Best Yogurt for Babies: Let your baby growing up healthy
Did you think about the “first food” for your baby? I assume you did not think about “yogurt” at all. But, you can give yogurt to your baby as a first food. Are you wondering now? No, please do not get worried because I will try to make you understand that why you can do so.
Today, my write up is based on the importance of feeding yogurt to your baby as well as when and how you can do that. Moreover, from the writings you can get an idea about when can babies eat yogurt. But, please remember that, all yogurt brands available in the market may not be the right option for your baby and you have to pick the best yogurt for babies.
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What pediatricians say?
You probably know that, you cannot feed any other food to your baby except your breast milk before your baby is 1 year old. Pediatricians also suggest that and they do not even approve direct feeding of cow milk for your baby before he/she is 1. Yes, it is true that you should not feed straight-up cow milk to your baby. But, although yogurt is a milk product, it is far apart from milk. I will show you that how yogurt is different from milk later on.
I have talked a lot about the usefulness of consuming yogurt.
Yogurt can be a nice food choice for the patients of diabetes also.
When can babies eat yogurt?
According to the opinions of pediatricians, there is no problem if you give yogurt to your baby beginning at six months of age.
Most of the pediatricians suggest starting your baby on yogurt on around 7 or 8 months of age. Moreover, they also suggest yogurt as a nice first food item for the babies for six months or more. Choosing the best Greek yogurt for babies is beneficial for the growth as well as other health conditions for the babies.
Note: Why not you check out some of the best books for babies.
The mostly suggested age to introduce Greek yogurt to your baby is around 8 months of age.
Milk vs. Yogurt
Usually you should not feed your baby cow milk before he/she is 1 year old because, it creates digestive problem to the babies. Before the baby is 1 year old, it is not possible to digest cow’s milk as like as milk formula or mother’s breast milk. Moreover, the direct consumption of cow’s milk can pose harmful effect on the baby’s kidney as well. This phenomenon can occur because, milk has a higher concentration of proteins and minerals. Along with that, cow milk does not contain specific types of fats, minerals and vitamins like mother’s breast milk.
On the other hand, it is much easier for the babies to digest yogurt than milk. The bacteria in yogurt break down the protein and others and thus it makes it much simpler digestion for the babies.
What kind of yogurt can be introduced to babies?
You have to keep several factors in your mind while you are about to introduce yogurt to your baby which includes:
- Avoid low or non fat yogurt: Your baby requires the yogurt with full content of that one and the percentage facilitates the growth of your baby. Moreover, it provides a nice and creamy texture which will be much delightful for your baby. You can move on to reduced form or other dairy products, according to the pediatricians after your baby is around 24 months old.
- Avoid added flavor yogurt: Yogurt with different added flavors are available in the market. But, you need to feed your baby with plain yogurt without any added flavor. You can make yogurt at home and add berries or bananas to make it naturally flavored.
Can babies eat regular yogurt?
Without any confusion you can give plain yogurt to your baby and I am almost sure that you’re your baby will definitely like it.
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, toddlers can only should fed with breast milk up to six months of their age after birth. After that, the babies can be fed with other milk formula and complementary foods from their six months to twelve months of age.
The best yogurt for your babies
The main criteria of the good yogurt for babies are, the yogurt must be made from whole milk.
If your baby is around six months old and your pediatrician gives a green signal, you can give a small amount of whole-milk yogurt to your baby. You may offer plain yogurt to your baby also and hopefully it will be delightful for your baby.
Regular yogurts are basically marketed for the adult population and people used to buy them according to their requirements. On the other hand, baby yogurt is produced from whole-milk. Moreover, baby yogurt is organic and especially traded for babies. Almost all the brands of regular yogurt available in the market are fat-free yogurt and they are not usually perfect for the babies.
Along with that, regular yogurt, which is made from whole-milk, can be grantable to provide your baby. Moreover, whole-milk yogurt is rich in dietary proteins and they are very essential for a baby’s growth and development.
How yogurt helps the baby’s health?
Since yogurt has a higher nutritional value, it aids the total well being and the development of a baby. Besides these, there are also several benefits of feeding yogurt to your baby.
- Improves digestive health.
- Helps in insomnia treatment:
- Makes the bone stronger:
- Treats diarrhea in babies.
- A good food during jaundice and hepatitis: Both jaundice and hepatitis diseases are associated with liver. During these diseases, formation of urea in liver increases. Many doctors and different schools of medicines suggest buttermilk and yogurt during these types of liver disease because, consumption of yogurt on a regular basis, helps to reduce the formation of urea in the liver.
- Treating in urinary tract infections.
Things to consider
You need to keep several things in your mind before introducing yogurt to your baby.
You should consult with the pediatrician to test whether your baby has intolerance to some extent and milk allergy or not.
Milk allergy is also a common problem. Allergy is an immune response which can be occurred by the consumption of specific food items. A large number of populations over the world are allergic to milk. According to research, almost 2/3 percent babies have allergies to milk proteins. If your baby is allergic to milk, you need to go for the dairy free yogurt for your baby.
Finally, I want to say that, it has been established that, the most important food for babies is mother’s breast milk. Without any confusion, no other foods or food supplements can take the place of this. But, as yogurt is a highly nutritious food, it will fortify your baby’s health development. Moreover, breast milk or baby formula should be the major sources of nutrition during the first year of the baby. Through the write up I have tried to focus on the beneficial aspects of feeding yogurt to your baby.
All the information included is based on recent researches. I hope this post will be beneficial for you and you can learn something new also.
Note: Yogurt Trusted Brand: Chobani, Fage, Yoplait, Dannon, Oikos, siggi etc.