole-wheat tortillas
🍗 1 cup cooked chicken, finely chopped or shredded
🧀 ¼ cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
🥄 2 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt
🍋 Squeeze of lime

Optional: pinch of garlic powder

Mix the chicken, avocado, Greek yogurt, lime and garlic powder. Spread over half of each tortilla, top with cheese and fold.

And since avocado is such a key part of this recipe, I wanted to share a little more about what research has found about avocado and overall diet quality.

In an observational study among 534 adolescents, researchers found avocado consumption was associated with better diet quality and higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, dietary fiber, and several vitamins and minerals but not with body weight.

The Avocado Nutrition Center supported the study. Although the findings cannot be considered causal and more research is needed to generalize the results to larger, more diverse populations, the study suggests avocados support diet quality.


https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13124489

08/28/2026

Bone marrow can absolutely be part of a nutrient-dense, varied diet—but I wouldn’t consider it the nutritional powerhouse it’s often made out to be on social media.

👉 Bone marrow is mostly fat.
👉 It contains relatively little protein.
👉 And despite what you may hear online, it is not a significant source of iron or zinc compared with foods like beef and other iron-rich proteins.

So while I love bone marrow as an energy-dense way to introduce fat and another flavor + texture, it isn’t the HOLY GRAIL of baby foods.

Comment “MEALPLAN” and I’ll send my free four week meal plan your way. ✅

08/28/2026

DAY SEVEN of starting solids 🌽🍉🍗
Today we introduced corn, watermelon + chicken!

🌽 Corn on the cob: We talked through the safest way to introduce corn. Whole, loose corn kernels can be a choking hazard for new eaters, so instead of serving the kernels, I offered the bare corn cob for her to hold, mouth, chew + gnaw on.

I love incorporating developmentally appropriate resistive foods like this during the starting-solids phase. They give baby an opportunity to practice biting, chewing and moving their jaw with a food that doesn’t easily break off into pieces. Research supports exposing babies to a variety of age-appropriate textures as they learn the oral-motor skills needed to manage food.

🍉 Watermelon: Served in thin, wide planks that were easy for her little hands to pick up and bring to her mouth.

🍗 Chicken leg: Another great food for baby to hold, explore and practice those early chewing skills while also introducing an iron-rich food. I removed loose skin, cartilage + any small bones before serving.

Scared to offer solids? 🤍 Comment “FEAR” and we’ll send you our FREE Fear of Choking Guide to help you feel more confident and get started!

Disclaimer: Snacks aren’t necessary, and we focus on whole foods for the majority of my kiddos’ diets—but convenient, pa...
08/27/2026

Disclaimer: Snacks aren’t necessary, and we focus on whole foods for the majority of my kiddos’ diets—but convenient, packaged options can absolutely have a place too. Save this if it’s helpful! ✅👋

08/26/2026

Day SIX of starting solids 🥕🍝

One of my biggest priorities during this early stage of starting solids is VARIETY.

Babies are naturally in an adventurous eating phase between 6-9 months of age, which makes this such an important window to expose them to lots of different flavors, textures, and foods.

PMIDs: 18838198; 18222499; 18940212; 11301932; 19161546.

And YES — you can season your baby’s food! 🙌

Garlic, onion, paprika, oregano, basil, cumin, cinnamon, herbs, spices... babies don’t need bland food.

We just want to be mindful of added sodium and added sugars, especially when using packaged ingredients, sauces, seasoning blends, or other higher-sodium foods.

Ingredients

1 lb (450g/16 ounces) ground beef

1/4 cup (15g) low-sodium breadcrumbs or (25g) oats

1/8 tsp dried parsley

1/8 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp minced garlic or 1/8 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp of mustard or no-sugar-added ketchup (see allergy note for free-from options)

1 large egg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400f/205c.

2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a fork until ingredients are evenly distributed.

3. Using a 1” (2.5cm) scoop, form meatballs and place 1” (2.5cm) apart on a baking sheet lined sprayed with nonstick spray.

4. Bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165f/74c.

Comment “MEALPLAN” for my free first four week meal plan.

08/26/2026

✅ Comment “MEALPLAN” and I’ll send my free first four weeks of solids meal plan your way.

08/26/2026

Day TWO of starting solids 🥚🥭

Today we introduced my favorite spinach egg bake + a mango pit. 

🥚 Eggs: Eggs are one of the Top 9 allergens, so I like introducing them early (around six months).  After a food allergen is successfully introduced, the goal is to keep it in the diet regularly.

🧂 A quick note on sodium: Babies do need sodium—it’s an essential nutrient! But their needs are relatively low. The Adequate Intake for babies 7–12 months is 370 mg/day, and that includes sodium coming from breast milk or formula. That’s why I generally skip adding salt to baby’s portion and focus on flavor from herbs + spices instead. That being said, we need a lot more data on this subject! 

🥭 Mango pit: This is a great food option for baby to grasp, mouth, and explore. It’s less about how much they actually eat right now and more about building those early self-feeding skills + exposure to different tastes and textures.

This recipe is on repeat in my house. I skipped the dairy in this recipe so I was only introducing one new top 9 allergen at a time.

Ingredients:
- 10 eggs
- seasonings of choice (garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast. etc.)
- optional veggie add-in (finely diced cooked broccoli or bell peppers)
- 1/2 cup milk of choice (optional)
- optional add-ins - 1/2 cup cheese, 1/2 cup cottage cheese

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350
- Add parchment paper to 9x13 baking dish
- Whisk eggs
- Add all ingredients into a bowl with eggs and mix together
- Pour mixture into pan and cook for 30 minutes or until eggs are thoroughly set

 These first few days are about learning, exploring, and building skills—while breast milk or formula continues to provide the majority of baby’s nutrition.

✅ Have more questions about sodium? comment “sodium” and I will send the full blog post your way.

OR

➡️ Comment “mini” and we will send our free starting solids course your way from 101beforeone | Starting Solids | Baby Led Weaning

08/26/2026

Day ONE of starting solids.

One of my biggest priorities from the very beginning? Iron-rich foods.

Side note: the checklist is from 101beforeone | Starting Solids | Baby Led Weaning 👌🏻✅

Around 6 months, the introduction of iron-rich foods becomes especially important to help meet babies’ iron needs and support optimal neurodevelopment. Babies are born with iron stores accumulated in utero, but these stores begin to become depleted during the first ~6 months of life—making dietary sources of iron increasingly important.

Babies 7–12 months need 11 mg of iron per day. That’s a big jump from the 0.27 mg/day Adequate Intake established for birth–6 months, which reflects the average iron intake of healthy breastfed infants.

That’s why I recommend offering an iron-rich food from the get-go at every meal—think meat, eggs, beans, lentils, iron-fortified cereals, and more.

Reminder: I’ve talked about this a lot, but you can introduce multiple low-risk allergen foods at a time if you want. However, we recommend avoiding introducing multiple Top 9 allergens at the same time on first exposure.

Sources: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements; American Academy of Pediatrics.

Need more help?

➡️ comment “iron” for a full blog post with all my fav iron-rich foods + science behind why iron is SO important for babes.

OR

➡️ comment “first” for my free first week meal plan.

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