Contents:
- Medical Video: Children's Nutrition : How to Get a Child to Eat Healthy Foods
- 1. Chips and pastries
- 2. Ready-to-eat food for children or adults
- 3. Candy and chocolate
- 4. Soft drinks
- 5. Packaging fruit juice
Medical Video: Children's Nutrition : How to Get a Child to Eat Healthy Foods
When your child is around six months old, you can start introducing various types of food as an alternative to baby porridge. Give your baby healthy and balanced food so he has the intake of vitamins and nutrients needed to grow. So what foods and drinks should you limit when your baby is in its infancy? Below is a list of these foods and drinks.
1. Chips and pastries
Your child will eat lots of chips and pastries to satisfy his taste, leaving little room for other nutrient-rich foods. In addition, many food products and processed pastries usually contain high salt.
Babies only need a small amount of salt. Your child only needs less than 1 gram (0.4g sodium) a day until they are 12 months old, because your child's kidney cannot cope with the salt content that is more than this level. Before your baby is six months old, he will get all the salt he needs from breast milk or formula milk. After your baby starts eating solid food, you should not add salt to home-made baby food or ready-to-eat baby food, even if you feel the food feels tasteless. If you cook with flavoring spices, choose flavoring with low salt.
Toddlers still need very little salt. After your baby's first birthday, the recommended maximum daily salt requirement until he is three years old is 2g a day (0.8g sodium). If your toddler likes to eat chips for occasionally, give him three chips or four chips and don't give the entire bag of chips. Fresh fruit or vegetable pieces are a much better choice if your child needs a quick snack. Rice cakes and mini-sandwiches will also be a better alternative.
2. Ready-to-eat food for children or adults
Fast food for older adults and children usually has high salt and sugar content. Therefore this food is not suitable for babies. Make the same food in a healthier and cheaper home. Of course, as a busy mother you may not always have time to prepare food from the start. If you buy ready-to-eat food for your baby, make sure the food is suitable for babies, and not for toddlers or older children. Also, never share your own fast food with your baby.
3. Candy and chocolate
It's hard to keep your little one away from candy and cotton candy. Candy and chocolate contain high levels of sugar in, these foods should be avoided. Sugar can make acids that damage tooth enamel in your child's mouth. If you want to give your child a little candy, give it only at mealtime. When we eat, the amount of saliva in our mouth increases. Saliva will help neutralize the effects of acids that damage teeth.
Chocolate and cake not so harmful to your baby's teeth compared to candy because both types of food dissolve faster.
If you give sweets to your baby, teach him to eat all the sweets in one meal. Some of the sour-tasting sweets, if eaten within 10 minutes are not very harmful to the teeth than eating one every half hour for two hours. You can give your baby a piece of cheese as soon as possible after he finishes eating sweets to neutralize sugar. Also make sure that he brushes his teeth thoroughly after consuming them.
4. Soft drinks
Your baby does not need to drink soft drinks and other soft drinks. This drink is not beneficial, and the acidity contained in this drink can damage the baby's teeth. In addition, high sugar levels in some soft drinks, such as cola, contain caffeine. Your baby needs to drink regular milk plus drink water.
Soft drinks make babies feel full quickly. If your baby drinks soft drinks to satisfy thirst, this can damage the appetite for the nutritious food he needs. In addition, sweet drinks that are high in calories can cause your baby to be overweight in infancy if he regularly drinks them
5. Packaging fruit juice
Fruit juice may sound like a healthy choice. But you should not give packaged fruit juice to your baby for the same reason when you should avoid soda and soft drinks. Fruit juices contain high, acidic natural sugars, which means they can damage your baby's teeth.
Water and breast milk or formula milk are the best drinks for your baby until he is one year old. After that, he can drink full fat cow's milk as the main drink. Milk contains important minerals and vitamins, such as calcium, vitamin B2, and vitamin B12. After you start giving your baby solid food, he can eat mashed fruit or vegetable juice at mealtime even though he doesn't really need it. Dilution of juice with good water uses at least a ratio of 1:10.
To protect your baby's teeth, offer juice diluted in a glass or cup at mealtime, not in bottles or before going to bed. If you raise your baby with a vegetarian menu, vitamin C in fruit juice diluted and mixed with food will help him to absorb iron from food. Giving fruit and vegetables to your baby along with meat will be a better choice.
Now that you know what is not good for your baby, look for other best food choices for your baby instead of foods that are not as good as described.
READ ALSO:
- Healthy and unhealthy drinks for your child
- 5 ways that children don't eat junk food often
- List of foods that should not be given to babies
