July 27, 2015 · Written by Foodtolive Team
Dry Fruits for Babies: When Is It Safe to Eat Them
Your baby requires proper nutrition in order to grow strong and healthy. Considering how nutritious dry fruits are, it’s logical to include them in your precious little one’s diet, right?
It is indeed so. However, you need to remember that dried fruits can be rather heavy, so you need to be careful when you start introducing them to your baby. The best time to get your child acquainted with this delicious food is 7-9 months. At this time, you should start including finger foods into the baby’s diet, so dry fruits will fit right in as long as you remember two important precautions:
- Many dried fruits are coated with sugar syrup that can cause tooth decay and many other problems in babies. Keep this in mind when shopping for this kind of food and buy only sugar-free options, like organic goji berries and Medjool dates.
- Babies have difficulties with chewing, so dried fruits can present a choking hazard. Always cut them to bite-sized pieces and keep an eye on your child while he or she is eating.
Benefits of Dry Fruits for Babies
It’s not mandatory to include dry fruits in your child’s diet, but they offer so many benefits that you definitely should consider this option. The most important of them are:
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- Reducing the risk of anemia.
Many breastfed babies run a risk of developing anemia. Dry fruits prevent this problem due to their high content of iron. - Constipation relief.
These foods are packed with fiber, so they can effectively fight constipation, which is very common in babies. - Protection from free radicals.
Many dry fruits are potent antioxidants, so they protect your babies from free radicals at the most important time of their lives.
In addition, these fruits are full of vitamins and minerals that are essential for bone and eye health. Consuming them during the period of rapid growth will make your child much stronger and healthier.
Dry Fruit and Nut Powder
Dry fruits are good for babies and so are nuts. However, having your baby chew on them is not the only way you can provide your little one with the precious nutrients these foods provide. One of the other methods you can use is making some dry fruit and nut powder and mixing it with milk. This addition will make milk more filling, so it’s a good choice to feed it to your child before sleep. It also goes well with cereals.
There is no universal recipe for dry fruit and nuts powder, so feel free to experiment with ingredients. A blender will be able to crush any kind of fruit and nut in a matter of minutes, and you can change the content of the mix as often as you like to diversify the child’s diet.
