Should baby eat seasoning?

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Spices are an important ingredient to enhance the taste and attractiveness of dishes. Letting children experiment with a variety of spices can broaden their palate and help them learn to eat better. However, feeding your baby seasoning and some spices can contain a lot of salt, so parents need to strictly follow the appropriate dosage.

1. Benefits of giving children spices

Since breastfeeding, babies have had the opportunity to be exposed to many flavors through milk. This can really help develop a child's preference for flavored foods.
Accordingly, it is essential to introduce bold flavors early in baby's solid foods because babies' receptivity to new flavors decreases as they get older. Expanding your child's palate at an early age hopefully helps them appreciate healthy, unprocessed, and delicious-tasting choices. However, among the spices used for children, salt and sugar should be avoided to add to children's dishes, in order to help children feel the taste "naturally".
Thus, knowing how to choose the right and safe spices for children will bring the following benefits:
Add flavor and aroma to food without adding salt, sugar or MSG ; Increase the variety of taste experiences for children, help them get excited about new flavors, and enjoy different flavors will help them accept new foods more easily; Some spices have pharmacological properties, bring health benefits and can help keep the body warm, fight cold, and strengthen the immune system.

2. Should children eat seasoning?

“Should you feed your baby seasoning” is the concern of many parents when they first prepare baby food and find it too bland.
The main ingredient of seasoning is salt and the answer from pediatricians or nutritionists will be no, it is best not to add salt to your baby's food at all when starting solids. before 12 months of age. Before the age of 6 months, babies will get all the salt they need from breast milk or formula. After babies start solids, parents still don't need to add salt to commercially packaged or cooked foods. However, until the baby is 12 months old, parents can give the baby seasoning, but the baby needs less than 1g of salt per day. Even if baby food tastes bland, keep in mind that most natural foods contain some salt and adding seasoning may not be good for your baby's health.
Children's salt needs are guided as follows:
Children under 1 year old: do not eat more than 1g of salt or 0.4g of sodium per day; Children 1 to 3 years old: Should eat less than 2g salt or 0.8g sodium per day; Children 4 to 6 years old: Eat less than 3g of salt or 1.2g of sodium per day. For comparison, the recommended adult salt intake guideline is to eat no more than 6g of salt or 2.4g of sodium per day but most exceed this guideline.
Thus, when feeding the baby wedge seeds in an uncontrolled manner, it can harm the baby's kidneys. More importantly, studies have also shown that when children are introduced to salt in their diets too early, they have a higher rate of developing high blood pressure in adulthood. In addition, salty eating habits acquired in childhood will continue to be strong into adulthood. So, if your baby is used to salty foods at this age, he or she may continue to want salty foods later on.
Besides, to help limit salty food for children, parents should also not give children processed foods with a lot of salt such as fast food, chips, cookies, soups and instant noodles, bread. burgers, processed meats, canned foods with added salt or unhealthy seasonings like sauces and chutneys.
However, if you feel that your child's food is too bland, parents should use spices and herbs instead of salt such as garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin and coriander to add flavor to the food. products safely.

3. The right spices for children

If the baby is exclusively breastfed, remember that the baby has experienced the taste of food from the mother. So these spices will be really familiar and can turn out to be interesting flavors for the baby. If you introduce spices from your usual diet to your baby, they will probably accept it most easily.
Except for salt and sugar, spices suitable for babies include:
Turmeric : This spice is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. This is a bright orange-yellow spice and is one of the main ingredients in most curry powders. If your baby isn't used to it, start with a small pinch of curry powder in one of his or her savory dishes, such as lentils, peas or carrots, to give it a different flavor than usual. Cinnamon: This familiar warming spice is not only a favorite for many, but it's also rich in antioxidants, good for the mood, and can help prevent bacterial infections. Sprinkle a little cinnamon powder over oatmeal, mashed bananas or stewed squash for children to make the food taste more attractive. Peppermint: This popular herb is found in most diets and also taken orally. Accordingly, mint not only enhances the flavor of food but also soothes an upset stomach and has antiviral and antibacterial properties. Try adding some fresh mint to your child's fruit smoothie or yogurt, and they'll love it. Basil: Rich in antioxidants, good for the gut, beneficial for skin, mood and digestion, basil is an ideal choice right from the first meal for babies. This spice can also be easily combined with savory dishes like when making tomato sauce or even sweet dishes like with strawberry puree. Ginger: Ginger offers countless health benefits, but perhaps one of the best for young children is its ability to help ease bowel function problems, from bloating to indigestion. Grated fresh ginger to add to pureed fruit juices such as peaches, plums or plums or ginger powder can be used in cereals and baked goods, parents will bring new taste experiences to children.
In short, the taste of children and adults is completely different. Therefore, when parents think that food for children is bland, parents who give them seasoning can lead to excess salt and harm children. Therefore, do not use seasoning seeds for weaning, but delay until the child turns 1 year old. During this time, parents can try other spices except salt and sugar, which both enhance the flavor of the dish and are good for health.
Reference sources: amaraorganicfoods.com, nuby-uk.com, ovuline.com, babycenter.in