How old can babies eat seasonings? Principles of adding seasonings to baby food

Some mothers ask if their babies don't like to eat complementary foods because there are no seasonings in the complementary foods and the babies refuse to eat them because they find them tasteless. If you add seasonings to your baby's complementary foods, what principles should you follow? Let's take a look.

How old can babies eat seasonings?

Salt is allowed after one year old: Before the baby is six months old, the baby's taste is sensitive and developing, so parents should not feed the baby food with any seasonings at this time. In addition, babies under six months old can obtain enough sodium for growth through breast milk or formula milk, plus their own metabolic storage. In addition, the baby's digestive system and kidney function are not fully developed at this stage, so the ability to metabolize sodium is low. Adding extra salt at this time will increase the burden on the kidneys and is not conducive to the child's growth.

When the child is about one year old, his kidney function and digestive system are gradually developing, and soft noodles and porridge become the staple food, then you can add salt to the baby appropriately. But at the same time, you should also pay attention to the daily salt intake, which cannot be compared with that of adults. Generally, it should be controlled at about one gram per day, and no more than 2 grams at most.

Vegetable oil can be eaten after six months: In addition to paying attention to the age at which babies can eat salt, parents should also pay attention to edible oil, which is also directly related to the growth of babies. The growth of babies needs to start from an early age, and the younger the baby, the greater the demand for fat, because children need enough fat to provide the calories needed for growth. However, since babies under six months old can get enough fat through pure breast milk or formula milk powder, babies under six months old do not need to add extra "oil".

Eat soy sauce and vinegar late: After the baby is six months old, he should be allowed to eat some richer food and feel the different tastes of food. In particular, he should be allowed to taste the original taste of food. This will help him to establish a correct perception of food and form good eating habits.

However, many parents often use their own taste to judge their baby's taste, and always think that all foods should be added with soy sauce and vinegar to make the food more flavorful. Doing so will only cause the child's perception of the food itself to deviate, and also make the child virtually adapt to the heavier taste. In the future, the child will tend to rely on the taste of seasonings and additives, and will be prone to partiality and picky eating.

Principles of adding seasoning to baby food

Salt - It is best not to add salt to children under 1 year old

No salt added: As early as 2008, the "Dietary Guidelines for Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers and Children Aged 0-6" pointed out that babies under 1 year old do not need to add salt to their diet. It is said that babies under 1 year old need less than 1g of sodium, which can be obtained from milk and other complementary foods. After 1 year old, you can start to add a small amount of salt to baby food to help season it, but pay attention to the salt intake should be controlled within 2g.

Dangers of adding salt:

1. If salt is added too early, the baby will easily develop a habit of liking salty food, which may lead to picky eating in the long run;

2. Adding salt too early can easily cause the baby to take in too much sodium, which can burden the baby's kidneys and increase the risk of high blood pressure in adulthood;

3. If your baby develops a habit of eating salty food, be careful that it may affect the baby's absorption of zinc or cause zinc deficiency in the baby;

4. A high-salt diet can easily kill the normal parasitic flora in the upper respiratory tract, causing dysbiosis and leading to a decrease in disease resistance.

Sugar: After 6 months, baby food should be low in sugar

Less sugar: First of all, please note that less sugar does not mean less added sugar, and when choosing food, try to choose food with lower sugar content. Sugar only provides calories and cannot help the baby supplement any other nutrients. It does not have much benefit for the baby except for seasoning, so try not to add sugar in baby food.

Dangers of added sugar:

1. Sugar can easily make you feel full, and being too sweet can easily affect your baby's appetite;

2. Excessive intake of sugar can easily cause the baby to reject other flavors, which in the long run will lead to the baby's picky eating;

3. If babies eat too much sugar, it is easy to cause metabolic disorders of inorganic salts in the body, prompting the liver to produce a large amount of neutral fat, thereby increasing the risk of early arteriosclerosis in children;

4. Adding too much sugar to the baby's diet will invisibly increase the risk of obesity and tooth decay.

Oil - After 6 months, add one or two drops of vegetable oil to each meal

Less oil: According to the requirements of the Chinese Nutrition Society on infant and young children's dietary nutrition, a small amount of vegetable oil can be added to baby's complementary food after 6 months, generally 1-2 drops per meal. Fat can provide the calories needed for baby's growth. The fat that babies consume from breast milk or formula milk before 6 months is sufficient. As the baby's demand for fat increases, a small amount of vegetable oil can be added to baby's complementary food after 6 months to supplement the fat needed for baby's growth. It is especially recommended that animal oil should not be added, which is not only not conducive to digestion but may also cause digestive diarrhea.

Benefits of adding vegetable oil:

1. Provide heat;

2. Its special fragrance can stimulate baby's appetite;

3. It has a laxative effect;

4. The fat-soluble vitamins in vegetables can be dissolved in vegetable oil and absorbed and utilized by the baby.

Vinegar--Best consumed after 2 years of age

Vinegar is a highly irritating condiment and is best added after the baby is 2 years old. Adding vinegar to the baby's diet too early can easily reduce the baby's taste sensitivity, causing the baby to have stronger tastes. If vinegar needs to be added to certain foods of the baby, occasionally adding a small amount of seasoning can still play a positive role in adjusting the taste, but remember to use only a small amount.

Soy sauce--best added after 1 year old

In the diet, soy sauce is often used to improve the color, aroma and taste of food, and can promote the baby's appetite under certain circumstances. However, it should be noted that soy sauce also contains a high amount of salt. Therefore, consuming soy sauce too early can easily lead to excessive sodium ion intake, which will cause kidney burden and affect the normal development of the baby's taste. Therefore, it is best to add soy sauce after the age of 1, and 1-2 drops each time. Since soy sauce is fermented from soybeans, it is necessary to observe whether the baby has allergic symptoms after the first consumption.

In addition to the above common condiments, natural condiments such as onion, ginger, and garlic are very irritating and should be added only when the baby's gastrointestinal development is relatively complete. Spicy, spicy, and other highly irritating condiments should not be added before the age of 6. These are extremely harmful to the baby's digestive system. In severe cases, they can cause edema, congestion, and even erosion and ulcers in the baby's mouth, intestines, stomach, and other parts.

Is it true that the baby doesn't like to eat complementary food, or is there another hidden reason?

First, the baby always pushes the food out

Teacher Wang Ronghui: This may be a tongue-thrusting reaction!

The tongue thrust reflex is an unconditioned reflex and is an innate behavior. When babies are about four to seven months old, their tongue will push out solid food that enters their mouth to prevent foreign objects from entering the throat and causing suffocation. Look, how smart our babies are, they can protect themselves so well!

Second, turn your head away when the food is near your mouth

Teacher Wang Ronghui: Your baby may not like the tableware used to add complementary food!

Are you still using the "little iron spoon" that your mother passed down to you to feed your baby solid food? Throw it away! Most babies don't like the cold iron spoon in the early stages. Let's go buy a special spoon for babies.

What? This spoon is only suitable for babies aged 6-8 months? 98 yuan for just two months? I'm not a rich man, I can buy a big one, which only costs 20 yuan for three years!

While you are still feeling proud of your own cleverness, your baby is protesting with actions: Such a big spoon, it will break my mouth! I don’t want it! Turn my head away! I don’t want to eat it!

Of course, if your baby is not so particular, you will be secretly happy that you have a baby who can save money. But some babies are not only picky about spoons, but also about bowls. "Why is it so ugly?" "Why is it so old?" We are not easy to dismiss, so hurry up and buy new ones for babies!

Just kidding, it's not that the baby is being squeamish, but that the baby's oral tactile sense is very sensitive, and it is difficult for them to accept objects that are too stimulating. Therefore, it is recommended that mothers prepare tableware with a milder taste, softer texture, and higher appearance when starting to add complementary foods to their babies. Look, in this era, even bowls and spoons have to be swiped to survive!

Third, the baby doesn’t even look at the complementary food that is brought to his mouth.

Teacher Wang Ronghui: Our baby may be in a bad mood or feeling unwell today and needs comfort from his mother.

It is said that it is difficult to guess a woman's mind, but in fact, the most difficult heart to understand in the world is a baby's heart.

When babies are in a bad mood or feel unwell, they will be more resistant to new things and more attached to their mother's milk. Don't rush to feed them solid food at this time. Hurry up and teach them 18 soothing techniques! (Where can I learn 18 soothing techniques? "Baby Sleeping Techniques"! This advertisement is awesome!)

Fourth, I finally put it in my mouth, but vomited it out as soon as I swallowed it!

Teacher Wang Ronghui: If your baby always vomits out food, it may be a gag reflex.

If the baby feels that the food is unsafe or the food particles irritate the throat, it may trigger a gag reflex. If it is a gag reflex, the mother does not need to worry that the food is bad, the smell is wrong, or the baby is unwell.

Mom, I'm not vomiting just because you don't dress up now. I'm vomiting reflex! Do you understand reflex? It's not controlled by the brain!

First, if the tongue thrust reflex is very obvious, you can wait a while before adding complementary food. The mother should encourage the baby to chew more teethers or other oral toys to promote the early disappearance of the tongue thrust reflex.

Second, it is a good idea to try to expose your baby to complementary food tools 1-2 months in advance and encourage your baby to chew and bite more.

Prepare complementary food tools for your baby early, preferably with bright colors to attract the baby's interest! When the whole family is eating, mom can try to guide the baby to play with the complementary food tableware as toys, and encourage the baby to chew and bite more.

There are many baby silicone soft spoons on the market now. It is not a problem for babies to bite and play with them. In the process of holding the spoon, it can also exercise the development of our baby's hands~

Third, beautiful and virtuous mothers should prepare more complementary foods for our babies that taste good and look good.

In the process of adding complementary food, mothers should pay more attention to whether the shape of the food is appropriate. Too large volume, too long fiber, too rough taste, etc. may stimulate our baby's gagging reflex. Of course, some babies may have a strong gagging reflex from liquid food to paste food, and it will naturally decrease slowly after more attempts.

If you want to raise a little foodie, moms have to spend more time and effort to make their babies want to eat.

Fourth, mothers can hug and kiss their babies more often, touch and massage their babies, and bathe their babies, which are all good ways to comfort them.

When the mother finds that the baby is in a bad mood or impatient, the mother should comfort the baby more. In addition to feeding, the mother can also give the baby touch massage and interact with the baby more. The mother can talk to the baby while massaging the baby. The baby will feel the mother's love and care, and the mood will gradually improve.

See? It turns out that so many babies don’t dislike complementary foods! There are so many things to know about adding complementary foods!