Young mothers are always looking forward to the moment when it will be possible to diversify the diet of their babies. You really want to give your little one something tasty! Not all the same, he should drink milk and eat porridge ?! The first mashed vegetables, fruits, meat puree ... But many parents often don’t even remember about cheese. It is generally accepted that this product is not for infants. Is this statement true and is it possible to give a child cheese?
Why kids need cheese
Cheese must certainly enrich the children's diet. And that's why. The protein contained in this mouth-watering product (and up to 25% there is more than that found in meat!) Is much better absorbed than that found in milk and cottage cheese. Valuable proteins that make up cheese are absorbed almost completely - by 95%.
In hard cheese , there is also a lot of calcium that is so necessary for a child’s body: 8 times more than in milk, and 10 more than in cottage cheese!
Cheese is also rich in phosphorus, fat-soluble vitamins of several groups. It also has many mineral salts.
Thanks to the fatty acids contained in cheese, it improves brain function.
Chewing this rather solid product, the kids develop their jaw apparatus.
Cheese can even be crumbs in which lactose intolerance is diagnosed, because during its production all lactose remains in serum.
Add to this a harmonious combination of proteins and fats - and there will be no trace of doubts about the benefits of this tasty product for the child's body.
What children with cheese are better off
With all the useful properties of cheese, a large number of proteins and fats contained in this product can overload the digestive system of the baby's still not strong body. Therefore, children with digestive tract problems should not be given this product.
Doctors do not recommend it for kids with sick kidneys - because of the high content of salt, which provokes fluid retention in the body.
Rennet and salts also complicate the pancreas.
Some babies are allergic to a cheese product. When can I give cheese to a child with such a pathology? If the crumbs have a tendency to allergies, they will not have to introduce him to delicious cheese before he turns a year and a half, or even later.
Due to the high fat content of the product, cheese should also not be given to young children who have obesity and frequent constipation.
At what age can a child be given cheese
If cottage cheese and kefir are recommended for babies from six months old, then nutritionists advise cheese to be introduced into the diet no earlier than at 11-12 months. The reason is simple - this product is more difficult to digest, and a small immature organism is not yet ready to process it.
The digestive system of a child is more or less stabilized only at an age close to one year. The walls of the intestines of the child are strengthened, due to which the risk that pathogenic bacteria can enter the blood of a small person and allergic reactions to an unfamiliar product appear, is significantly reduced.
By the year begins to produce the necessary amount of enzymes and pancreas. That's when you can give cheese to a child.
What cheese is best for the baby
It is also important what kind of cheese can be given to a child up to a year. The first varieties should be unsalted and without spices. That is, you need to start cheese feeding with Dutch, Poshekhonsky, Parmesan, Russian and similar varieties. Other varieties need to be added more carefully, and this should be done gradually.
The fat content of this product is also very important. Cheese with a fat content of about 45 can be given to babies. Greater fat is harmful to the child’s body, because it overloads the pancreas and liver of a child, and the cheese contained in it with less fat content is less absorbed by calcium.
The menu of a one and a half year old child can already be diversified with the introduction of sour-milk and pickle cheeses: suluguni, Georgian, Adyghe.
But it is not worth accustoming crumbs to processed cheeses and smoked cheeses! This also applies to noble mold cheeses.
When can you give cheese to a child of these kinds? Not earlier than he will be 5-6 years old.
How much cheese to give and in what form
When can a child be given cheese and how much product to start with?
The first time you need to give crumbs no more than 5 grams of cheese. This is the maximum daily allowance for an infant.
Up to two years, the amount of cheese can be gradually brought up to 30 grams per day. But at the same time it should be given only 2-3 times a week.
Pediatricians do not advise giving babies cheeses in combination with meat and butter, so as not to overload children's kidneys, liver and pancreas.
If you want to treat a little son or daughter a sandwich with butter and cheese, which you yourself love, know that this is not worth it, because such a combination of products is unhealthy for a childish body.
Up to three years old, experts advise children to give cheeses in grated form. And only from this age can a fermented milk product be offered chopped into small pieces.
In the morning or evening?
Young parents are interested in when you can give your child cheese: morning, afternoon or evening. Does it matter at what time of day to feed him the baby?
Experts recommend treating the little man with this tasty and nutritious product in the morning, since it is at this time that the enzymes work most actively, which will contribute to a faster processing of cheese by the child’s body.
Observing the above conditions, loving parents will diversify the menu of their child with a tasty and healthy product and will not harm the fragile children's body.