Top tips for thinning baby purees

Thinning baby purees with formula milk

Whilst you shouldn’t keep leftover bottles of formula milk, it IS perfectly fine to use freshly prepared formula milk as an ingredient within a meal or puree that you wish to keep and reheat another day! Just make sure that if you choose to use formula milk to thin your baby’s puree, you follow these simple guidelines to make sure the leftovers are safe:

Before adding to food, make up formula fresh – don’t use leftover milk from a previous feed
Make sure any leftovers are cooled quickly and put into the fridge or freezer as soon as possible; ideally within an hour and half but no more than 2 hours
Ensure you follow the shelf life guidance in the table below

	Shelf life in the fridge	Suitable for freezing	Shelf life in the freezer
Purees made with formula milk	1 day	Yes	3 months
All leftovers must only be reheated once and any defrosted purees must be used within 24 hours

Thinning baby purees with expressed breast milk

Breast milk is great for your baby for so many reasons, its ideal for thinning baby purees too, especially in the early days of weaning!

You can either….

Add fresh breast milk – this is the best option if you’re adding to the puree when cooking as it means you can keep the leftovers in the fridge or freezer

Add a small ice cube of frozen, or a splash of defrosted breastmilk – the most important thing to remember here is that breastmilk must never be refrozen. So, if you’re using previously frozen breast milk, it’s best to add just a splash to the portion you are serving so you don’t end up wasting more than you need to

	Shelf life in the fridge	Suitable for freezing	Shelf life in the freezer
Thinning baby purees using freshly expressed breast milk	2 days	Yes	3 months
Thinning purees using previously frozen breast milk	Dispose of leftovers	No	N/A
All leftovers must only be reheated once and any defrosted purees must be used within 24 hours

Thinning baby purees using water or cow’s milk / plant-based milk

You can also thin baby purees using cow’s milk or plant-based milk. Using cow’s milk or plant based milk in cooking is absolutely fine for babies over 6 months. Just don’t substitute their usual milk (breast milk or formula) for any of these varieties until they are at least 1 year old.

Does the water need to be boiled?

No. Tap water is fine for babies over 6 months – although if you can, make use of the water you used to cook your veggies in as this will also help to sneak in an extra splash of nutrients that leached from the vegetables as they were cooked.

Here’s a quick summary of the guidelines…

	Shelf life in the fridge	Suitable for freezing	Shelf life in the freezer
Thinning baby purees with cow’s milk or plant-based milk	2 days	Yes	3 months
Purees without additions	2 days	Yes	3 months
All leftovers must only be reheated once and any defrosted purees must be used within 24 hours

See our next article for more advice on preparing, reheating and freezing food for baby.

Jenna is a fully qualified Environmental Health Practitioner specialising in food safety and public health.

She obtained a first-class Batchelor (BSc) degree in Environmental Health and has since qualified as an Environmental Health Practitioner with the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH). Over the past 12 years she has worked in both the public and private sector advising businesses on all things food safety and public health.

Since becoming a Mum to her 2-year-old little girl Mia, she understands first-hand how much things change when you have a little one to think about too! She has always been passionate about food safety and her mission as Food Safety Mum is to help give parents confidence when cooking at home or when eating out and about!