How to Serve Black Beans for Babies During BLW
Can babies eat black beans during baby-led weaning?
Yes! Babies tend to enjoy eating tender-cooked, mashed black beans as the texture is soft and easy to scoop with hands, making them a convenient finger food to serve during baby-led weaning. Black beans are also easily accessible, affordable, tasty, and highly nutritious, making them an ideal early food to support a baby’s growth and development.
In this article, we’ll explore the numerous nutritional benefits of black beans for babies, how to prepare, serve, and cook them for babies and toddlers, and you’ll find some of my favorite, family-friendly black bean recipes that work well for eaters of all ages.
Why Serve Black Beans to Babies and Toddlers
Black beans are a nutritious source of the plant based protein, vitamins, and minerals babies and toddlers need to thrive and grow, including iron. They are versatile enough to work well in meals and dishes made for the entire family - babies and toddlers incuded - and packed with health-promoting nutrients like fiber, which helps supportive digestive health. The plant-based protein in black beans also supports overall growth while the many B vitamins help the body use food for energy.
Although breast milk and formula remain the most critical source of nutrition throughout a baby’s first year of life, once a baby starts eating solid foods, we want to maximize the nutrition in all of the foods we give to babies to help ensure they are getting the proper nutrients they need to support development.
And black beans are a shining example of nutrient-dense foods that offer tons of nutrition in each little bite.
Are Black Beans a Good Source of Iron for Babies and Toddlers?
Iron, in particular, is an essential nutrient that serves as the part of our red blood cells that transports oxygen throughout the body.
Iron is also a key nutrient for brain development and growth, and since babies grow so rapidly during the first year of life, it’s important to ensure that their iron needs are met.
Full-term babies store up enough iron in utero to last throughout their first 4 to 6 months of life. However, at about six months of age, babies need to start getting iron from food.
Inadequate iron puts babies at risk for iron deficiency anemia and can lead to a decline in overall health, immunity, and cognitive development. In fact, iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in kids worldwide, and if prolonged, the neurocognitive damage can’t be reversed even with supplements.
Breastfed babies are at higher risk for iron deficiency than formula-fed babies (as breast milk is notoriously low in iron) so at about six months of age, we need to start making iron-rich solid foods a priority for babies - including black beans, which contain 3.61 mg of iron per cup.
Babies ages 7 to 12 months need about 11mg of iron daily. At ~12 months old, iron-fortified infant formula is typically replaced in a baby’s diet by cow’s milk which is low in iron. This highlights the importance of iron-rich foods for toddlers as well.
As a pediatric dietitian, I like taking a food-first approach that prioritizes iron-rich foods as the best way to help prevent iron deficiency during childhood. If you have concerns about your child’s iron status, talk to your pediatrician or pediatric dietitian and always check in with the doctor first before starting your child on any iron supplements.
How to Increase a Baby’s Absorption of Non-Heme Iron
The iron in plant-based foods is called non-heme iron, while the iron that we get from animal products is called heme iron. Heme iron is more easily absorbed by the body than non-heme iron, but pairing plant-based iron-rich foods with certain nutrients like vitamin C help boost iron absorption. You can optimize your baby’s iron absorption by serving iron-rich plant foods like black beans with foods that are high in vitamin C, such as red peppers, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, or tomatoes.
Can Babies and Toddlers Eat Too Many Black Beans?
Yes. Beans are full of fiber, an essential nutrient that helps optimize the digestive system and alleviate constipation. Black beans help stools retain more water which helps creates more formed, softer bowel movements.
Increasing fiber in a child’s diet helps promote overall health, but when you start offering fiber, be sure to increase the amount slowly, starting with portion sizes of about 1 tablespoon or less per year of age when serving high-fiber foods.
This is because too much fiber, too quickly can lead to tummy upset, increased gas, cramps, bloating, and constipation. Keep in mind that black beans have 7.5 grams of fiber per half cup. For a general estimate of the minimum number of grams of fiber children should get each day, take your child’s age in years and add 5. You can read more about fiber for constipation here.
How to Introduce Black Beans to Babies
Luckily, black beans do not typically cause allergic reactions in babies and are not among the top 9 most common food allergens.
However, black beans are a legume, so if your child is allergic to other legume foods like peanuts or soybeans, be on alert when first introducing black beans; offer a tiny amount, wait about 10 minutes, and if there is no reaction continue to feed the rest of the portion if your baby seems to want more, monitoring for signs of an allergic reaction during and for about 2 hours following the meal. The most common signs of food allergies in babies are hives and vomiting.
How to Prepare Black Beans for Babies:
If you use canned black beans for babies, look for BPA-free cans of low-sodium or sodium-free black beans to help keep your baby’s sodium intake in check. Before cooking, it’s a good idea to rinse the top of the can with hot water before opening, then pour the beans into a colander to drain and rinse off any excess sodium.
The size and shape of black beans makes them a potential choking hazard for babies. To reduce choking risk, simply smash them with your thumb or flat side of a fork and mash into a paste.
Mash black beans to help reduce choking risk.
How to Cook Dried Black Beans for Babies and Toddlers
Dried beans are cheaper in price, can be bought in bulk, and have a long shelf-life. Rehydrating dried black beans is simple. Plus, soaking dried black beans before cooking, makes them easier to digest. To rehydrate dried black beans, follow these easy steps:
Rinse the dried beans and pick out any rocks
Place the beans in a large bowl and cover with water (about 10 cups of water per pound of dried beans) Let the beans soak for about 8 to 24 hours or overnight
Drain the soaking water and rinse the black beans before cooking
Add the drained beans to a pot along with about 10 cups of water, bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 1 hour or until tender.
When done, mash the beans with either your thumb or the back of a fork until they appear flat and form a paste like-texture, or you can also make a bean puree using a food processor
It is important to note that dried beans will need to be cooked for a lot longer than canned beans, so be sure to read the cooking instructions on the label of the beans you buy. As your little one begins to grow and master their chewing skills, you can start trying to serve the cooked black beans by cutting them into smaller pieces.
Black Bean Recipes for Babies and Toddlers
The great news about black beans is how versatile they are in a variety of different baby foods and family-friendly meals that include babies and toddlers.
You can make a bean mash or puree black beans, both of which work well as food babies can scoop with their hands, or self-feed from a preloaded spoon.
Try making a bean mash, adding some olive oil, and spreading it on a strip of toast for babies using a palmar grasp. For more ideas on serving beans to toddlers, here are some of my favorite, family-friendly black bean recipes:
Toddler-Friendly Black Bean Recipes:
If your baby is soon starting solids, make sure to download my FREE Baby-Led Feeding Essentials Checklist, which provides my favorite versions of the few things you need during this process and none of the fluff you don't. Plus, you'll get my top 12 tips for successful baby-led feeding meals as a part of the download.
More importantly, if your baby is ready to start solids and you’d like someone you trust to map out the entire first 12 weeks of your baby’s solid food-feeding journey, check out my Safe & Simple 12-Week Meal Plan. This guide includes over 30 recipes, weekly shopping lists, tons of balanced baby meals, a complete plan for top allergen introduction, & lots of guidance (with photos) on how to serve each food safely. Download your meal plan here.
Thank you to my Dietetic Intern, Gabby Kishner for her contributions to this blog post!
