Banana "Smoothie" for Babies Who Need Fattening Up

We went to my 9 month old's appt. today and she has dropped from the 50th to the 25th percentile in weight. I am breastfeeding her, and she doesn't like formula, but her nurse practitioner urged me to find a way to sneak it into her diet if I could to supplement her nursing and other foods, as she needs the extra calories and nutrition. I came home and whipped this up. My daughter is a banana fiend and snarfed it right down-- two sippy cups full of it! I hope this recipe, or a variant thereof, might help someone in a similar situation. I pre-mash bananas in the blender or my Kitchen Aid in bulk and freeze them in ice cube trays for later mixing with cereal or other foods I want my daughter to eat.

• Ready In: 5 mins
• Serves: 4-8
• Yields: 3 cups

Ingredients

• 1  cup cold water
• 1 3⁄4 ounces  similac advance powdered  infant formula, or measured amount of your formula to make 12 oz. (differs with brand, read the label)
• 1  whole  fresh banana, rinsed,peeled,and broken into pieces
• 1  banana, mashed and frozen in an ice cube tray
• 1⁄2 teaspoon blackstrap molasses (optional)

Directions

1. Pour cold water into blender.
2. Add formula powder (using 1 1/2 times as much formula as is normal will both provide extra nutrition and help thicken the"smoothie").
3. Place lid on blender and blend until mixed.
4. Add fresh banana and blend until smooth.
5. Add frozen banana cubes one at a time and blend until smooth.
6. If bananas are not very ripe and sweet, you may add blackstrap molasses and blend to sweeten; blackstrap molasses is high in iron and calcium and is an ideal sweetener for babies who need extra nutrition, but if you're using very ripe bananas, you probably won't need it.
7. Serve cold in your child's favorite cup.
8. Refrigerate left-overs you haven't poured into the cup up to 48 hours, but discard anything your child leaves in the cup; anything exposed to her saliva is unsafe for future consumption.