Benefits of spinach

Spinach is a great source to strengthen bones of your baby. One cup of boiled spinach contains 42 mg calcium. You should start observing for symptoms of calcium deficiency at very early months. 

And this is not all, spinach also contains Vitamin A and selenium. And to top it all spinach has higher protein level than other green leafy vegetables. As you can guess, spinach, the savior of Popeye the Sailor is a great food that will help your baby's growth and development.

Don't buy spinach with weazened leaves. You must always eat fresh spinach to benefit from vitamins and minerals in it. Always keep it in the fridge. After you buy spinach, you may keep it inside a bag in the fridge without washing it. This way it will preserve its nutritional value up to four days.

Wash it very well before using it. The best method is to rip off the roots and then place leaves on a big bowl full of water. You will need to empty out and refill the bowl until the water is clear.

Keep in mind

Spinach is rich in folic acid. The folic acid content will be lost when the vegetables are boiled so the ideal way to cook vegetable puree containing spinach is to steam it.
 
Warning 

Spinach has  nitrate  in it. So avoid giving your baby spinach too early. Some resources say month 6-7 is the right time to feed spinach to your baby, but you should still be cautious. Maybe you should wait up to month 8 to feed spinach to your little gourmets. Some mothers prefer to introduce spinach to babies when they are 10-12 month old.  
 
Other than this, there is another point that one should be careful about. You should not keep the spinach aside for a long time after cooked. You should not recook it. This both lowers the vitamin value and causes some harmful substances to be released.  
 
Babies that frequently suffer from rashes should not eat spinach as it is an acidic vegetable. During teething , babies would have tendency for rashes, so you should be very careful about it. 

Some of the spinach dishes we can recommend for you and your baby are spinach soup, pastry filled with spinach, spinach with meat, spinach salad.  If your little gourmet don't favor some of the well-known spinach dishes, to search Gurme Bebek for original spinach recipes for your babies and children click here.
 
Nutritional value of one cup of cooked spinach; 
  
Vitamin A 213 mg 
Vitamin K  145 mcg 
Vitamin C 59 mg 
Beta carotene 1688 mcg 
Folate 16.9 mcg 
Niacin 2.1 mg 
Potassium 81 mg 
Phosphor 151 mg 
Magnesium 2.1 mg 
Calcium 42 mg 
Sodium 19 mg 
Iron 1.5 mg 
Selenium 30 mg