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Food to avoid for 1 year old baby


Feeding Your 1- to 2-Year-Old (for Parents)

Toddlers this age are moving toward a diet more like your own. Keep introducing new flavors and textures. Food preferences are set early in life, so help your child develop a taste for healthy foods now.

Toddlers have little tummies, so serve foods that are packed with the nutrients they need to grow healthy and strong. Avoid sweets and empty calories. Don’t give your child sugar-sweetened drinks, such as soda, juice drinks, sports drinks, and flavored milks. Limit 100% fruit juice to no more than 4 ounces a day, and serve juice in a cup, not in a bottle.

Your toddler will continue to explore self-feeding, first with their fingers and then with utensils at around 15–18 months of age. Give your child lots of chances to practice these skills, but lend a hand when frustrations arise. As skills develop, step back and let your little one take over.

Toddlers like to assert their independence, and the table is one place to give yours some sense of control. Serve a variety of healthy foods from all the food groups and let your child decide which of those foods to eat and how much.

What About Milk?

Milk is an important part of a toddler's diet because it provides calcium and vitamin D, which help build strong bones. Most kids under age 2 should drink whole milk. If a toddler is overweight or there is a family history of obesity, high cholesterol, or heart problems, your doctor might recommend switching to reduced fat (2%) milk.

If your child can’t drink cow’s milk, choose unsweetened soy drinks fortified with calcium and vitamin D. Other milk alternatives (such as almond, oat, rice, or coconut) have less protein and may not be fortified.

Kids this age don’t need special toddler milk or formulas, which contain added sugars. Toddlers can get all the nutrition they need by drinking cow’s milk or a fortified soy drink and eating a variety of solid foods.

When your child is 2, you can switch to low-fat or nonfat milk.

Between 12 and 18 months of age is a good time to move to a cup. Instead of stopping bottles all at once, slowly drop them from the feeding schedule, starting with mealtime. Offer whole milk in a cup after your child has begun the meal.

Why Is Iron Important?

Iron makes the red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body. Low iron levels can affect growth and may lead to learning and behavior problems and anemia (a low number of red blood cells).

After 12 months of age, toddlers may not get enough iron because they no longer drink iron-fortified formula and they may not get enough iron-rich foods in their diet.

To help prevent iron deficiency:

  • Limit your child's milk intake to 16–24 ounces (480–720 milliliters) a day.
  • Include iron-rich foods in your child's diet, like meat, poultry, fish, beans, and iron-fortified foods.
  • Continue serving iron-fortified cereal until your child is eating a variety of iron-rich foods.

Talk with your doctor if your child drinks a lot of cow's milk, isn't getting enough iron-rich foods, or if you're thinking of giving your child a multivitamin.

What Foods Should We Avoid?

Offer your child a variety of healthy foods. Watch for allergic reactions when trying new foods. 

Toddlers between 12 and 24 months should avoid:

  • foods with added sugars and no-calorie sweeteners, including sugar-sweetened and diet drinks
  • high-sodium foods
  • unpasteurized juice, milk, yogurt, or cheese 
  • foods that may cause choking, such as hot dogs, raw vegetables, grapes, hard cheese, popcorn, and nuts

Always supervise when your child is eating. Make sure your child sits up in the high chair or other safe place.

How Much Should My Toddler Eat?

Schedule three meals and two or three healthy snacks a day. But expect your toddler to sometimes eat less or skip meals. This can be hard for many parents, but kids should be allowed to respond to their own feelings of hunger and fullness. Toddlers who are full may push food away, close their mouths or turn their heads away from food, use hand gestures, or make sounds to let you know they have had enough. Don't push food on a child who's not hungry.

If you have any questions about what and how much your child is eating, talk with your doctor.

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD

Date reviewed: November 2021

Foods to avoid giving babies and young children

Salt

Babies should not eat much salt, as it's not good for their kidneys. 

Do not add salt to your baby's food or cooking water, and do not use stock cubes or gravy, as they're often high in salt.

Remember this when you're cooking for the family if you plan to give the same food to your baby.

Avoid salty foods like:

  • bacon
  • sausages
  • chips with added salt
  • crackers
  • crisps
  • ready meals
  • takeaways

Sugar

Your baby does not need sugar.  

By avoiding sugary snacks and drinks (including fruit juice and other fruit drinks), you'll help prevent tooth decay.

Saturated fat

Do not give your child too many foods that are high in saturated fat, such as crisps, biscuits and cakes.

Checking the nutrition labels can help you choose foods that are lower in saturated fat.

See more on food labels.

Honey

Occasionally, honey contains bacteria that can produce toxins in a baby's intestines, leading to infant botulism, which is a very serious illness.

Do not give your child honey until they're over 1 year old. Honey is a sugar, so avoiding it will also help prevent tooth decay.

Whole nuts and peanuts

Whole nuts and peanuts should not be given to children under 5 years old, as they can choke on them.

You can give your baby nuts and peanuts from around 6 months old, as long as they're crushed, ground or a smooth nut or peanut butter.

If there's a history of food allergies or other allergies in your family, talk to your GP or health visitor before introducing nuts and peanuts.

See more on food allergies in babies and young children.

Some cheeses

Cheese can form part of a healthy, balanced diet for babies and young children, and provides calcium, protein and vitamins.

Babies can eat pasteurised full-fat cheese from 6 months old. This includes hard cheeses, such as mild cheddar cheese, cottage cheese and cream cheese.

Babies and young children should not eat mould-ripened soft cheeses, such as brie or camembert, or ripened goats' milk cheese and soft blue-veined cheese, such as roquefort. There's a higher risk that these cheeses might carry a bacteria called listeria.

Many cheeses are made from unpasteurised milk. It's better to avoid these because of the risk of listeria.

You can check labels on cheeses to make sure they're made from pasteurised milk.

But these cheeses can be used as part of a cooked recipe as listeria is killed by cooking. Baked brie, for example, is a safer option.

Raw and lightly cooked eggs

Babies can have eggs from around 6 months.

If the eggs are hens' eggs and they have a red lion stamped on them, or you see a red lion with the words "British Lion Quality" on the box, it's fine for your baby to have them raw (for example, in homemade mayonnaise) or lightly cooked.

Hens' eggs that do not have the red lion mark should be cooked until both the white and yolk are solid. So should duck, goose or quail eggs.

Avoid raw eggs, including uncooked cake mixture, homemade ice creams, homemade mayonnaise, or desserts that contain uncooked egg that you cannot confirm are red lion stamped.

Rice drinks

Children under 5 years old should not have rice drinks as a substitute for breast milk or infant formula (or cows' milk after 1 year old) as they may contain too much arsenic.

Arsenic is found naturally in the environment and can find its way into our food and water.

Rice tends to take up more arsenic than other grains, but this does not mean that you or your baby cannot eat rice.

In the UK, there are maximum levels of inorganic arsenic allowed in rice and rice products, and even stricter levels are set for foods intended for young children.

Do not worry if your child has already had rice drinks. There's no immediate risk to them, but it's best to switch to a different kind of milk.

Raw jelly cubes

Raw jelly cubes can be a choking hazard for babies and young children.

If you're making jelly from raw jelly cubes, make sure you always follow the manufacturers' instructions.

Raw shellfish

Raw or lightly cooked shellfish, such as mussels, clams and oysters, can increase the risk of food poisoning, so it's best not to give it to babies.

Shark, swordfish and marlin

Do not give your baby shark, swordfish or marlin. The amount of mercury in these fish can affect the development of a baby's nervous system.

Further information

For more information and advice about babies and food, see:

  • food allergies in babies and young children
  • your baby's first solid foods
  • baby and toddler meal ideas
90,000 prohibited foods. What not to feed children

On holidays, when the family gets together, there is a great temptation to feed the baby, who is just getting acquainted with "adult" food, from a common table. What can be given to a child from 1 to 3 years old from the holiday menu, and what foods and dishes are not yet his age? What should be avoided in the nutrition of children and after 3 years? Tips for moms.

Meals for children after 1 year

Meals for 1 year olds should be tender in texture, but with small pieces, on which the baby can practice his ability to chew. Among the numerous culinary techniques, choose the most gentle ones so as not to burden the digestion of the little one too much: boil, stew, bake or steam. nine0005

By the age of one, babies have time to get acquainted with the main varieties of meat and lean fish, but if earlier you offered them to him only in the form of mashed potatoes, now also in cutlets (steamed, not fried), meatballs, baked dishes. As in any full-fledged dinner, a side dish will become an addition to them: at this age, the baby will already be able to appreciate both pasta and cereals (buckwheat, rice), and, of course, all kinds of vegetables - fresh (grated on a fine, and later on a coarse grater) , boiled, stewed, steamed.

For dessert, offer your gourmet "vitamin" porridge with pieces of vegetables, fruits or dried fruits, cottage cheese casserole or semolina pudding.


Menu for a child 1.5-2 years old

Closer to two years, the baby gradually gets acquainted with dishes familiar to all adults. Now mashed potatoes and airy soufflés can be made rarer guests on the baby’s table, and meat, vegetables and fruits can be cut larger. At the same time, one should not forget that the child’s body is not yet ready to accept everything that appears on the family table. Not suitable for a two-year-old baby:

  • fried foods - they irritate the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract and contain too much fat;
  • breaded dishes - for the same reasons;
  • strong meat and fish broths - they have too much concentrated substances;
  • spicy dishes with vinegar and spices - for example, canned squash and eggplant caviar.

To provide your baby's body with everything it needs for growth and help it develop taste, offer your child at least one vegetable and fruit from each group every day. nine0030 Blue/purple: raisins, grapes, blueberries, plums.
Red: tomatoes, cherries, strawberries, red apples.
Yellow/orange: pumpkin, mango, peaches, carrots, yellow apples, sweet potato.
White: potatoes, bananas, pears, cauliflower.
Green: spinach, broccoli, green beans, green peas, kiwi.

Prohibited foods

When can a child eat something prepared for the whole family? is a question that worries every mother. Usually, the transition to a common table occurs after a year, provided that the food is adapted to the baby's abilities. nine0005

Another question is how to choose foods when a child starts eating meals intended for the whole family. First of all, we must not forget that, despite the "respectable" age of the baby, he still needs a special menu. That is why, even after a year, a child should not be given foods that you are not sure are safe, or offer too “heavy” dishes that can irritate the gastrointestinal tract or cause allergies.

What foods should not be on the menu of a baby under three years old? nine0031

  1. All kinds of broths.
  2. Sausages and sausages, other than intended for baby food (do not give half-smoked and smoked products before school).
  3. Millet groats, except for special children's porridge.
  4. Curd desserts and milkshakes of industrial production (wonder milk, glazed curds, curd mass).
  5. Seafood.
  6. Chocolates, chocolates, chocolate-covered sweets, muffins and biscuits (e.g. kurabye). nine0021
  7. Cakes, pastries with cream.

What foods remain banned after three years?

  1. Mushrooms in any form.
  2. Fatty meats and fish.
  3. Ducks, geese and their eggs.
  4. Canned food.
  5. Spicy sauces, mustard, horseradish, pepper, vinegar, natural coffee, juices and drinks made from concentrates, mayonnaise.
  6. Pates, liver sausages.
  7. First and second dry (freeze-dried) dishes. nine0021
  8. Meat or fish aspic.
  9. Products containing food additives (flavorings, dyes of artificial origin). This includes chewing gum and chips.
  10. Soda; drinks with sweeteners and artificial flavors and/or flavors.

Some foods are best not given to children at all. We are talking about milk, sour cream and cottage cheese that have not been pasteurized and not boiled, about fish without heat treatment (for example, sushi, wobble, etc.) and cold-smoked fish. nine0005

To salt or not to salt?

The body of a baby cannot do without salt. At the same time, his needs for it are quite small, but the excess is completely unsafe.

Salt supplies us with two elements - sodium and chlorine. The first of them is especially important because it supports water metabolism in the body and is part of all its liquid media: blood, gastric juice and others. Without the participation of sodium, the work of muscle cells and blood vessels is not complete; it helps to maintain blood pressure within the normal range. Our body "knows how" to regulate the level of sodium content: if it is not enough, it "asks" to eat something salty, if there is a lot of it - to drink to bring the excess out. nine0005

Modern kids face the problem of an excess of this element more often than its lack, because if they lose it, it is mainly with sweat, during indigestion and vomiting. But studies have shown that there is too much salt in our diet. Having become a "tradition", this feature can cause problems in children in the future with metabolism, in the work of the kidneys, heart and blood vessels. In addition, it is generally difficult for a child's body to maintain the correct balance of minerals in the body, and especially to deal with their excess. nine0005

Of course, the baby's taste preferences will have to be taken into account, but just don't give up right away. If the child refuses to eat any product, offer it again and again, experimenting with recipes, changing the cooking method, decorating the dish, adding non-burning spices.

Our task is to teach the baby to eat moderately salty food. To do this, it is enough to follow simple rules.

  1. Remember that sodium is found in almost all foods that babies will try in the first year of life: it is abundant in dairy products that form the basis of their diet, as well as in meat, cereals and so on. In addition, the need for this element in infants is small. This is why it is not necessary to add salt to children under 1 year of age. It is not for nothing that products from the baby food line either do not contain salt at all, or they contain little of it. nine0021
  2. When the baby grows up, he needs to add salt to food slightly, so that it seems undersalted to your taste.
  3. It is better to salt food at the end of cooking, when the sodium contained in the original products has already passed into the dish you are cooking.
  4. Salt food in several stages, adding salt in small portions.
  5. Make sure that all kinds of pickles, such as fish, as well as sausages, sausages, some types of cheese that contain a lot of salt, appear in the baby's diet no earlier than 3 years. nine0021

Well, I didn’t like mushrooms until a certain age .. I began to eat them after the age of majority for sure, but as a child I remember mushroom soup poured into the toilet until no one saw it, well, in extreme cases, I could strain the broth)) I don’t give my own now mushrooms... and haven't cooked mushroom soups for them yet..
About fish, I don't give fish until a year old, I start introducing it in a year, so the marine one itself shifts... there's definitely a lot of iodine, and for example, mercury accumulates in shrimp .. maybe there is some kind of connection .. I did not study ..)

2014-05-02, Styusha

Mushrooms are very heavy food, poorly absorbed even by an adult organism, + mushrooms accumulate all sorts of filth (forest mushrooms). In general, as far as I know, mushrooms should not be given to children under 7 years old, champignons can be..
It's strange about fish. 2014-05-02, Styusha

About mushrooms - yes, I also read this, they didn’t give the elder one, now he picks them out of pizza - they don’t like it))))
Sea fish is not desirable until a year old, because possible allergen. Then you even need it, if everything is ok. At least that's what the pediatrician tells us.

2014-05-02, mother of a six-year-old and a one-year-old

That's strange... but in Turkey, for example, everything that is "not allowed" here for children after a year :) and shrimp with mussels, if everyone eats, they also gave a couple of things to try

2017-02-07, Olga MARIA

and why, in fact, you can't fish until three years old, And mushrooms after three? nine0014 Nothing explained, just a list.

2014-05-01, Rainmaker

Heavy porridge for the digestive tract (I don’t remember the details). It is not recommended for adults to eat it often.

2014-05-05, MarikaCh

In the same place, it seems, it is written about the "fatty varieties" of fish. Fatty, of course, are difficult for the digestive tract.

2014-05-05, MarikaCh

Total 11 reviews Read all reviews.

Feeding a sick child

Publication date: 12/15/2016 08:22

April 22nd, 2016 Olga.

While the child grows up, he will be ill with various diseases more than once. About 80% is accounted for by SARS. Any disease (we are now talking about the flu, SARS) is characterized by poor health of the child - malaise, cough, runny nose, weakness, and maybe intestinal upset. And all this affects the appetite of the child. If a child has caught a cold, mothers always ask themselves the question: how to feed him properly? Proper nutrition of a sick child will help to quickly cope with the disease. nine0005

During an illness, the baby always has a poor appetite. There are physiological reasons for this:

  • at elevated temperatures, blood circulation in the stomach slows down. because the body sends blood to vital organs: the heart and lungs. The process of digestion and assimilation of food slows down and the child needs less food than usual;
  • during an illness, the liver actively fights toxins, the products of the vital activity of viruses and the decay of damaged cells, so a large amount of food carries an additional burden; nine0021
  • the toxins themselves poison the body and the child, when he is ill, not at all up to food;
  • blocked nose, sore throat, difficult to swallow.

  • Nutrition should be appropriate for the age of the child;
  • during illness, do not introduce new foods into the diet;
  • food should be sparing - liquid or semi-liquid;
  • make small meals if the baby does not want to eat, and the number of feedings can be increased;
  • if the child refuses to eat, let him drink more fluids (water, compote, fruit drink, rosehip broth). nine0021

From the diet during the period of illness should be excluded:

  1. Hard-to-digest foods - fatty meat, whole grain cereals, fresh vegetables and fruits.
  2. Foods harmful to the liver - fatty dairy products, chocolate, vegetable oil, lard, confectionery.
  3. Coarse, which can damage the mucous membrane - nuts, seeds, crackers, cookies.

Useful menu

During an illness, a child needs food that is well absorbed by a weakened body. Therefore, chicken broth, vegetable soups, stewed and boiled vegetables are perfect for feeding a child during SARS. nine0005

To avoid mechanical irritation of the stomach, choose foods that are low in fiber. What foods are low in fiber? These are potatoes, cauliflower, pumpkin, rice and semolina, animal products.

Potatoes are particularly delicate in fiber, so include mashed potatoes in your menu more often. You can cook mashed potatoes with sausage, cheese. Beautifully decorate the dish.

Animal protein must be present in the diet of a sick child, since it is a building material for protective antibodies. They are rich in lean meat - veal, beef, lean pork. For soups, use secondary broths from turkey meat, rabbit, chicken breast. nine0005

What else can you feed your child when they are sick? Yogurt helps out well, especially homemade, with the addition of berries.

We cook porridge for the child: semolina, oatmeal, you can also add berries from jam or defrosted.

A sick child needs vitamins. You can make vitamin drinks from rose hips, berries, cook jelly, dried fruit compote, berry juice. . Such drinks will alleviate the condition of the baby if the throat hurts. But with indigestion, milk should not be given at all. nine0005

To increase the appetite of the dish, it is desirable to arrange it beautifully so that the child immediately has a desire to eat it.

Nutrition for a convalescent child

After an acute period of illness, a period of convalescence begins, when the baby is on the mend and nutrition during this period plays an important role. The food of a recovering baby should be rich in energy in order to restore strength, contain minerals and vitamins, the food should be well absorbed.

As soon as the symptoms of the disease subside, do not rush to pounce on a child with enhanced nutrition, it will take a few more days to restore digestion. Continue to follow the diet, adding lean meat and fish, cheese, eggs, boiled vegetables and fruits to it. nine0005

Ideal for casseroles, puddings, steamed cutlets, vegetable soups. Introduce fruits and vegetables into the diet and do not forget about sour-milk products that will help restore the disturbed intestinal microflora. Let during this period the food be fractional, the child eat a little. And when the body gets stronger, the child will return to a normal diet.

Choosing tactics

When feeding a sick child, parents must remember that it is impossible to force-feed a child!

We provide a diet with easily digestible products. Some parents find it difficult to feed the baby during illness, he categorically refuses to eat.

Learn more