Pumpkin Purée For Baby: With Pumpkin Spice!

Fall is here and pumpkin spice is the flavor of the season. If you want to jump on this trend, you can make pumpkin purée for babies using pumpkin spice.

The spices make this purée so flavorful and rich. My baby loves it whenever I make it.

If you’re doing baby-led weaning with your baby, you can preload this pumpkin purée into a spoon for your baby to eat. 

You should also try my – Easy Pumpkin Bread For Baby-led Weaning

Why I Love This Pumpkin Spice Purée For Baby

One of my favorite things about fall is the opportunity to get different treats that are flavored with pumpkin spice.

I especially love pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin pancakes. 

When I started baby-led weaning with my second kid, I wanted to incorporate pumpkin spice flavor into the foods I fed him during the fall.

So I figured what better way to do so than to make pumpkin purée that’s flavored with pumpkin spice.

Pumpkin purée for babies is one of the few foods I serve that is mashed up and not in its original form. 

It’s a little hard to feed a whole baked pumpkin to my baby when he’s still so young in his baby-led weaning journey. 

I’m sure that as he gets older, I’ll be able to serve him a whole baked pumpkin.

Check out this list of over 15+ pumpkin recipes for babies you need to try this season

Important Recipe Notes

You can use canned pumpkin 

You can use canned pumpkin to make this pumpkin puree for your baby.

You don’t have to go through the effort of making pumpkin purée from scratch. The canned pumpkin will do just fine.

Just make sure you buy 100% canned pumpkins. Not the pumpkin pie filling that’s used to make pumpkin pie.

Why Pumpkin Is Good for Babies and Toddlers

Pumpkin is a great source of vitamins C and A. 

Vitamin C helps build the immune system response to diseases, and vitamin A is essential for proper eye development in babies (source).

My Favorite Pumpkin Recipes For Babies Are:

• Pumpkin Pancake for babies – so simple to make!
• Cheesy Pumpkin Pasta for babies – so much flavor!

What To Serve With BLW Pumpkin Puree for Baby

Serve with a side of fruits

If you want to add to the fall flavor of pumpkins, you can serve this puree with some fall fruits. 

Some commonly available fall fruits are grapes, apples, cranberries, and passion fruits.

How to serve pumpkin puree to babies ages 6 – 9 months old

To serve pumpkin purée to babies 6-9 months old, You can preload a spoon for your baby and hand it to them. 

That’s if you’re doing baby-led weaning.

Some parents choose to spoon-feed their babies pumpkin purée between this age.

This is not recommended in baby-led weaning because it prevents a baby from learning how to eat independently.

How to serve this pumpkin purée to babies ages 10 -12 months old

Around 10-12 months, most babies should be able to hold a spoon and bring it to their mouth. 

You can help your baby practice eating by loading their spoons, and leaving them inside the bowl.

This way, they’ll have to pick it up and bring it to their mouths themselves.

As they get older, they’ll be able to scoop up food by themselves.

Ingredients for Baby-led Weaning Pumpkin purée 

• Pumpkin purée – you can get a can of pumpkin purée or make your own from scratch.
• Cinnamon – This provides the pumpkin purée with a calming taste 
• Nutmeg – It helps amp up the fall flavor 
• Butter – Makes your pumpkin purée smooth tasting
• Brown sugar – adds a little sweetness to your baby. Especially for babies that don’t like puréed texture.

Cooking Directions For Pumpkin Pancake for Baby

• In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the pumpkin purée, cinnamon, butter, nutmeg, and brown sugar.
• Place in the microwave and heat for 1 ½ minutes on high power, or until butter melts.
• Stir together to combine all the ingredients. Serve when it’s not too hot to the touch. 

Storage Tips For Baby-led Weaning Pumpkin Puree 

This pumpkin purée can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container. You can store it for up to a few days in the fridge.

Reheat it for 1 minute in the microwave when your baby is ready to eat.

You can also freeze it for as long as you want. Note that the pumpkin purée may lose some of its flavor when frozen. 

Did you make this baby-led weaning recipe? 

Let me know in the comments how it turned out!