As you start preparing those first few purees for your baby, you are likely to find that you need some extra liquid to help loosen the consistency.

There are so many options available when thinning purees for babies over 6 months and rest assured you can use anything from tap water, cow’s milk or plant-based milks as well as a splash of your baby’s usual breast milk or formula milk; which will not only help loosen the consistency but also adds a familiar taste.

Whatever you choose to thin your baby’s puree, there are a couple of things you might need to keep in mind if you want to keep the puree for another day…

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:

1. Before adding to food, make up formula fresh – don’t use leftover milk from a previous feed
2. 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
3. Ensure you follow the shelf life guidance in the table below

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

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…

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