Can my baby eat mashed potatoes?

Potatoes are a main side dish to many homes in America. Potatoes are quick, easy and cheap to make and to always have on hand. So of course, there is going to be a time when you want to let your little one have a taste of what the rest of the family may be eating for dinner. But is this staple something that you should be giving to your baby?

The quick and easy answer is yes. You can feed your baby mashed potatoes as you start to introduce solid foods into their diet. However, there are some things to keep in mind regarding nutrients and health for your baby when giving mashed potatoes to your baby.

Keep reading for some tips and tricks about feeding your baby mashed potatoes.

1. When To Introduce Potatoes

Mashed potatoes can be considered solid foods and should only be given to your baby when they approach their six months. This is the perfect time to start slowly with all kinds of solid foods. Mashed potatoes can be one of the many that you start giving your baby right away.

Remember to start by giving small amount of potato to your baby when you are first starting out. You don’t want to overwhelm your baby.

Plus, potatoes are starchy and very filling, so a little goes a long way. So when it’s time to start giving your baby those solid foods, think about starting with a little bit of mashed potatoes every day. That way, you can get your baby on the right track for eventually eating those types of foods.

2. What Can You Add To The Mashed Potatoes?

So it’s time to start feeding your baby mashed potatoes.

Should you give them the same mashed potatoes that you prepared for the rest of the family? No, you don’t want to include all of the same ingredients for your baby’s mashed potatoes. This is the beginning of introducing food to your little one. You don’t want to start out by giving them everything.

There are things to keep in mind, like allergies, fat intake and carbohydrates when you prepare food for your baby. You will want to limit the amount of things like butter and cow’s milk that you are adding to the potatoes. Butter is high in fat. You don’t want to introduce cow’s milk too quickly within their diet.

As you continue to feed your baby potatoes though, you can start adding some butter in. Because butter is high in fat, only add in the smallest amount when you are starting out. Additionally, make sure the butter is unsalted.

Because you are limiting the addition of cow’s milk to your baby’s mashed potatoes right away, there are still ways to make the mashed potatoes creamy for your infant.

Try adding breast milk or baby formula to the potatoes.

This will give your baby added nutrients when they might be missing a feeding of milk because they are getting that solid food instead.

3. The Health Benefits of Potatoes

Potatoes are actually good in many ways for your baby’s health!

As your baby starts to grow and move around, potatoes can be a good thing to add to their diet. This is because you are starting to add some carbs and fat into their diet.

These crucial components help with many aspects of their body and their health. This is why potatoes are usually added to a baby’s diet around six months old. During this time, a baby is getting more active and moving, so adding this type of food helps with their overall health.

Potatoes can be very helpful for your baby’s gastrointestinal health. Potatoes contain nutrients that can help the growth of healthy bacteria in your baby’s body. Plus with the alkaline sugars in the potatoes, potatoes might help to keep acid levels down in your baby’s body. As a result, this hopefully helps to keep acidity down.

4. How to Prepare The Potatoes

Potatoes are rich in nutrients! They are really good for your baby if prepared the correct way.

When cooking potatoes for your six month old, you want to either steam or bake the potato. This will lock in all the nutrients that are good for your baby while ensuring they are getting the best benefit from each bite.

Make sure you wash and peel the potatoes really well.

Don’t forget – potatoes are a ground vegetable, so they are dirty. Wash the potato and then peel and wash the potato again.

After taking sanitary precuations, they will be good to go for your little one. Once you have either baked or steamed the potato, it can the be mashed and fed to your baby in small amounts.

5. Introducing Other Foods Through Potatoes

After you have your baby set on eating plain mashed potatoes, you can get more creative with introducing more foods to your baby. You can easily add carrots, squash, broccoli and an array of other foods to the mashed potatoes. You might even consider potato puree to introduce your baby to even more types of food!

Just remember to always start small.

For optimal results, introduce any new foods in small increments. Watch for any adverse reactions within your infant as you continue to give them more foods.

If your baby has adverse reactions, consider speaking to a baby allergist. But most importantly, speak with your pediatrician first.

Adding other vegetables to potatoes can be an easy and great way to get more nutrients into their diets, while playing around with an assortment of foods.

There are many positive aspects to feeding your baby mashed potatoes.

As long as they are given to your baby at the right time and in the right amount and ways, potatoes are an amazing feature to your baby’s diet. Be creative in the many different ways you give potatoes to your baby.

Please remember to enjoy watching them slowly make their way into eating more and more different types of foods… this won’t last forever, Momma.

6. Will feeding your baby potatoes impact his sleep schedule?

Absolutely! Feeding your baby potatoes can have an impact on his sleep schedule. But, unfortunately, many parents feed their baby potatoes without even considering that it may totally impact your baby for days to come.

Your baby’s diet will impact their sleep quality. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use this specific baby sleep schedule on nights your baby eats potatoes.

7. Can potatoes cause your baby to have nightmares?

Some parents believe that the ingredients in potatoes may cause your baby to have nightmares. You might be just as surprised as us to learn how much mayo impacts your baby’s sleep. However, there are ways to check if the potato ingredients are impacting your baby’s sleep. Check out that link to learn about a potato’s powerful impact on your baby’s sleep schedule.