5 Most Unhealthy Foods For Your Baby

You must have received ample advice on what you must feed your baby once he is on a solid diet after his first six months. But has anyone ever advised you against certain foods for your baby? Of course, hard, spicy, and stuff that is undigestable would not be recommended – so your common sense suggests. But it could happen that we could get too busy and end up giving our our babies something in a jiffy – anything ranging from chocolates to biscuits! And these are not meant for them. Here’s what you need to avoid:

In This Article

1. Biscuits, Crackers, And Crisps

Crisps and crackers have high salt content. Your baby needs just about 0.4g sodium a day until he turns a year old. High salt content is not what your baby can cope with. Your baby will also get his necessary salts from breastmilk or formula milk before beginning solid food.

Biscuits have high levels of sugar and butter. They are also made of flour that is undigestable by your baby.

When you want to make homemade foods for your baby, ensure that he is not given salt with anything over 0.8g of sodium or 2g of salt a day.

Should you need to give crackers or crisps to your baby, give just about two to four a day. Stay out of giving a whole packet.

Rice cakes and mini sandwiches are the other alternative foods that your baby can have.

2. Packed foods

Packaged foods that are ready to eat – be it for adults or babies – are usually high in sugar and salt content. This is what makes them unhealthy for babies. Plus these foods are sure to have preservatives which might not do your baby any good. Of course, it sounds easier for moms to use packaged foods when other things take away much of her time. But when it comes to the health and well-being of your baby, you might not want to compromise. In fact preparing home-made foods for babies is fun and you might want to prepare every meal right from scratch. Plus, make the food exclusive for the baby. Prepare your meals separately so that you maintain the necessary hygiene.

3. Fizzy drinks

Fizzy drinks are not a thing for your baby. Soft drinks have excess sugar levels. Also, they are carbonated which can give your baby some serious acidity. Soft drinks could also damage your baby’s developing teeth. Fizzy drinks also contain caffeine. They make your baby feel full too quickly, so they also ruin your baby’s appetite. Drinking too many fizzy drinks as a toddler can also lead to obesity.

4. Fruit juice

Well, it might sound that what could be wrong with fruit juices because they are derived from naturally occurring fruits. The fact that ready-to-drink fruit juices might contain excess sugar preempts the consumption of fruit juices in babies. Even when there are no added sugars, fruit juices are still high in natural sugars, and because the pulp of the fruit is removed from the juices, it deprives your baby of the necessary fiber. Fruit juices are acidic in nature which could damage your baby’s teeth.

Therefore, the best beverages that your baby can have are breastmilk and formula milk in his first year. Your baby can also begin to give the baby water after the first six months.

Once your baby is on solid foods, he can have diluted fruit and vegetable juices in the mealtimes. You could dilute the juice with water in the ratio of 1:10.

The best time to give your baby juices is mealtime or snacks time. You should never give juices at bedtime as it can be damaging to your baby’s teeth.

5. Sweets

Sweets are the worst culprit when kids begin them very young. They very quickly get addicted to sweets. So is the case with chocolates. The high sugar content in sweets not only adds the unnecessary calories but also corrodes the enamel in your child’s teeth leading to dental problems.

If you do want to offer your child sweets, make sure that he brushes his teeth immediately after having them. Also, chocolates and other quick-to-dissolve sweets are better than toffees and jellies that your children might chew on for a long time. The longer the sweets stay in the oral cavity, the more are the chances of dental caries. Also, after your child has sweets, you might want to give him a piece of cheese at once to neutralize the sugars. By following these tips, you might be able to curb the damage done by sweets in your baby to a certain extent.

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