Porridges and porridges for babies - how to choose the best porridge for a child?

Cereals are a very important part of the expanded diet for infants and young children. They are rich in starch, vegetable protein and vitamins, tasty and easy to digest. Gone are the days when mothers could only choose between semolina, porridge and rice porridge. Today, a wide variety of different cereals - dairy, dairy-free, flavored, sweetened and sugar-free, fruit and multi-grain - can leave young parents at a loss. In this guide, we will introduce the most popular types of porridges and offer advice on how to choose the right porridge for your child.

dr.n. farm. Maria Kaspshak

Cereals for children - do products from different manufacturers differ in quality?

Food for infants and children under 3 years of age is food for special nutritional purposes and must comply with certain standards set by national and European legislation. Although each manufacturer has its own production lines and processing methods for raw materials, legal regulations regulate in detail the content of individual nutrients (e.g. vitamins), the type of raw materials used and the permissible residual contamination, including plant protection products (pesticides). Therefore, choosing goods for small children Produced in the European Union by trusted manufacturers, we can expect that we are buying a safe product that fully meets the nutritional needs of infants and young children. In addition, the packaging of such products is labeled, making it easy to select the appropriate age-appropriate product for children and obtain important information about the preparation method, nutritional value and composition, such as the content of milk proteins, lactose, gluten and potential allergens.

Dairy and non-dairy cereals

Almost all cereals are sold as a dry powder in sealed bags or boxes. To prepare them, it is enough to measure the right amount of powder and mix it with warm water or modified milkaccording to the instructions on the package. To facilitate cooking, some porridges already contain modified milk powder, so after dilution with warm water, we get a ready-made, milky porridge, which is necessary in a balanced baby food regimen. Thanks to the content of milk powder in the porridge, you do not need to separately prepare a portion of the modified milk to spread the porridge with it, just use warm water. If your child does not have an allergy to milk or any other contraindications to the use of milk formulas, milk porridges are a convenient and quick way to complete nutrition.

However, when a child should avoid regular modified milk or we want to use porridge for cooking other than milk (for example, to thicken soup), then it is worth choosing dairy-free porridge. Such products contain only cereals (for example, in the form of flour or flakes) and optional additives such as dried fruits, vitamins, sugar, or permitted flavorings. Dairy-free porridges can be cooked on water, but porridge on water is not a complete meal, but only a cereal snack. Dairy-free cereals can also be used to thicken soups, sauces or desserts, and they can also be prepared with modified milk or milk replacer that the child eats daily.

Single-grain and mixed cereals, with fruits, with and without sugar.

At the beginning of an infant's dietary expansion, new foods should be introduced gradually and one at a time. Therefore, at this time it is worth turning to single-component porridge and porridge, i.e., prepared from one type of grain, for example. wheat (semolina), rice (rice porrige), corn, buckwheat Or Millet (millet). It is best to choose cereals without sugar, so as not to accustom the child to sweets. This will avoid problems with caries in the future and develop appropriate eating habits during the period when the child develops his taste preferences. However, from time to time, for example, for dessert, you can give your child a sweetened porridge with a fruit or vanilla flavor. Unless the child has known contraindications (e.g. a diagnosis of celiac disease), the introduction of cereals containing gluten should not be delayed, i.e. wheat and barley. They can be served simultaneously with other grain products.

Once your child gets used to a small amount of the grain product, you can add it to your diet. cereals, consisting of several cereals, with possible additions in the form of fruits, sugar or other ingredients. Such cereals can be in both dairy and non-dairy versions, and their advantage is a greater saturation of nutrients, compared with cereals from one type of grain.

Gluten-free and gluten-free cereals

Some cereals - wheat (including its varieties - spelt, spelt and others), barley and rye - are sources of a protein called gluten. This protein has special properties that give products from these grains a specific texture, and it should not be consumed by people with gluten intolerance due to celiac disease (celiac disease) or gluten allergy. Cereals and cereals that do not contain gluten, such as rice, corn, millet (millet), buckwheat, carob seeds. Oats, due to the profile of cereals and their combined processing in Europe, are almost always contaminated with gluten, so products containing oats are considered gluten-containing unless the manufacturer explicitly states otherwise.

Sometimes gluten intolerance can be so severe that even a very small amount of this protein causes symptoms of the disease, so if you need to follow a gluten-free diet, look for products marked with a crossed ear symbol and the words "gluten free". The manufacturer then guarantees that the technological process for the production of such a product excludes the possibility of contamination with traces of cereals containing gluten. Gluten-free cereals and cereals are also available in dairy and dairy-free varieties.

Organic and organic cereals

For more demanding parents and children, some manufacturers offer cereals made from organically grown cereals. Organic farming products are labeled as "eco", "bio" or "organic". In such crops, the use of pesticides, some chemical fertilizers and plant protection products is prohibited. So you can expect organic farming products to contain less contaminants than conventional crops, but the downside is that they are more expensive.

And while choosing organic products is worth it - both for health and environmental reasons, it should be remembered that all products for children, even those obtained from conventional crops, must meet the same requirements as for the maximum content of impurities that do not exceed the permissible norm. , stringent standards. Whether we choose plain or "organic" cereal for children, we can be sure that it does not contain harmful substances that can harm the health of the child.

Bibliography

1. Decree of the Minister of Health of September 16, 2010 on food products for special purposes (Journal of Laws, 2010, No. 180, item 1214).
2. Website of the Polish Association of People with Celiac Disease – https://celiakia.pl/produkty-dozwolone/ (date of access: 09.11.2020).