blueberries
When can babies have blueberries?
Blueberry may be introduced as soon as your baby is ready to start solids, which is generally around 6 months of age.
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Are blueberries healthy for babies?
They don’t call them a brain food for nothin. Blueberries are an excellent source of vitamin K (for healthy blood) and they are also a great source of vitamin C, which helps our bodies absorb iron from plants, so serve blueberries alongside iron-rich plant foods like lentils and beans. But it’s the powerful concentration of antioxidants that gives blueberries their superfood status. Blueberries are among the fruits and vegetables highest in antioxidants that help protect our cells from damage and support our DNA functionality, immune system, and liver health. If you can swing it, buy organic blueberries. Berries are high on the list of commercially grown fruits with the most pesticides, in part because birds and squirrels love to eat them. If organic blueberries are not possible for your family, remember that fruit is better than no fruit.
Word to the wise: blueberries are high in fiber. That means when babies eat large quantities of blueberries, there’s a poop blow-out coming your way!
It's a fact!
Blueberries are part of the same plant family as cranberries, huckleberries, and lingonberries. Wild varieties of this berry grow on low shrubs in fields, forests, and mountaintops throughout the Americas—their native home. They range in color from cobalt to indigo to midnight blue to black and ripen in the hot summer months. Wild blueberries are typically smaller and taste much sweeter than their cultivated cousins from “highbush” blueberry plants, the type most often grown on commercial farms.
When you see a pint of blueberries at your local grocery store, they are most likely highbush blueberries grown commercially in Canada, the United States, or Mexico. Keep an eye out at the farmer’s market in July and August for wild blueberries. They’re a rare treat!