Should children eat sweet potatoes and potatoes as weaning?

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Weaning is an important stage in a child's development. During this period, parents need to follow some principles about choosing foods for babies. Eating sweet potato weaning and potato weaning are good choices to help your baby develop well.

1. Sweet potato weaning - good choice for baby 1.1 Nutritional composition of sweet potato Sweet potato is a tuber that is rich in nutrients, especially vitamin A and beta-carotene. Therefore, experts have advised parents to add sweet potatoes to the baby's weaning diet to help them grow healthy.
In 100g sweet potatoes have: 86 kcal of energy; 20.12g starch; 4.18g sugar; 3g fiber; 1.57g protein; 0.05g fat; 30mg calcium; 0.61mg iron; 25mg magnesium; 47mg phosphorus; 337mg potassium; 55mg sodium; 0.3mg zinc along with vitamin C, vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, vitamins A, E, K,...
1.2 Uses of sweet potatoes for children's health Rich in vitamin A and beta-carotene Eating sweet potatoes is very good for the health of children because it is rich in vitamin A - an essential nutrient for the eyes. In addition, sweet potatoes are rich in beta-carotene - a precursor of vitamin A, providing a large amount of vitamin A for the body. It can be considered that sweet potato is the tuber with the highest vitamin A content of all vegetables, so it is very good for babies during the weaning period; Rich in vitamins: Sweet potatoes contain many healthy vitamins like E, E, K, B1, B6 and B9. These vitamins help promote healthy growth of the baby's organs; Rich in minerals: Sweet potatoes provide the baby's body with a large amount of important minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, sodium and zinc; Rich in starch and fiber: Sweet potatoes are also rich in starch and fiber, both creating energy for the body and supporting good digestion. 1.3 When to give baby sweet potato weaning? Parents can start feeding their baby sweet potatoes from the first time they start eating solid foods - when the baby is about 6 months old. Because of its high nutritional content, sweet potatoes are one of the first weaning foods for babies. With its distinctive sweetness and soft and easy-to-eat texture, parents can easily make sweet potatoes into delicious snacks for their children.

1.4 Is the child at risk for a sweet potato allergy? Like other foods, sweet potatoes carry the risk of allergic reactions (although rare). Therefore, when giving sweet potatoes to children for the first time, parents should monitor their baby's symptoms. Allergic symptoms usually appear minutes or hours after eating. Common manifestations include:
Urticaria: Appearance of small red spots on the skin in patches; Shortness of breath: The child has difficulty breathing, gasping for breath or wheezing; Swelling: The child has swelling of the tongue and lips, causing discomfort when swallowing; Colic: Baby has abdominal pain, which may be accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea; Weakness and dizziness. If a child has these symptoms of an allergy, parents should take the child to the doctor immediately. Besides, when giving sweet potato weaning to children, parents should only feed the baby with the intestines, avoid eating potato skins because the skin is very difficult to digest.

1.5 How to choose and store sweet potatoes When choosing sweet potatoes, you should choose healthy ones, not cracked, chipped, and feel firm and heavy when picked up. Should avoid buying potatoes that are black or pitted because this is a sign of decay, damage. In addition, you should buy potatoes at reputable addresses, grown according to standards.
About the preservation, you can leave the potatoes at room temperature, pay attention to use them up within 1 week. If you want to store it longer, you should keep the potatoes in a cool, dark, dry place with a temperature of about 15oC. At the same time, you pay attention not to leave potatoes for more than 1 month.
SEE ALSO: Problems with weaning
1.6 Sweet potato snacks for babies To prepare delicious sweet potato snacks for babies, you can combine sweet potatoes with vegetables and oats. barley, barley, meats, fruit and yogurt. The following are simple and easy-to-follow sweet potato porridge recipes:
Sweet potato porridge with chicken eggs
This is a nutritious dish, but for babies 6 - 7 months old, you should only give this dish to your baby for about 6 months. 2-3 times/week.
Prepared ingredients include: 2 sweet potatoes, 1 chicken egg, 1 handful of glutinous rice, 1 handful of plain rice and 1 glass of milk.
How to cook as follows:
Wash the rice clean, put the rice in the pot, fill the rice with water and cook until the rice swells; Peel the sweet potato, wash it, steam it, mash it and mix it with fresh milk. Put in the pot of porridge that is cooking; Separate egg yolks, when porridge and potatoes are mixed together, add egg yolks, stir well. Turn off the stove, let the porridge cool, let the baby enjoy. Pumpkin sweet potato porridge
Ingredients to be prepared include: 1 part sweet potato and 1 part pumpkin.
How to prepare as follows:
Peel sweet potatoes and pumpkin and cut into small pieces. Next, put 2 ingredients in a pot, add water, cook until soft; Put potatoes and squash in a blender, puree. You can also add some water or formula and mix well; Ladle the porridge into a bowl, add 1 tablespoon of Gac oil to make the sweet potato porridge more delicious.

Sweet potato carrot porridge
Ingredients to be prepared include: Sweet potatoes, carrots and water in the right amount.
Cooking method is as follows:
Steam the carrots and cut them into small pieces; Steam the sweet potatoes or bake them until they are soft. Use a spoon to scrape the insides out of the skins; Put both sweet potatoes and carrots in the blender, puree. If the mixture is too thick, you can add a little water, seasoning to taste. SEE ALSO: 10 nutritious porridge recipes, good for kids

2. Eating potato weaning - helps your baby develop comprehensively

For children starting to eat weaning, potatoes are one of the foods that have many digestive benefits and improve the body's immune system.
2.1 Benefits of feeding potatoes to your baby Provides vitamins and minerals: Potatoes contain an amount of vitamins and minerals necessary for the health and development of children; Good for the digestive system: Potatoes are high in alkalinity, which can reduce acidity in the body. This is great for babies and toddlers. In addition, potatoes also promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract of children; Protect liver: Potatoes are very good for the liver, helping to protect the liver from damage caused by chemicals; Antiviral: Potatoes (especially red potatoes) contain anthocyanins, which can prevent the growth of influenza viruses. Therefore, giving children potato weaning can help strengthen the baby's resistance and prevent flu effectively; Skin protection: Vitamin C, enzymes and starch in potatoes have the effect of nourishing skin tissues. In addition, people also use potatoes to beautify or treat burns, to treat inflammation caused by insect bites in young children,...
2.2 When should children eat potato weaning? Potatoes are easy to digest and provide a lot of energy, which can be included in a child's diet from an early age. Because of the high calorie content, you can give your baby potatoes from the age of 7 - 10 months.
2.3 How to choose and store potatoes When choosing potatoes, you should choose those with a light brown skin, lightly scratch the outer skin to see the yellow color of the potatoes. Compared to potatoes with white skin, yellow potatoes will be smooth, friable and have a more delicious taste. You should pay attention to avoid buying potatoes with a scratched skin because it will allow bacteria to penetrate inside the potato.
When buying potatoes, you should also avoid choosing those that are round, sprouted or have green spots because they are not good for health. At the same time, buyers should not choose tubers with nodules, dots, worms, black eyes, rotten, watery, wrinkled skin, ... because they often do not retain their deliciousness and nutrients.
When storing, should keep potatoes in a cool dry place and avoid direct sunlight. Do not store potatoes in the freezer or refrigerator or in a humid place to avoid the risk of sprouting. And before processing potatoes, you should soak the potatoes in diluted salt water for 30 minutes (to remove the toxins in the potatoes).
2.4 Potato snacks for babies Mashed potatoes
Ingredients to be prepared include: Potatoes and dashi broth.
How to do this:
Wash potatoes, peel and cut into thin slices 0.5 - 1cm; Pour the dashi stock and potatoes into the pot, bring to a boil until the potatoes are soft; Put the potatoes in a bowl, mash them and feed them to your baby.

Milk mashed potatoes
Ingredients to be prepared include: Mashed potatoes, bread and breast milk (or formula).
How to do this:
Take the bread core; Mix milk with warm water; Put bread and milk in the machine, blend until smooth; Mix this mixture with mashed potatoes and give it to your baby. Potato salad
Ingredients to be prepared include: Potatoes, broccoli, carrots and yogurt.
How to do this:
Wash carrots and potatoes, peel them, cut into 0.5cm thick slices and then boil them; Take the cotton part of broccoli, boil it and then chop it; Mix potatoes with carrots and broccoli; Add yogurt to the above mixture, mix well and then give it to your baby to eat.

3. Principles when feeding sweet potatoes and potatoes to children

At the stage of 6 - 12 months old, the baby should drink milk with the amount of 750ml - 1000ml/day. At this point, you can introduce solid foods to your baby, gradually increasing and decreasing the amount of milk; Feed your baby from liquid to solid. From the 9th month, the baby can learn to eat mashed porridge and gradually switch to solid porridge; In addition to flour from rice and animal protein, vegetables, parents can give their baby extra biscuits, apples, pears, ... to create conditions for children's teeth to develop. The side dishes that can be given to children are yogurt, pureed fruit,...; Your baby's food should be well cooked and have enough nutrients including starch, protein and green vegetables. Should add 1 teaspoon of cooking oil to the baby's porridge (helps the baby absorb more vitamins in green vegetables); Children eat very bland, so just season a little salt for the baby; Strictly follow the schedule for feeding the baby solid foods, at first you can give your baby about 6 meals/day, then gradually reduce to 5 meals and progress to eating only 2 solid powder meals/day. Combined breastfeeding; Do not force children to eat all the prescribed meals, but should increase or decrease according to the baby's appetite. Sweet potatoes and potatoes are two foods that should be added to the baby's weaning menu to help children develop comprehensively. When feeding babies sweet potatoes and potatoes, parents need to pay attention to a variety of ways to prepare and combine foods to make them eat more deliciously.
For children to be healthy and develop well, it is necessary to have a nutritious diet in terms of quantity and quality balance. If children are not provided with adequate and balanced nutrients, it will lead to diseases of excess or lack of nutrients, which adversely affect the comprehensive development of children in terms of physical, mental and motor skills.
The period of baby eating solid foods is an extremely important period to help children develop comprehensively. Children who do not eat properly are at risk of micro-mineral deficiencies, causing anorexia, growth retardation, malabsorption, etc. If they notice the above signs, parents should supplement their children with supportive products. The supplement contains lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, and B vitamins to help fully meet the nutritional needs of children. At the same time, these essential vitamins also support digestion, enhance nutrient absorption, help improve anorexia, and help children eat well.
Parents can learn more:
Signs of zinc deficiency in children
Micronutrient deficiency and failure to gain weight in children
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