Food diversification for babies usually starts around the age of 6 months. The beginning of this food diversification depends on your child but also on the opinion of your pediatrician.
The goal of this food diversification is to switch to solid food and introduce your baby to new tastes and flavors.
However, it is important to know that some foods are strongly discouraged, even to be avoided to preserve your child’s good health! That’s what we’re going to inform you about in this article.
Honey
Honey is one of the foods prohibited for babies under the age of 12 months because it can trigger infant botulism. This one is a rare and severe disease that can cause various symptoms ranging from constipation to difficulty breathing, muscular weakness, and difficulty sucking.
So avoid giving honey to your child, whether it is raw or it is cooked!
Cow’s milk
During the first year of life, The digestive system of a baby is not able to absorb the enzymes and proteins present in cow’s milk. This difficulty of absorption can damage the kidneys of the child.
In addition, cow’s milk does not bring the necessary nutrients to your baby, so you have no reason to give him this type of milk.
Salt
Eating salt is not good for a baby under the age of 12 months. It could attack the child’s kidneys. So it is useless to add salt to your child’s dishes, or to the cooking water. Avoid giving your child chips or other appetizer cookies that are high-salt foods.
Sugar
Baby food and drinks should not be sweetened. Babies’ preference for sweet taste is innate. They quickly get used to the sweet foods and drinks. This could increase the risk of being overweight and also the risk of cavities.
For your information, sugar is called sucrose, glucose, glucose syrup, and fructose on food packaging. So make sure to read packed food ingredients before giving them to your child.
Seafood and Crustaceans
Seafood and crustaceans present high allergenic risks and could lead to many food poisoning, especially for babies under the age of one year.
So don’t give your child mussels, oysters, shrimp, lobsters, and crab meat.
Nuts
Whole nuts and peanuts are responsible for many chokings in young children. They may lead also to allergic problems. This is why it is strongly discouraged to give nuts to your baby.
Fish
Avoid certain fish that have a high mercury content and that can be dangerous for your children like tuna and mackerel.
Consult your pediatrician to know more about fish and when to introduce each type in your child diet.
Fruit juices
When you start food diversification for a baby, you should avoid giving him commercialized fruit juice blocks. Besides the fact that these fruit juices are too sweet, they also provide very few good nutrients and are too rich in sugars. They can suppress your baby’s appetite and could lead to caries and diarrhea.
Raw vegetables
In addition to choking problems as we have seen for nuts, raw vegetables have the disadvantage of containing a lot of nitrates. Besides, some vegetables have a very pronounced taste and are not easy to digest like peppers, celery, salsify, and turnip.
