Why you should give bone broth to your baby as a first food

Bones, bone marrow, and joint cartilage contain so many great nutrients! Broth is easily digestible, helps heal the lining of your gut, and contains valuable nutrients. Chicken bone broth has also been found to have a calming effect on the central nervous system (as a side note, is helpful for people who suffer from migraines).

Easy to absorb

Because it is so well cooked, it is broken down which puts reduced strain on the digestive system to utilise the nutrients.

Think about your baby’s digestive system, how immature and sensitive it may be. Bone broth coats the gut lining to help it mature, and is also full of nutrients that are easy for your baby to absorb. Win, win!

Gelatin in bone broth

Supports healthy digestion. Also nourishes the hair and nails.

Hyaluronic Acid is important

Helps form the collagen cushioning in our joints.

Bone broth is full of Amino Acids

Great to nourish the body’s supplies. Involved in immune system function, brain function, and reducing inflammation. Glycine may help you sleep better. Arginine assists in infections.

Full of Minerals too!

Calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, silicon, sulfur, trace minerals. Promotes healthy bone growth and formation.

How to feed bone broth to babies

Here’s the thing about bone broth, you can add it to almost anything to give it that extra flavour and goodness! It’s a great soup stock, add it to your baby’s purees, use some of the fat (found on the top layer of the broth) to roast vegetables.

How to Make Bone Broth for your Baby

Ingredients

1 whole free-range chicken or 1-2kg of bony chicken parts, such as necks, backs, breastbones and wings – (I opted for wings only as it was important to me that the meat be pasture-fed and organic)
4 quarts filtered water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
1 bunch parsley

Other optional ingredients (some babies can’t tolerate these foods):

Garlic
Ginger
Tomato
Leeks

Method

Place everything except the parsley into a pot, make sure the meat is covered in water.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for 6-8 hours (though really you can slow cook it up to 24 hours!). Add parsley or other herbs for the last 30 min (max).
Once cooked, remove chicken and strain small bones. You can add the meat back in if you’d like to make a chicken soup. Otherwise you can use that meat for something else.
Let it cool and blend if necessary.
Put in the fridge until the fat is a gel on the top. That way you can remove it and use it separately for cooking. – (Sometimes I leave the fat on to make a fatty style broth, other times I remove it and use it separately).
Store in the fridge or freezer – (I like to do this in serving size containers for ease of use).