Doctors urge nursing mothers to eat potatoes. After all, it is a valuable source of vitamins, energy and nutrients. That is why many mothers are interested in when to introduce potatoes to complementary foods and how to cook them properly. And of course, this question worries parents of babies on artificial feeding.
We will consider how the nightshade vegetable is useful to the growing body of the child and, of course, what harm it can cause. The optimal time for introduction to complementary foods, how often and in what form to give potatoes to a baby - you will learn from this article.
Useful composition of potato tubers
Potato is the second bread. This is what they have been saying in Russia since the end of the 19th century and could not imagine life without both. Modern studies have confirmed the benefits and nutritional value of potatoes thanks to the substances found in the composition of tubers:
- starch is an important source of carbohydrates, glucose and energy;
- sugar, fiber, protein, fats and lipids;
- Vitamin C, PP, B1, B2, B6, K;
- potassium, phosphorus, sodium, calcium, magnesium and other trace elements;
- amino acids: lysine, threonine, leucine, glutamine.
Due to the high nutritional value of mashed potatoes, complementary foods are extremely useful, but the baby should receive this dish only after he gets acquainted with less high-calorie vegetables. For example, mashed potatoes from zucchini, pumpkin, broccoli or cauliflower, which are recommended for infants starting at the age of five months.
However, potatoes are not only a source of energy. Let's find out about the benefits of vitamins that crumbs will receive from boiled root crops.
Potato Vitamins
Such a familiar and affordable vegetable is a real storehouse of vitamins. Only ascorbic acid contains 11 mg / 100 g, but unfortunately, this substance is destroyed by heating.
Among other vitamins found in root crops, there are many that are not afraid of heat treatment, and even in baby mashed potatoes retain about 70% of their beneficial properties:
- Vitamin B1 (thiamine): its deficiency can cause serious pathologies of the nervous and cardiovascular system.
- Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is necessary for the development of all systems and organs, especially for the formation of antibodies and maintaining immunity.
- Vitamin B3 (PP, nicotinic acid) has a beneficial effect on the formation of the nervous system and the digestive tract.
- Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is involved in most metabolic processes, it is also necessary for liver health.
- A group of vitamins K, among the useful properties of which is ensuring the normal formation of bone tissue.
Now we learn what useful trace elements are stored in mashed potatoes for the child.
Amino acids and minerals
Minerals in potato tubers are in the form of alkaline salts, so they are easily absorbed by the baby's body. Let's look at the benefits of those that are present in sufficient quantities in root crops:
- Potassium (426 mg / 100 g) is necessary for the development of skeletal muscles, the normal functioning of the heart, and maintenance of water and acid-base balance. The daily norm for children is 600-1700 mg.
- Phosphorus (59 mg / 100 g) plays an important role in bone formation. The daily norm for children is 1.5–2.5 mg.
- Magnesium (22 mg / 100 g) ensures the health of the nervous and cardiovascular systems, liver and intestines. A child up to a year needs at least 40-60 mg of magnesium per day.
Among the amino acids that are important for a growing organism in the composition of potatoes, it is worth noting lysine and threonine, which support the immune system, as well as valine and leucine, which provide energy metabolism in muscle cells.
However, useful tubers under certain conditions can be dangerous to the baby's health. Before you know when to introduce potatoes to complementary foods, you need to find out about its possible harm.
Caution Poison!
In the spring and closer to summer, as a result of long-term storage in potatoes, the alkaloid solanine is formed - a nitrogen-containing poisonous compound. Despite the fact that the selection of modern varieties is aimed at reducing the amount of toxin, its concentration is quite high in sprouted and especially green tubers.
By the way, supporters of a healthy diet generally stop eating potatoes from April 1 due to the content of corned beef. An old healthy root vegetable is unlikely to harm an adult healthy person, and it can be poisonous for a baby. Therefore, in the spring it is better to abandon the feeding of potatoes to a new crop.
There are still cases when the child’s body, due to an insufficiently strengthened immune system, refuses to perceive this vegetable.
Potato allergy
In general, potato allergy is an extremely rare phenomenon, however, according to experts, children under one year old are at risk. It is for this reason that 6 months is the earliest age when potatoes are introduced into complementary foods. Moreover, for babies breastfeeding the best time to get acquainted with the vegetable is 8 months.
Not assimilation of potatoes manifests itself as most reactions to a food allergen. It can be:
- skin rashes;
- swelling of the oral mucosa;
- colic and diarrhea;
- allergic rhinitis.
According to experts, an allergy to potatoes passes by 3 years. Therefore, when a child is first given the opportunity to try mashed potatoes, this time, complementary foods should not contain other products. Thus, you can determine the reaction of the baby to a new food. In most cases, it turns out to be positive, but on condition that the mashed potatoes are cooked correctly and from fresh root crops.
How to choose a potato
Of course, the ideal vegetables for the child are grown on their own plot, in an ecologically clean region, and even without any chemistry. However, not everyone has a garden and the opportunity to buy root crops from a trusted supplier. Therefore, choosing potatoes in the store, it is worth considering a number of simple recommendations:
- Refuse imported washed tubers. To preserve their presentation, they are treated with permitted, but chemical preparations.
- Prefer potatoes of local producers. There is always a tag on the grid indicating the state farm (farm).
- Choose smooth, strong tubers, without sprouts, sores and wrinkles.
- You can buy a nitrate tester for fruits and vegetables to be sure of the quality of the purchased product.
If you still have your own potato, it is good when it is stored at a temperature of plus 1-2 ° C. Under such conditions, part of the starch is hydrolyzed to sugars.
Well, now we come to another important issue: how to cook mashed potatoes for the baby.
Preparation and cooking
If you have your own tubers, you can boil them in their uniform, as vitamins and minerals are better preserved. But it is better to peel purchased potatoes, especially in winter, by removing about 2 mm of the peel. Then it must be cut into 4 parts and soaked in water for at least 2 hours. This will turn out a dietary product that is useful for babies, adults and even diabetics.
How long it takes to cook potatoes depends on the variety; they all boil differently. Do you know that this root crop comes from South America? The ancient Incas began to cultivate potatoes about 9 thousand years ago; they not only consumed it, but also worshiped it. And they also used a vegetable to measure time. That ancient semi-wild potato was boiled for about an hour, and if people said that time had passed as long as it took to cook the potatoes, they had in mind about 60 minutes.
Modern varieties of potatoes boil much faster:
- whole medium sized tubers are cooked in a pot or double boiler for 20–25 minutes;
- the cut vegetable will be ready in 12-15 minutes;
- the tubers of the new crop are cooked 5 minutes faster than the old ones.
Do not be afraid to digest potatoes, it will be mashed for the baby, and not for salad. Now we learn how to cook potatoes for the first feeding.
Tasty and healthy
Many children like the taste of potatoes, and they eat mashed potatoes with pleasure, even without salt. The boiled tubers are kneaded with an ordinary crush, crushed in a blender or rubbed through a fine sieve. In each case, add liquid: a little breast milk or milk mixture. At first, the consistency should be more liquid than that of a regular "adult" puree. Besides cooling, the dish will become thicker.
When introducing potatoes into complementary foods, we found out: from 6 months for children on artificial feeding and from 8 on breastfeeding. Now we learn how to often mashed and how much to give the child, so as not to harm health:
- first lure: no more than 1-2 tsp;
- if the reaction is normal, the portion is gradually increased to 150–190 g (by one year of age);
- prepare a child puree with a break of 3-4 days;
- the best time for feeding is lunch;
- It is not recommended to include potatoes in complementary foods if the baby is sick.
Mashed potatoes with milk are a satisfying food, so in its pure form it should be an independent dish. As practice shows, kids eat this vegetable much more readily than others, but sometimes it makes sense to diversify it.
Mashed potatoes with zucchini and other vegetables
A very simple and useful recipe. For cooking, you need to peel, cut and soak the potatoes. A young zucchini without peel and seeds is cut into cubes. How much to cook mashed potatoes, you know. And the zucchini will be ready in 7 - 10 minutes after boiling.
Vegetables are mixed until smooth, milk is added to the desired consistency. If the baby is already used to mashed potatoes, for taste, you can drip vegetable oil or put a piece of butter.
You can diversify the dish with carrots, in time it is cooked, like potatoes. Or pumpkin, which is cooked like a zucchini.
Mashed potatoes and meat
Starting from 6–8 months, along with potatoes, meat is gradually introduced into the baby's food. And when the child learns both products separately, you can prepare him a tasty and satisfying dinner. To prepare you will need:
- meat (veal, turkey or rabbit) - 100 g;
- medium-sized potatoes - 2 pieces;
- milk - half a glass;
- butter - 5 g.
Prepare the potatoes as usual. Boil the meat, remove. Strain the broth and dip the chopped tubers into it. Rub the cooked potatoes through a sieve. Grind the cooled meat in a blender or pass through a meat grinder until a soft, smooth minced meat is obtained and mix with mashed potatoes.
Dilute the mashed potatoes with boiling milk, beat with a whisk for splendor. Add oil to the plate.
There is nothing complicated about the proper preparation of mashed potatoes. The kid will surely appreciate and fall in love with a delicious nutritious dish, and here it is important not to overdo it. The sensible use of potatoes will benefit the growing body, and overfeeding can lead to unwanted weight gain.