Breastfeeding is nature’s best gifts that need no cooking or preparation of meals for our little ones.
However, once baby starts to grow and the weaning period starts about 6th month one should start giving high nutritious healthy foods to the babies complimentary to breastfeeding as long as possible.
Wrong food combinations are a big success running in restaurants, cookery shows, cook books and everywhere – a cross check with this article would definitely help plan better for your little tummies.
Here I would like to share with you few wrong foods that are mistreated to be healthy. Wrong foods can lead to childhood digestive problems and metabolic disorders leading its way to obesity, childhood diabetes, colic, allergies or rashes.
Worst foods for babies
No to mixed foods
Your baby tummy is not yet ready for it. Babies have very little digestion enzymes. Mixing lot many varieties of foods in one bowl can confuse the digestive enzymes – such as mixing cereals with veggies + fats + greens + milk – leading to colic and metabolism issues. Introduce one specific food at a time – check for any issues.
Give your little ones – One full cereal bowl – one full mashed fruit bowl – one full mashed veggie soup – maintaining intervals in between. If baby feels comfortable with the food then continue.
No to fruit mixes
Fruits are often mixed with Yogurt, Milk, Grains, and Veggies which is not a good idea. We think this way we add in lots of nutrition into one cup but there is a lot you need to know.
Fruits being very acidic in nature are very easy to digest when combined with complex foods it may end up struck in your digestive tract with other slow digestion foods causing colic and digestive issues in babies. Fruits alone are best.
No to yogurt + fruits
Fruits are easy digesting and are of cooling nature. Alternatively, yogurt is heating producing and takes a longer time to digest. Mixing both together may lead to stomach troubles in kids.
No to grains + fruits
Grains are starchy and may take considerable amounts of time to digest and fruits work to digest very simply in minutes. Mixing them together may cause fruits to rot inside the stomach of the baby and may lead to tummy ache.
Milk + fruit
Milk has cooling effect while Fruit are acidic. Mixing them together makes the milk curdled in your stomach and ferment causing digestive issues to babies.
Banana + milk do not work well in your gut and your baby has far less digestive enzymes. So make sure you avoid these food mixes for babies.
No to milk + eggs
Milk is cold and eggs are heating, combining both should be avoided.
Yogurts
Yogurts are ideal in winter seasons as it creates heat in the body. While, buttermilk works best in summers and should avoid both buttermilk and yogurt at nights to stay away from colds and coughs.
Six months baby wrong foods
It’s 6th month for your baby!! The teething in process tells us that the baby is now ready for the semi-solids. There run hundreds of questions on what foods to give and what not to.
It is not that easy to understand and come to a conclusion on what worst foods to avoid giving to babies. It is all a trial and error game.
Ready-made foods from supermarket
These convenient foods are loaded with lot many preservatives and high levels of salts, sugars and fats prepared from concentrations diluted by water and a loss in fiber due to processing.
Sugary and salted foods
Babies hardly have any taste buds to feel delicious or tasty for whatever you feed in the early stages. Don’t end up mixing excessive sugars and salts in your baby foods. Try giving your 1 year old (less) babies’ bland foods (a pinch of salt is just enough) and milk without sugar.
These foods high in sugars and saturated fats are teeth-damaging and may also make your baby full with empty calories leaving less space for other healthy foods and contribute to sleeplessness, restless and irritable.
Alternatively, salty foods are also very dangerous for the babies causing dehydration issues.
Eggs
Should not be given before 6 months and from 6-12 only fully cooked yolk can be given. Do not give yellow to the babies as high sulfur content may cause indigestion issues in babies.
Meat
Many parents give meat soups or animal products as they are high in iron + zinc just as cereals but it is one of the worst foods you are giving to the little one too early.
Cheese
Who does not want to have a chubby baby? Almost every one of us wants our babies to be of good weight and healthy. But cheeses are to be avoided as these fermented foods carry food poisoning elements along and require a good deal of digestive strength.
Fish
High mercury content present in few varieties of fishes are to be avoided as they can cause allergies and food poisoning.
Citrus fruits
They are full of acidic nature and may cause tummy aches and rashes. Wait to see if your baby is comfortable with the fruit as all babies are not alike.
Choking foods
High risk choking foods include cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios, popcorns, peanuts and large chunks of carrots or veggies.
Soft drinks
Carbonated drinks, aerated or cold drinks are extremely acidic and can contribute a lot in damaging young teeth and also diminishes digestive power and cause a host of allergies and cold.
Right foods for 6 month babies
What your baby needs to have now?
- In the very start of introducing foods, babies should only be given a single diet of cereals which are easily digested in the little tummies and directly helps in building up the tissue strength.
- Cereals are baby’s first foods packed with zinc + iron + nutrients besides being very easy to prepare choose from oats, finger millets, multi-grain cereal, barley, whole wheat to rice.
- Try giving one food at a time be it fruits or meals to prevent indigestion problems in babies causing colic and tummy aches.
- Introducing Fruit juices is the best option to help baby get vitamin C, D and iron which mother’s milk is deficient in. This introduction of fruit and fruit juices help in supplementing the extra nutrition to the baby at an early age itself. Fruit is basically a supplementary food that is cleansing and cooling in nature should not be fed as main meal or food
- Start introducing root veggies such as carrots, beets, celery and legumes when your baby turns one.
- Never make a habit of choosing foods to your babies, as this may lead to unhealthy food habits in babies from the start. It is the toughest of all the jobs to feed the baby who is always unwilling to eat.
- Honey is a wonder herb for babies but make sure you do not heat them with other foods or as is which makes it poisonous. It has heating elements which helps babies get cure from colds, coughs and allergies. Many consider it to be a wrong food for babies but honey is used as a carrier in many cough and cold syrups. Do not HEAT or COOK honey with foods because it makes the food poisonous and can get stuck to your digestive gut causing many allergies and issues.
- You can even season the cereal with one spice that aids in good digestion such as few cumin seeds or pinch of turmeric or (fennel) saunf – work wonders.
- Only one spice on a go
- Rice pudding
- Moon dal + rice khichdi – one of the healthy and easily digested foods for babies.
- Whole wheat dalia/suji
- Ragi porridge
Hope you really like this article on Worst baby foods – the minute mistakes we were doing all long without understanding the roots of little tummy digestive system. Hope you follow for more….
