Holidays with babies can be challenging, but they can be a great reminder of what it’s all about: being with loved ones, sharing our time and memories and food. Hopefully our tips below can help give you a bit of peace of mind amid the chaos.
Just starting solids? View our guides on the best and worst foods for babies.
Tips for Thanksgiving with Baby:
Manage your expectations. Big celebratory meals can be overwhelming for babies, which can impact how much they eat. Serve or bring some foods you know baby enjoys, and try to focus on the experience and the memories, not consumption.
Bring baby to the table. Take the tray off the high chair and bring it right up to the table so baby can be part of the family experience.
If you are a guest, prepare your host for the mess and request that the high chair be placed away from foot traffic so any discarded (or thrown) food is not in a main pathway. Alternatively, place baby on your lap and keep a napkin under their bottom to protect your own clothes.
If food is being served off-schedule and you have a baby who doesn’t adapt well to schedule changes, feed baby on-schedule with the foods you brought and then bring them to the table when everyone else eats with a toy or utensil to teethe on while everyone else eats. Pro tip: Also, for what it’s worth, a turkey drumstick bone with all of the meat and gristle removed makes a fantastic teether and could keep baby busy for a while as the family eats.
If you are a guest, bring a splat mat (or two!), an extra set of clothes, all of the wipes, baby’s cup and plate, and baggies for soiled bibs and clothes.
Don’t stress about sodium. One higher-in-sodium-than-normal meal or day isn’t going to make much of a difference, and you can always offset any increased sodium intake by offering fresh foods made at home for the rest of the week.
Watch out for allergens and choking hazards. Casseroles, dressings, desserts, and many other popular Thanksgiving dishes may contain hidden allergens such as dairy, egg, tree nuts, and wheat, so make sure that you’re aware of ingredients in the dishes you’re sharing with baby.
Use a straw cup at the table to minimize spills and mess. If you haven’t taught baby to use a straw, it is possible to do it in less than one day. See our page on cup drinking for some quick tips and videos.
Make sure to take all photos early, when everyone is happy and clean! A tired or hangry baby does not make for a cute photo.
Cooper, 18 months, eats a turkey drumstick.
Juliet Rose, 8 months, eats wedges of potato with oregano.
Amelia, 8 months, eats homemade cranberry sauce
Brussels Sprouts
Brussels sprouts offer delicious bitter flavor and loads of fiber, folate, and other key nutrients for babies. When serving these sprouts to young babies, bigger is better: opt for the largest ones you can find and serve in cooked halves or large quarters. Some brussels sprouts dishes are glazed with maple syrup or other sweeteners—a bite of these preparations for baby is fine, just make sure there’s no honey in dishes you’re sharing with babies under 12 months of age to minimize the risk of infant botulism.
Cranberry Sauce
While fresh cranberries are choking hazards because of their small size and round shape, store-bought or homemade cranberry sauces should not pose a risk. That said, these sauces can be very high in sugar added to offset cranberry’s tart flavor. While a bite of cranberry sauce with added sugar won’t harm baby, try to opt for unsweetened cranberry sauce if you’re planning to share more with young babies.
Green Beans
Bigger is often safer when it comes to sharing green beans with babies. Small sections of green bean pose a higher risk of choking, as babies may try to swallow these pieces of food without chewing them and the bean pod’s shape can be similar in size to a baby’s trachea. Serve whole, cooked green beans for baby to munch on—while baby isn’t likely to consume much of the fibrous bean, it might buy you some peaceful moments at the table!
Gravy
Feel free to share gravy with baby by drizzling some into their food or offering some as a dip. While some gravies are higher in sodium, one higher-in-sodium meal in the context of a whole week of meals is nothing to worry about. When serving homemade gravy, make sure to remove any remaining pieces of meat or skin that could pose a choking risk. Fats in the gravy can cause it to congeal when stored in the refrigerator; if serving leftover gravy to babies, make sure it is thoroughly reheated and liquified and no longer hot. Lastly, know that gravy may contain common allergens: wheat-based flours are often used to thicken gravy, and store-bought gravy mixes often include other common food allergens like dairy and soy.
Ham
It’s best to wait on introducing ham, including cured and glazed hams, until after a child’s second birthday and even then, serve sparingly due to sodium and nitrate levels. That said, raw ham (also called fresh ham) cooked at home may be served to babies starting at 6 months of age. And if you do have a cured or glazed ham that you would like to share with baby, a bite as part of the holiday meal is fine. Just make sure there’s no honey as part of the glaze to minimize the risk of infant botulism.
Potatoes
Mashed potatoes or large wedges of potato that have been cooked until soft are an easy way to share the holiday meal with baby. You can even offer baby a whole cooked potato, as long as it is substantially larger than baby’s mouth, but small enough that baby can hold it independently. Feel free to mix butter, breast (human) milk, formula, your milk of choice, or a low-sodium cheese into mashed potatoes to boost nutrition. Let baby scoop the potatoes with their hands or pre-load a baby spoon with a bit of the potato for baby to self-feed.
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin pie and most other desserts are high in added sugars. Generally, we suggest holding off on introducing sugar regularly until around age two, but one piece of pie on a holiday isn’t going to make or break your baby’s palate. That said, make sure the filling and crust are free of honey. Most crusts will be fine for baby to munch on, but if it makes you nervous, feel free to just share the soft filling. Sugar aside, pumpkin is high in vitamin A, vitamin E, folate, and fiber.
Stuffing
Whether you serve it as stuffing (cooked inside the turkey) or as dressing (cooked on its own), this dish varies widely in its ingredients and preparation, so consider possible allergens and choking hazards carefully before sharing with baby. If the stuffing includes ingredients like nuts or sausage, consider avoiding it for babies to minimize the risk of choking—it can be tricky to pick out all of the high-risk foods from a serving of stuffing. If all of the components of the stuffing are cooked until very soft and mashable, you can share some for baby to scoop with their hands. In terms of allergens, dairy (butter), egg, tree nuts, and wheat (bread) are all common in stuffing, although many allergens are possible, depending on the recipe or product.
Sweet Potato
When cooked until soft, sweet potato is a wonderful food for babies, nutritious and visually engaging. For babies new to solid foods, large, cooked wedges or mashed sweet potato will be easiest to self-feed. If you plan to share a sweet potato casserole with baby, be mindful of allergens and possible choking hazards, as well as sugar levels. Some recipes include dairy, eggs, tree nuts, and/or wheat, all of which are common allergens. While pureed sweet potato should not pose any choking risk, nuts or small marshmallows do pose a high risk for babies and toddlers, so be very careful to remove these before serving, or reserve some of the sweet potato portion with none of the topping for baby.
Turkey
Turkey is packed with nutrition for babies, from protein to B vitamins to zinc, and better yet, a turkey drumstick bone with all meat, cartilage, and skin removed offers fantastic practice for baby’s developing oral-motor skills. As baby teethes on the bone, they won’t get any food in the belly, but they will rapidly advance their knowledge of the boundaries of their mouth and gain jaw strength. Just make sure to check and test the bone carefully before offering: strong, firm bones are the way to go, and make sure the bone doesn’t splinter or break. For more consumption, you can also offer baby long, thin strips of cooked turkey meat with skin and any bone pieces removed.
Wild Rice (Manoomin)
Wild rice or manoomin can be introduced as soon as baby is ready for solids, but know that it can easily scatter in the mouth and cause gagging. In order to minimize gagging and discomfort, you can offer bean patties, grain balls, or meatballs with cooked manoomin mixed in. Alternatively, offer pudding, porridge, or cooked manoomin mixed into soft, scoopable foods like mashed fruit, mashed vegetables, or yogurt. Any of these dishes bind manoomin, which helps baby scoop the food and minimizing scattering.
Feeling overwhelmed with starting solids? Our First 100 Days Meal Plan will help.
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