Many parents are unsure or worried about how to introduce and prepare meat for their baby when starting solids. Meat is a fantastic first food because it is rich in bioavailable heme iron. Heme sources of iron are exclusively found in animal products and are more easily absorbed by the body than non-heme sources. There are many recipes in my ebook - Nourished and Nurtured which which use each of these types of meat. My ebook is available for purchase in the ebook page on my website.

 Liver*

• Grating a bit of frozen liver into vegetable purée (chicken liver has the highest concentration of iron and is easiest to prepare)
• Liver pate (recipe on page 82)
• Pan-fried liver strips with a bit of butter
• Adding into beef mince (or any other mince) for patties

*Limit liver to 1-2 tablespoons once a week as liver is high in vitamin A and can be toxic in large amounts.

Vitamin A upper limits of consumption is 600µg a day = 1 tbsp of liver has 1680µg of vitamin A. So you could offer 1 tablespoon of liver a week and your baby would be within the levels of safe consumption for vitamin A.*

 Beef

• Using mince to add into purées make patties
• Slow cooked beef rib (your baby will love chewing the bone)
• Slow cooked beef in finger shaped pieces
• Pan-fried strips cooked medium with olive oil or butter

 Lamb

• Lamb cutlets with fat trimmed from bone (your baby can gnaw on this too)
• Slow cooked lamb rib (your baby will love chewing the bone)
• Using lamb mince to add into purees or make koftas/patties
• Slow cooked lamb (lamb shanks or roast) in finger shaped pieces
• Pan-fried strips cooked medium with olive oil

Bone Marrow

• Roasting marrow bone in the oven and then scooping out the marrow to add into purées.

Chicken

• Roasted or poached chicken drumstick
• Poached shredded chicken
• Chicken meatballs or patties

 Fish

• Poached fish fillets and then added into purees or offered in finger strips
• Canned sardines in spring water and bones removed if offering BLW style
• Homemade fish cakes or fingers