Introducing your babies to different vegetables and fruits is important once they cross the age of 6 months. But what’s more important is to think about the nitrate levels in the vegetables that you offer to your baby.
Nitrates are found in the fertilizers, water as well as the soil where vegetables grow. Nitrates tend to react with hemoglobin in the human body and covert it to metahemoglobin. This metahemoglobin does carry oxygen just like hemoglobin but does not provide it to the tissues. This can in turn lead to tissues being starved of oxygen leading to distress, seizures, cardiac arrest, coma, or even death.
The good thing is that RBCs (red blood cells) contain an enzyme that converts this metahemoglobin back to hemoglobin and prevents these mishappenings. Since the baby’s system is yet developing, it’s best that you wait till the age of 6 months for this enzyme to work better.
Also, there are a few precautions that you can take to make sure that the baby isn’t ingesting excess nitrates through these vegetables. These precautions include: washing the vegetables thoroughly, peeling the vegetables well, soaking the vegetables in water for a few minutes to an hour depending on the type of vegetable, and cooking them well.
Note: Spinach, squash, green beans, beets, and carrots are a few vegetables that contain the highest amount of nitrates. 
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