We are told by every expert under the sun that fruit and vegetables are good for us and we must eat 5 portions a day.

Yes, fruit and veg are delicious, tasty and good for you, but sometimes you need some new ways to get your youngsters to eat them.  

Rather than just munching on an apple or a pear – here are our favourite fruit snacks for kids – please add more!

Remember to remove stones, pips, and skin for very young children, older toddlers can usually handle skin on apples for example, but every child is unique.

100 % juice freeze pops.

You can buy molds that you can simply pour fruit juice into then pop them in the freezer. Or you can simply pour juice into small paper cups, cover the cups with plastic wrap, freeze the juice for an hour then add a wooden freeze pop stick (you can buy these) when the juice is slushy enough for the stick to stand up straight. Return to the freezer for another 4 hours or until frozen.

Once frozen, remove the plastic wrap and peel away the paper cup. As an alternative, you can use yoghurt instead of juice.

Remember juice made Not from Concentrate is better for you than those From Concentrate – but the latter is usually cheaper.

Fruit sandwiches.

This sounds odd, but is delicious. Try slices of apples, pears, grapes, bananas, you can add soft cheese to most fruits and it tastes great!

Fresh fruit dipped in yogurt, fromage frais, apple sauce.

You can use pretty much any fruit, try your tot’s favourites. Vary the flavour of yoghurt, or fromage frais.

Fruit Smoothies.

You need a blender or smoothie maker for this.

A smoothie is generally made up of soft fruits and a liquid base. You often need to ass a liquid base or the smoothie is too thick to drink and you’ll end up eating it instead!

Popular liquid bases are milk, yoghurt, apple juice or water.

Pour a little liquid base into your blender then add the fruit.

Use any soft fruit. (Bananas, peaches, strawberries, pears, mangoes, nectarines, raspberries, cranberries, to name but a few). A combination of fruits can be good, like banana and strawberry, or pear blackberry. Some fruits can make your smoothie lumpy, like apples. This is just because they are a harder fruit, if you like texture in your smoothie – these are fine!

Peel any citrus fruits, bananas, mangoes etc, and then add the fruit at a steady rate whilst blending and blend until the smoothie has a smooth consistency. Add more of your liquid base if the smoothie is too thick. If it is too thin, you can add ice, or more fruit.

Tinned fruit.

Tinned fruit, has the advantage that you can eat fruit out of season.

Some tins come in syrup and some in fruit juice. Note that fruit tinned in syrup holds its shape, color and flavour better, even after tinning, however tinning fruit in water or fruit juice helps reduce the sugar content of the tinned fruit. 

Dried fruits, and nuts

Be very cautious about giving seeds and nuts to young children because they could choke on them. Dried fruits are typically high in fibre and complex carbohydrates and contain many necessary minerals and vitamins. These days you can buy many dried fruits, such as:

• raisins
• prunes
• blueberries and other berries
• apples
• dates
• pears
• apricots
• figs
• prunes
• bananas
• peaches
• raisins

Frozen fruit chunks

Cut up grapes, strawberries, banana slices, blueberries or watermelon, put them in a freezer bag and pop them in the freezer.

Freezing chunks of fruit seems to change them into sweets in the eyes of children!

Alternatively, you can puree the fruit and pour it into a mold and freeze like with the juice freeze pops.

Remember to be aware of allergies and only give food to your child that is age and development appropriate.

A great recipe book for helping your child eat healthy nutritious meals: Big Book of Recipes for Babies, Toddlers & Children: 365 Quick, Easy and Healthy Dishes: From First Foods to Starting School

Just one comment on the book is:

I can’t praise this book highly enough! It’s very well laid out and even the pages are tough enough to be wiped down easily. I have tried loads of the recipes already with my own toddler and have recommended it to all the parents in the nursery where I work. I was amazed to find how easy it is to make root vegetables into a fun and nutritious meal. My son’s favourite is Toddler’s tortilla but I have yet to try any recipe that he won’t eat! A real find!

Other related articles
Easy kids recipes – Vegetable snacks for kids
What food and drink should I avoid when pregnant?

So, weaning your baby is not as scary as it might seem. Just remember a few simple rules of what you shouldn’t give them to eat. Hopefully below explains why some foods are not suitable for your young baby.

Sugar

Why not?

• Sugary food can lead to tooth decay, both in babies and small children.

What to do.

• Only add sugar if it is really necessary. If your baby has not had sugary food, they will not miss it.
• Don’t encourage a sweet tooth.

Other info

• Sweets, ice cream and so on are not recommended for babies under 1 year old.

Honey

Why not?

• Occasionally honey can contain bacteria that produces toxins in babies intestines. This can cause infant botulism.

What to do.

• Never give your baby, under 1 year old any honey.

Other info

• Honey can also encourage a sweet tooth and lead to tooth decay, so it is best avoided.

Some helpful books when weaning your baby:

Salt

Why not?

• A baby’s kidneys can’t cope with salt.

What to do.

• Don’t add any salt to food you give your baby.
• Check the labels on food you buy, like cheese, sausages, bacon – they are often high in salt.

Sodium or salt??

• Food labels often list sodium not salt. 1g of salt is less than 0.4g of sodium.
• Babies under 1 year should have less than 1g of salt per day, so check labels carefully.

Other info

• Baby food isn’t allowed to contain salt
• Foods you buy that you eat too, like cooking sauces, can be high in salt, so while it is good that your baby is eating the same food as you, watch how much salt they are getting.

Nuts

Why not?

• Nuts can cause choking in children under five.

What to do.

• Don’t give any whole nuts, including peanuts, (see below) to children under five

Also

• Peanut allergy can be life threatening. Children from families with a history of allergy are most at risk from peanut allergy.

These tips may help reduce the risk of your baby developing peanut allergy: avoid eating peanuts or peanut products while you are breastfeeding, or pregnant

• don’t give your child any peanuts, or foods containing peanuts, peanut (groundnut) oil
• or peanut butter, until they are at least three years old
• read food labels carefully if in doubt, avoid the product

Low-fat, low-calorie and high-fibre

Why not?

• Unlike adults who are often told low fat and low calorie food is good, babies need fat. It gives them energy, and gives them vitamins only found in fat.
• High fibre products like bran enriched cereals stop babies from absorbing important minerals like calcium and iron. Babies stomachs are tiny so they need to get lots of nutrients vitamins and calories from a small amount of food, and not bulk up on fibre.

What to do.

• Choose full-fat dairy products (fromage frais, yoghurt, milk, chese).
• Avoid brown rice, wholemeal pasta bran enriched breakfast cereals until your baby is older

Fish

Why not?

• Some fish can contain mercury, which can affect your baby’s immune system.
• Raw shellfish can cause food poisoning

What to do.

• Avoid shark, swordfish or marlin.
• Avoid raw shellfish.

Other

• Fish can be very good though, see article on foods that are good for baby!
• Fish, especially oily fish, is recommended by all kinds of experts to be part of a healthy diet. Everyone – children and adults, are recommended to eat at least two portions of fish every week, and one of them should be oily fish.  Fresh fish such as salmon, trout, cod and haddock, tinned fish such as sardines and pilchards, as well as fish products such as fish fingers and fish cakes are all nutritious foods for young children.
• Avoid giving fish tinned in brine to babies, as it is higher in salt than fish tinned in oil or springwater.

Eggs

Why not

• Eggs are high up on the list of foods that can cause allergies
• The risk of salmonella from improperly cooked eggs

What to do

• Don’t give raw or lightly cooked eggs to babies.
• Eggs can be given to babies over 12 months old, make sure both the white and yolk are solid.
• Just the egg yolk can be given to your baby from 7-10 months old.
• As your baby gets older she will start to eat more and more of the same food as you, but you still need to watch out for levels of salt and sugar, and a young child still needs full fat versions of dairy produce.

Some helpful books when weaning your baby:

Other related articles
Easy kids recipes – Fruit snacks for kids
Easy kids recipes – Vegetable snacks for kids
What food and drink should I avoid when pregnant?