Bananas are an excellent food for babies - nutritious, incredibly easy to prepare and loved by almost all babies!
And best of all, there are many different ways you can feed your baby banana, depending on where they’re at on their eating journey. Below I take you through five quick and easy ways to feed babies banana.
Benefits of bananas for babies
Bananas are rich in fibre, potassium, vitamin B6 and vitamin C which are all important nutrients for babies. They’re also an excellent source of carbohydrates which are important for supporting babies’ growth and development.
Bananas are an easy first food as they’re soft and ‘smushable’, delicious, and can be served as a puree, chunky mash or finger food - meaning they’re perfect for every stage of introducing solids.
They’re also very portable, so they make a great snack for your baby when you’re out and about.
Here are five ways to serve banana to your baby:
1. Banana Puree
Banana puree is one of the easiest purees to make for babies as they don’t need to be cooked. You can blend
Banana puree can be served on their own or mixed into other purees.
Get my Banana Puree for Baby recipe here
4. Banana spears
Another way to serve bananas as a finger food is to split them into thirds lengthwise. Bananas are made up of three segments, and by breaking them into their natural segments, you get a nice spear of banana baby can grip onto, rather than the slippery edge created when bananas are sliced.
Just make sure you remove any strings from the outer part of the banana as these can be a choking hazard.
If you find the banana is still a little slippery, you can roll it in rice cereal, oat flour or hemp seeds to create a bit of friction and allow your baby to grip onto it more easily.
When planning your baby’s diet, remember that iron-rich foods need to be included from the age of around 6 months.
For more recipes for babies, check out my recipe collections here
FAQs:
When can my baby eat banana?
Bananas can be introduced from 6 months, or whenever your baby starts solids
How do I serve bananas for baby-led weaning?
Bananas are a great baby-led weaning food. They can be served as a spear, ‘banana pop’ or in pieces (see above).
What sort of bananas are best for babies?
Any sort! Ripe or unripe are both fine - although ripe may be easier for baby to eat due to their softer texture. See the below section ‘do bananas cause constipation in babies’ for more information on the differences between unripe and ripe bananas.
How much banana can a baby eat?
There’s no set amount of banana a baby can eat. The important thing is to make sure that your baby is having a variety of different foods from the five foods and that plenty of iron-rich foods are included from the age of around 6 months.
Do bananas cause constipation in babies?
Parents often report that bananas cause their babies to become constipated, although surprisingly, there’s no strong evidence to back up this theory.
However, it’s possible that the fibre content and the resistant starch present in bananas, particularly unripe bananas could cause constipation in some babies. But it’s worth bearing in mind that these factors may also help to promote regular bowel movements.
Unripe bananas also contain tannins, a type of naturally occurring plant chemical, which have been associated with constipation.
However, if your baby is already constipated, it might be a good idea to give bananas a miss until the constipation has resolved. The resistant starch content and the tannin content both decrease as bananas ripen, so it may also be best to serve your baby ripe bananas if you’re concerned about constipation.
Can a baby be allergic to bananas?
Technically, babies can be allergic to any food (as can people of all ages), however, bananas are not a common allergen.
Banana can be a trigger for FPIES (food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome), a delayed (non-IgE mediated) gut allergic reaction to a food, usually presenting in the first two years of life and occurring in around 1 in every 7000 children. FPIES presents as repetitive, profuse vomiting usually starting 1-4 hours after eating the trigger food. Some children may become floppy and pale and develop diarrhoea. Read more about FPIES here.
