Preparing Pears for Baby Led Weaning: Easy Ways to Serve
Introducing solid foods to your baby’s diet can be rather intimidating! As a first-time mom myself, I know how overwhelming all the information can be surrounding solids and baby-led weaning.
I highly recommend downloading the Solid Starts app if you haven’t already. It’s one of my favorite ways to check how to prepare new foods for younger babies as well as older babies.
Pears are full of fiber, cancer-fighting antioxidants, and potassium, and are a great choice as one of your baby’s first foods. Learn the easiest, safest ways to prepare them, and say goodbye to the anxiety of beginning solids with your little one.
Why Pears Are Great First Food
A nutritional powerhouse, pears are one of the best first fruits to serve your baby. It contains an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, copper, folate, and polyphenol antioxidants. The type of pears you may purchase have similar benefits. Varieties of pears you may find in North America include Bartlett pears, green and red Anjou, Comice, Concorde, Forelle, Seckel, Starkrimson, Bosc pear, and Taylor’s Gold pear.
Pears are an easy new food to serve your baby, and there are a few easy ways to prepare them. Whether you make pear baby food by pureeing or choose to slice them for baby-led weaning, pears are a great way for your little one to consume lots of essential nutrients!
What is Baby-Led Weaning?
Baby-led weaning, or BLW, skips the purees and spoon feeding that is typically common around 6 months of age. Instead, it encourages babies that show signs of readiness to feed themselves.
Families who choose to implement baby-led weaning into their routine usually just feed the baby whatever the family is eating for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This often makes starting solids with the baby so much easier than preparing and blending fruits and vegetables. The child learns how to feed him or herself by grasping the piece of food and bringing it to their mouth, versus the parent spoon-feeding mashed or pureed food to them.
Choking hazard foods are typically avoided when BLW; these include whole grapes, raw veggies, nuts, grape tomatoes, hot dogs, popcorn, small pieces of meat, and any other round pieces of food. Anything slippery or sticky is a no-go, and learning how to serve and prepare foods for baby is a vital step if beginning the journey of baby-led weaning.
Benefits of baby-led weaning include improved fine motor skills, eating independence, saving time and money, learning to eat to satiety, and easier family mealtimes.
How to Tell When Pears are Ready to Eat
To reduce the risk of choking, only very soft, ripe pears should be given to your child to eat. Check the pear by applying gentle pressure on the piece of fruit. When ready, it will be a little squishy and easily mashable. Avoid using firm pears and unripe pears, as they might be a choking hazard.
Tips for Safe Eating
- Maintain a safe eating environment by watching your baby and staying within arm’s reach.
- Keep an eye out for signs of choking. Gagging is normal; however, look for any difficulty breathing or inability to make a sound.
- Watch for any adverse reaction to the pears. I recommend only serving one kind of new food at a time. This makes it easier for you to spot which foods cause allergies.
- Learn the basics of infant CPR, first aid, and how to perform chest thrusts and back blows.
How to Serve Pears by Age
- Six months: Cooked and halved or pureed
- Nine months: Small, bite-sized pieces
- Twelve months: Whole ripe pear
Cooking and Pureeing Pears for Six-Month-Olds & Up
Cut soft pears in half for age-appropriate pears, removing the core and stem. Taking the pear skin off or leaving it on is up to you! Pour a small quantity of water into a medium pot and cover it with a steamer basket or colander. Then place your fruit in the basket and cook on medium heat until the cooked pear reaches the desired consistency.
To serve, you can hand half the cooked pear to your little one or serve it in thin slices for them to grab and hold.
Pear Puree
Mashing or blending fresh pears can be delicious homemade baby food. Although not technically considered BLW, I love helping my baby feed herself puree or mashed foods with a spoon. A super simple method to making homemade pear puree is just tossing a chopped-up, cooked pear into a blender or food processor. Add a little water as necessary for that smooth texture.
Preparing Pears for 9-Month-Olds
You can continue to serve pears in halves or slices to your 9-month-old. However, now that their pincer grasp is developed, it will be much easier for them to control smaller sizes of food. Try serving small, flat pieces of ripe pear.
Preparing Pears for 12-Month-Olds
At this age, your baby will be ready to eat the pear whole! As per usual, make sure that the whole fruit is soft and ripe enough to the touch. You may also continue serving the baby the cooked halves or small pieces if desired instead of the whole pear.
Pear Pancakes & Fun Ways to Eat
- For weekend fun, try fun pear recipes like pear pancakes. They are perfect for chilly fall mornings, and your baby will love them! This pear pancake recipe by Lily Payen is absolutely delicious!
- Bake pears in the oven with a little butter and warm spices, like a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg, for a yummy dessert or side dish.
- Mix other fruits into your pear puree recipe, like apple or banana, for a little variety!
Storing & Reusing Pears
- I like to store cooked pears in an airtight container in my fridge for future meals.
- Freeze extra pears for later in silicone ice cube trays to avoid food waste. They are perfect for smoothies, purees, or any other recipes that call for pears.
Pears are a fantastic finger food that your baby can learn to eat. Full of fiber, vitamins C and K, potassium, antioxidants, folate, and copper, they are a great food to introduce to your little one. Make sure your baby shows signs of readiness before starting solid foods before serving them pears.
