Tofu - at what stage of weaning can I give my baby this?

[Hels67]

Hi there,

I have lots of great recipes for tofu that are marked for Babies and toddlers, but it doesn't really specify exactly what age the babies should be?

I'm just starting to wean DD, who is 25 weeks, with various fruits and vegetables and it is going fine so far, but I'm trying to get a range of different recipes for her to try later on. BTW she will not necessarily be brought up vegetarian, it is just that as a veggie myself, I have so many veggie cookbooks .

[whomovedmychocolate]

I gave DD tofu at six months - didn't know any better and it didn't seem to do her any harm. But I did stick to the soft stuff and not the processed stuff because the latter (the ones from Cauldron in the little plastic pots from the supermarket) have a lot of salt in.

[bohemianbint]

Hello Hels,

I think I gave my son tofu from around 7 months. He is being brought up veggie and he's doing brilliantly, eats veg curries, lentil hot pot the works. I was never entirely sure what to do with the tofu though. I think I just ended up whizzing it up with some butternut squash and he loved it!

One of the reasons I have (amongst many others!) for bringing DS up veggie is that if he ate meat I wouldn't be able to taste his food to check temperature etc. There's nothing wrong with it so long as you know what they need instead. HTH!

[Brangelina]

I also gave my DD tofu at 6 months and she seems to have survived the experience. It was the plain stuff just whizzed up with mixed vegetables. It's more digestible than meat or eggs anyway, so unless fed in vast quantities I don't see there being much of a problem. I only ever gave it to her about once or twice a week and alternated it with pulses and such, then pretty much replaced it with ground nuts at 9 months.

My DD is veggie BTW and is thriving on it, with a bit of forward planning and nutritional knowledge a vegetarian diet is not at all inferior to a meat diet for children.

[Hels67]

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

DD has her milk and food at room temperature, so I hadn't thought that in the future she might want it warm and that I'd have to taste the food, and perhaps meat, to see if it was cool enough - my DH is a committed carnivore, but of course he might not always be there at particular mealtimes.

That is part of my reason for wanting DD to have a partly veggie, partly carnivore diet, as she is sure to think at some point that the grass is greener, and want meat like DH if she's vegetarian, or veggie meals like me if she's been a meat eater.

I'll also remember to look for the non-processed versions and to check the salt content.

Thanks again

[Sakura]

Hi, just had a "baby weaning" cookery lesson (yes I am that sad) in Japan. Tofu was on the menu, and babies from 6 months were given it. I asked my friend if it was definitely okay for babies and she said yes, but you should introduce it gradually. So not too much at once. DD is 8 months and loved her piece. It was boiled though in a kind of fish and onion stock.

[accordiongirl]

My twins love it! They're just six months old and I just use it as the basis of their dinner - so if they're having butternut squash I just mush up the tofu and mix it right in. And they go "mm mm mm". (love that sound!) It lasts two days in the fridge so I use it for a couple of days and then eat up the last of it myself in a smoothie (milk tofu and banana - mm mm mm)

[Hels67]

Thanks for all the great ideas - one problem though, I can't seem to find soft/silken tofu on sale anywhere...Admittedly I haven't been to a health food store, just the main supermarkets - can any of you PPs recommend a store or brand for me to try? Have to confess that even as a veggie I have never been keen on tofu myself but that might just be the hard tofu.

[pamplemousse]

Silken tofu is usually found with the free from stuff, or on the shelves where the lentils etc are I think. I love tofu, but hate the silken stuff, give me marinaded cauldron stuff anyday!
Hope you find it

[Hels67]

Thanks pamplemousse - I was looking for it in the chilled cabinets, I shall now look amongst the lentils instead .

[halogen]

I give my nine month old fried slices of tofu as finger food. She loves it. It's really easy for her to chew, too.