The importance of the presence of meat products in the ration of crumbs is especially great, because the child's body is characterized by intensive growth and a high level of metabolic processes. Since the age of six months, children have baby teeth, increased activity of digestive enzymes, improves taste perception. In connection with these changes in the body's work, the child's nutrition should become more diverse and include more and more new products - including meat.
Why is it so important?
Meat provides the baby with proteins, their children need more than adults (per unit weight). The proteins contain all the necessary amino acids (including those that are not in milk, for example, taurine, required for the normal development of the central nervous system). Therefore, the protein of meat can not be fully replaced with vegetable and even dairy. In addition, with the meat the child receives fats, they make it possible to cover high energy costs. Fats, which are sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids, improve the assimilation of proteins, minerals, vitamins, affect the metabolic processes, development and growth of the body, take part in the normal functioning of the immune system. But here the measure is important - the excess of fats is harmful - they are deposited in tissues, the work of the gastrointestinal tract, the endocrine system is disrupted, the predisposition to obesity in adulthood is formed.
Meat contains about 20 vitamins (the product is especially rich in vitamins of group B, PP). Meat - the source of many minerals (iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, calcium, zinc, selenium, etc.). Among them, iron is of the greatest value for children. In meat and by-products (liver, heart), it is present in a form easily perceived by the body, that's why it is digested much better (by 30%) than iron contained in plant foods (only 10%).
Think about what food to choose for an infant? Extractive substances contained in meat, stimulate the digestive glands, increase appetite, excite the central nervous system. Quality and fresh meat always has a pleasant taste and is well combined with almost any grain and vegetable dishes.
Let's talk about the terms
Meat puree as a complement to healthy babies is introduced into the diet after 6-7 months, on average - from 8 months. With a therapeutic and prophylactic goal for children with anemia, insufficient body weight gain, intolerance to cow's milk proteins, an earlier introduction is possible, starting from 6 months already. Up to six months, children's enzyme systems, kidneys, liver, stomach and intestines are not yet ready to meet such a serious product, unable to adequately assimilate it. Like previous lures, the introduction of meat should be gradual, start with 5-20 g of beef puree per day (1/4 teaspoon). Consistently increase the volume: by 9 months - to 20-40 g per day, by 10 months - to 40-50 g, by 11 months - to 50-60 g, by the year the amount of meat puree is brought to 60-70 g. At first meeting with meat, mix 0.5-1 teaspoon of meat puree with breast milk. A little later you can combine meat with vegetable puree, but only from those vegetables that the child knows and loves. Note whether the baby liked the new dish, and follow the body's reaction. Next time add a little more meat puree, and then try to offer the child a separate meat puree, rubbed with broth, and also see how he reacted.
Before serving, the pieces can be further chopped, and children older than 2.5 years (usually to this age there are already all milk teeth) - serve unmilled boiled meat. Babies 3-5 years old require 80 to 100 grams of unmilled boiled meat daily.
Which meat to choose?
The question is significant, because the meat of different animals differs in composition, depending on the part of the carcass. Here the principle is that the more fat, the less protein.
For the first complementary foods, hypoallergenic and low-fat turkey and rabbit are preferred. What kind of food to choose for a baby is a question that hundreds of parents are thinking about. Toddlers fit low-fat veal or beef, low-fat pork, chicken, chicken, quail, game meat, lamb are allowed. In comparison with meat of animals, the meat of birds (chickens, turkeys, quails) contains a little more proteins and extractives, but less - connective tissue, and their proteins and fats are better absorbed.
It is better to exclude from the children's menu fat pork and lamb, meat of ducks and geese. Up to 4-5 years (and if possible and longer), it is not necessary to regale the child with sausages and sausages, they contain a lot of harmful substances. Gradually, the children's menu includes offal, the most important in the diet is the liver. It is a concentrate of hematopoietic microelements and all known vitamins (especially A, B2, PP, choline). But keep in mind that there are a lot of cholesterol in the liver, you do not need to abuse it. High language, heart and kidneys are of high nutritional value. The tongue is easily digested, it has little connective tissue, protein and fat are contained approximately in the same proportions. And in the heart of fat is small, only 3%, and protein - 15%.
Cooking or buying?
Prepared at home meat food for a baby is not always more useful and better quality of industrial canned food - to achieve the desired consistency and keep the maximum of valuable substances in your own kitchen is difficult. In addition, the unfavorable ecological situation should be taken into account. Therefore, experts on infant nutrition still recommend, if possible, to use in the diet of toddlers of the first year of life, mainly special canned meat of industrial production. For the production of baby food in industrial conditions, meat of young animals, grown and fattened by specially developed technology, is used, in compliance with all safety rules. Such raw food passes strict control, which, of course, can not be said about meat purchased in the market or in a store. In the production process, the use of genetically modified products is prohibited.
Canned food is made according to recipes balanced in terms of nutrients in a quantitative and qualitative ratio, they are additionally enriched with vitamins and minerals. Industrial production allows you to provide the desired degree of grinding of the product, suitable for a certain age. Also, factory canned food is convenient from the practical side - in order to feed the baby, they need only to warm up.
Delicious company
The composition of canned industrial can be meat or combined. The basis of pure meat canned food is crushed meat, to which broth, butter (vegetable or vegetable), salt, onion, form-building components (starch, flour) can be added. Currently, scientists have developed a fairly wide range of meat, meat-containing (in them more meat) and vegetable-meat (more vegetable products) canned food, differing in the level of meat raw materials. This list is constantly being improved by highly qualified technologists in close cooperation with pediatricians.
When the baby grows up
With the gradual transfer of the child to a common table (after 2-3 years) and the introduction of meat dishes prepared on their own, it is necessary to use fresh, benign, young and lean meat. The fact is that even fresh meat can become a source of infection if it is obtained from a sick animal infected with various parasites, tuberculosis, brucellosis. Buy meat in strictly designated places. Health and safety of your loved ones, and, first of all, of course, kids - in your hands! If you bought ice-cream meat, it thawed, and for some reason you decided not to cook it at once - do not freeze it again. This reduces not only the nutritional value, but also the taste of the product. Therefore, better implement culinary plans, and you can freeze the ready-made dish (cutlets, meatballs, ragout).
Memo for cooking meat
Frozen meat should first be washed with running cold water, then left to defrost in a sealed container at room temperature for 2-3 hours. Using this method, you will preserve its nutritional and taste value. Then gently cut into pieces of the right size, avoiding excessive crushing to conserve more protein and nutrients.
Do not leave the meat in the water "soak" - you will lose a lot of minerals, vitamins and extractives, just wash it with cold water before cutting.
To cut the meat you need to cross the path of the muscle fibers. Do not pre-salt meat, salt removes water from it, and it becomes dry.
Do you want to cook tasty and healthy boiled meat? Put it in boiling water, cut into large pieces, and boil in salted water. At the same time, under the thermal influence, some of the proteins on the surface of the meat piece fold and form a film that prevents the release of various useful substances from it into the water.
If you cook meat for a small child, then after cooking, skip it several times through the meat grinder as it is more easily absorbed by the child's body.
If you need to get a nutritious and boiled broth, the meat should be lowered into cold and unsalted water and then cook on low heat. For a greater yield of valuable substances in the broth, pour a large amount of water into the pan.
When cooking broth, scum should be removed from the surface immediately after its formation. If you are late - the broth will inevitably become cloudy, and it will have to be filtered.
Meat broths are not recommended for children up to 2-3 years, in the future it is better to prepare so-called "secondary" or "tertiary" broths - after boiling, water merges and a new one is poured.
Boiled meat
Take: 100 g of raw meat
Preparation:
The method of cooking meat depends on whether you need to keep it biologically active substances.