Turkey and Lentil Meatballs for Baby-Led Weaning

These iron-rich, easy-to-make turkey and lentil meatballs are a great first finger food option for baby-led weaning! Introducing a nice variety of tastes and textures between 6-9 months is important for oral-motor development, dexterity
and to widen a baby’s palate. These ground turkey meatballs are the perfect size and texture for a baby learning how to self-feed. They’re dietitian-approved and quick to make, too!

When you start your baby on solid foods, you may be wondering about the best food to start with (check out my beginner’s guide to baby-led weaning if you haven’t already!). There isn’t really a perfect choice. See, almost any food can be the right answer—it’s really up to you. For instance, you can start baby-led weaning with banana, or baby-led weaning with eggs. As a pediatric registered dietitian, I have seen parents start with a whole range of foods, none of which are necessarily “wrong”.

Traditionally, iron-fortified single-grain cereal thinned out with breastmilk or formula was the gold-standard first food for baby. Although it’s still an option, it is no longer the only starter-food choice. Notice in the recipe though, I did include the option of adding iron-fortified cereal to the ingredients (to boost iron and add texture). I often do this with finger foods because it’s a great way to add iron and use up baby cereal that hasn’t been used! In fact, these finger food recipes are perfect for baby.

When can babies start eating meat?

Babies can start eating meat between 4-6 months of age, although as a registered dietitian, I recommend closer to the 6 month mark for any solid food, including meat. If you feel that your baby is ready (and they are showing signs that they are ready for solid foods) between 4-6 months of age, and you want to introduce meat, this is fine! Meat is an excellent source of many essential nutrients and can make for a great first food. Make sure that it’s fully cooked (braised, slow-cooked or boiled are all great ways to maintain moisture for most cuts of meat), and puree it with a bit of breastmilk or formula so that you can offer it via spoon in a responsive way (watching for and responding to baby’s hunger and fullness cues).

At 6 months of age (when I encourage parents to start solids), baby is ready for a variety of textures, including purees, minced, mashed, and soft, safe finger foods. This is when you can introduce larger, very soft pieces of fully-cooked meat that baby can bring to their mouth on their own using their palms. These turkey lentil meatballs (or any other baby-friendly meatballs) are a great choice because they are made with ground meat and soft lentils, which will easily break apart in baby’s mouth but are also firm enough that baby can self-feed (bring the food up to their mouths).

How should I introduce meat to my baby?

Although it sounds counter-intuitive, you can think about serving meat to baby this way (assuming baby is at least 6 months old): the younger your baby is, the bigger the piece of meat they should be served (remembering that it also needs to be soft enough to easily break apart in their mouths). I know–it sounds weird doesn’t it? But what this does is it allows baby to grab it with their palms, and hold onto it while chewing and sucking on it, without posing a choking hazard. If a young baby is offered small, cut up pieces of meat (I see this a lot from parents who are worried about choking), they can’t actually grab it on their own, or bring it to their mouths! That’s a recipe for a frustrated baby!

Serving meat for baby-led weaning: For babies 6-9 months, you will want to cut the meat into larger, 2-3 inch strips that are roughly the size a large eraser or two fingers OR offer soft meatballs that are the size of a pingpong ball or in the shape of a “finger”. Once baby is around 9 months, you can slice the meat thinner or into smaller pieces, or even shred it with two forks. Let baby self-feed by putting a few pieces of meat on the tray of their highchair (btw, here are my favourite baby-led weaning highchairs), so that they can grasp onto the pieces with their palms and bring it up to their mouths. For babies 6-9 months, meatballs or meatball “fingers”, drumsticks, ribs or very soft, moist larger pieces of cooked meat are good options. Slow-cooked shredded meat, or soft smaller or thinner pieces of meat, as mentioned above, can be served to babies by 9 months of age or so.

Pureed meat for baby: Meat purees are a great way for a young baby to be introduced to meat and its flavours and nutritional benefits. Pureed meat on its own has quite a strong flavour that not every baby will love. If your baby doesn’t seem to enjoy it on it’s own, you can combine it with some pureed fruit or a naturally sweet vegetable like pureed carrots or squash. Have your baby sitting properly in their highchair, watch for baby’s cues (opening their mouth), at which point you can bring a small spoonful of meat puree to their mouth. Wait until they open their mouths again before you bring the next spoonful up. You can also let baby grab onto the spoon themselves and help guide it into their mouths!

Can my baby choke on turkey meatballs?

The short answer here is probably not. A common concern is that baby will choke on solid foods. The long answer is that it depends on how you approach baby-led weaning. Of course, choking is serious business, and although it’s very rare, it’s important that you’re aware of common choking hazards and that you are prepared (i.e. take infant CPR and First Aid) just in case. But choking gets confused with gagging. To help clear the confusion and set your fears at ease, here is everything you need to know about choking and baby-led weaning!

These meatballs are iron-rich

Iron-rich foods should be introduced right from the get-go (as soon as you start solids foods, around 6 months), as your baby’s iron needs increase around this time. The reason for this is that baby’s iron stores are depleted by 6 months of age (they were built up in the womb and lasted until 6 months of age). Babies between 6 and 12 months of age should be offered iron-rich foods at least twice a day. Things like tender pieces of meat or finely minced, ground, or mashed cooked meat, deboned fish, poultry, well-cooked whole egg, beans, and lentils are great first foods and iron-rich choices. These meatballs are also the perfect way to provide your baby with iron, among other important nutrients (like protein!).

Protein is important for babies

Babies are in big-time growth in the first year of life, and protein is the building block for tissues such as muscles, organs, skin, and nails. It’s important that baby is getting enough every day. They’ll still be receiving a lot of it from breastmilk or formula, but it’s still important to offer protein-rich foods at most meals and snacks, such as meats, poultry, fish, beans, lentils, nut butters, seeds, tofu, full-fat Greek yogurt, and cheese. I included both ground turkey AND lentils in this recipe because both are chock-full of protein as well as iron (and many other important nutrients).

Introducing a nice variety of tastes and textures between 6-9 months is important for oral-motor development, dexterity and to widen their palate. These meatballs are the perfect size and texture for a baby learning how to self-feed.