Prune and pear purée is an easy, yummy and natural way to help babies stay regular. Try this recipe to with baby constipation
Updated 10 August 2021
First, I need to make it clear I am not a doctor, nor am I a professional baby health advisor. I‘m just a first-time mum with a baby that suffered from real-life painful constipation. Feeding my baby, Kai, this homemade Prune and Pear Purée helped relieve his constipation. By all means, give this simple purée a go. However, if your baby is still suffering from constipation, please seek medical advice immediately.
Easy Prune and Pear Purée for babies
This easy prune and pear purée is 100% natural and healthy, ideal for babies that are 4 months or over. There is no added salt or sugar, but it’s tasty enough for babies to gobble it up without protesting! Kai loves eating this purée as the prunes add sweetness, making it very palatable.
Pears and prunes can help relieve constipation on their own, but mixing them together is an unstoppable formula! I would like to introduce you to the 3 P(s) formula below:
PEARS + PRUNES = POONAMI
I am happy to feed this to Kai daily, knowing he is getting a regular intake of iron, potassium and vitamins. Plus, prunes won’t spike up his blood sugar levels.
Since I’ve fed this purée to Kai, we have scored between 1 to 3 poop nappies daily. Kai eats this purée daily for breakfast straight after he finishes with his baby cereal. Feeding this purée to him in the morning means he’ll poop during the day and not at night when we’re all trying to get some precious sleep!
Its inevitable poop talk is happening!
I should warn you there’s going to be heaps of poop talk happening here. If you are anything like my husband, Tomasi, you’ll find poop discussions fascinating. However, if you’re more like my sister and want to gag, then jump straight to the recipe!
Tomasi loves analysing poop! I guess I shouldn’t have a problem with this, as each time Kai does a stinker, he nominates to change his nappy. Without fail, I can always count on Tomasi for a full report on what he saw after dissecting each individual poop. Here are some examples of conversations we’ve actually had:
Tomasi “It’s multicoloured this time like it had choc chips mixed in …what did you feed Kai to make his poop look like this?”
Me “You should ever compare his poop with chocolate ever again! I don’t recall feeding Kai anything that would make his poop look like that.”
Him “Catte, come here as you have to see this! It’s freaking unbelievable! Kai has done the most gigantic mount of poop ever! It’s the size of a golf ball… wait, no, more like an orange! Wow, that’s impressive dude, I’m proud of you, son”
Me “You say that every time and you always exaggerate! last time you said it was the size of a banana and it wasn’t. Again STOP comparing his poop with food!”
Him “No seriously, this one is the size of a melon! How on earth did this come from his tiny body?! Kai’s lost half his body weight for sure after letting this whooper out. Hey Catte, do you know we can that Kai’s healthy by looking at his poop? (he points a finger dangerously close to the poop that’s in the nappy) His poop is perfect! It’s not overly dry or wet but it’s firm and holds its shape, just like a plump sausage.”
Yup, my husband is our resident poop expert.
More yummy recipes for your little one:
Banana Porridge
Lentils Veggie Mash
Blueberry Puree
Polenta Puree for Baby
Kai’s personal battle with painful constipation
We incorporated solids into Kai’s diet when he was a few weeks from turning 6 months. Prior to this, he was only on breastmilk. The sudden change of diet caused him to suffer from lots of ‘poo-crank’, and yes, I have nicknamed this for Kai. Poo crank happens when his little body goes on a poo strike for a few days. When this happens, Kai becomes extremely fussy and cries nonstop. He would also lose his appetite and eat very little. Kai would be in this state until he pooped everything out.
But things went from bad to worse because his constipation started becoming painful. Every single time Kai pooped, he was in extreme agony. He would hug me tightly whilst screaming in pain and his entire body would shake from the discomfort. Kai’s face would also go bright red from all the energy he had spent pushing with all his might. I felt completely helpless and hated seeing him suffer.
We took him to the doctor, and he assured us it’s normal, especially for babies that were exclusively on breastmilk. He gave us some over-the-counter laxatives to mix in his water and assured us it was not harmful to him. Kai rejected this straight away because he could taste the laxative in his water.
Out of desperation, I went to the supermarket and saw Prune and Pear Purées for babies. I bought a few packets to take home with me and fed them to Kai. He happily devoured an entire packet and the next morning, he had a painless poo session. That’s how I came up with the idea to make my own homemade batch of Prune and Pear Purée.
This homemade Prune and Pear Purée is not only healthy and natural, it’s also budget-friendly. Pears and prunes are cheap all year round!
Ingredients needed for prune and pear purée
Prunes are available in the dried fruit section of the supermarket. Most brands of prunes come pitted, but still take care, as I’ve found seeds in Kai’ puree before.
Pears – I usually buy ‘Beurre Bosc’ or ‘Packham’ pears but any type of pears will work. You don’t have to peel the skin prior to cooking, but you can if you wish. Chop the pears roughly into chunks and discard the core.
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Watch how to make prune and pear purée
Written step-by-step guide with photos
In order to preserve as much nutrition as possible, I steam the prunes and pears. BUT, in saying I am not one to judge if you choose to boil the fruits instead. I have done so a few times myself as being a parent is hard and finding time to do specific things is not always possible!
Use a medium-large saucepan with a steamer attachment. Pour enough water into the saucepan and fill it up to one-third of the saucepan. Place the saucepan over high heat and bring it to a rapid boil. Place the pears into the steamer attachment. Carefully place the steamer on top of the saucepan and cover. Steam the pears for 10 minutes, then add in the prunes and steam for another 2 minutes or until pears have completely softened. Remove the fruits from the steamer and place them in a bowl to cool off for 10 minutes.
Transfer the fruits into a blender or food processor and pulse until the mixture turns into a purée. Add a few tablespoons of water if the consistency of the purée is too thick and blend again.
Leftovers – Allow the purée to cool completely at room temperature. Transfer the puree into an airtight container and refrigerate, it’ll be good for up to 3 days. Frozen purée will keep for up to 3 months. Check out how I freeze and STORE HOMEMADE BABY FOOD.
I’ve used a third-party application to calculate the calories and nutritional information, so please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements. For specific details and conversions, visit our Australian Cooking Measurements page.
I would love your feedback and support if you made this recipe. To do this, please rate this recipe and provide a comment by scrolling down this page or by clicking that green circle on the bottom left. An email address is required (for spam), but it won’t be published. I would also love to see your dish, so don’t forget to tag me on my Instagram account ‘3catsfoodie’
Cheers – Cat T
EASY PRUNE AND PEAR PURÉE FOR BABIES
Ingredients
- 4 large pears (washed and chopped roughly) (NOTE 1)
- ½ cup pitted prunes (NOTE 2)
Instructions
- Use a medium-large saucepan with a steamer attachment. Pour enough water into the saucepan and fill it up to one-third of the saucepan. Place the saucepan over high heat and bring it to a rapid boil. Place the pears into the steamer attachment. Carefully place the steamer on top of the saucepan and cover. Steam the pears for 10 minutes, then add in the prunes and steam for another 2 minutes or until pears have completely softened. Remove the fruits from the steamer and place them in a bowl to cool off for 10 minutes.
- Transfer the fruits into a blender or food processor and pulse until the mixture turns into a purée. Add a few tablespoons of water if the consistency of the purée is too thick and blend again.
