How much bone broth should children under 3 years old eat?

According to nutrition experts, bone broth has many nutrients and is good for health, but how much to eat in a week and how to eat to ensure health, avoiding excess is what everyone needs. care. Especially for children, not every food that is considered good can be used continuously for many days for children because children are not miniature adults, their digestive systems are still immature.

1. Only 3-4 meals a week should be given to children

Bone broth contains calcium and protein, but very little because these substances are difficult to dissolve in water. In 100 mg of bone broth, there is only 0.6g of protein, meeting 1/30 of the child’s protein needs.

In 100 ml of bone broth, there are only 33.5 milligrams of calcium, which only meets less than 1/100 of a child’s daily calcium needs.

Bone broth contains mainly amino acids and fats. However, the fat secreted from the marrow of the tubular bones is saturated fat, causing indigestion for children. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that children’s diets have enough healthy fats by adding fats and oils obtained from vegetable oils and fats. It is necessary to use a variety of fats for children with a ratio of 1:1. Add from 5 ml of oil/fat/meal.

Thus, parents and caregivers should not give their children bone broth every meal. If the bone broth makes the baby eat more delicious, then only give them about 3-4 meals a week. If children are not interested in bone broth, it is not necessary to make bone broth because it is time consuming and has no nutritional effect on children.

Dr. BS Phan Bich Nga

It doesn’t matter whether weaning meals with or without bone broth, it’s important to have animal protein such as meat, eggs, fish, shrimp cooked in flour / porridge for children.

Note that minerals and nutrients, protein only exist in the muscle fibers of the meat, but there is very little water. If you want to stew bones, ribs will be the most suitable bone to cook for children because there are both bones and meat.

Bone broth contains only sugar and fat. However, the fat secreted from the marrow of the tubular bones is saturated fat, causing indigestion for children.

2. Harms of regularly giving children bone broth

Have diarrhea or indigestionAnimal fats are abundant in bone marrow, making it very difficult for children to digest, causing discomfort. If children eat too much and too often, the risk of diarrhea is very high.

Lack of nutrients: Bone broth contains a lot of nitrogen, creating a feeling of sweetness, aroma, deliciousness, easy to eat but low in protein and calcium, hindering the absorption of other nutrients. Therefore, if only using bone broth to cook porridge for children, children will be at risk of serious nutritional deficiencies.

Rickets delayed teething: When simmering bones, the amount of calcium in bone broth is very small and does not meet the needs of children, but it is easy to be mistaken for helping to supplement calcium needs. While for young children, calcium is an extremely important nutrient that contributes to the development of teeth, bones, and height growth.

Children are lazy to chew, anorexia: At the weaning stage, if the child is regularly cooked pureed porridge with bone broth without adding other ingredients such as meat, fish, green vegetables, etc., the child will gradually form the habit of lazy chewing and picky eating. afraid to eat other foods, because porridge cooked with bone broth always feels more delicious and sweet. In the long term, this can affect the child’s ability to eat rough as well as periodontal development.

Ribs will be the most suitable type of bone to cook for children because in ribs there are both bones and meat.

3. Properly cook weaning porridge for children

Regardless of the method of weaning, children’s meals must always ensure all four groups of nutrients, including: starch, protein (meat, fish, eggs…), vitamins and minerals (green vegetables). , tubers) and fat (fat, cooking oil).

In order for children to become familiar with many different foods, to help provide enough nutrients for the body, it is possible to gradually familiarize them with each type of food. It is recommended to puree, mince meat, fish, vegetables at the stage when the baby is just starting to eat solid foods, and gradually increase the coarseness of the food, depending on the adaptability of each baby so that the baby can get used to chewing.

Children should not eat stewed bones often.

For children under 1 year old, do not use fish sauce and salt when preparing baby food. Mothers can change the way they cook the ribs and vegetable juices to make porridge for children to make the dish more attractive.

The sodium requirement of children under 1 year of age only needs about 200mg/day, so children only need to eat regular foods, without adding salt, it is enough sodium. Children under 1 year of age can handle excess sodium in foods naturally, but adding salt to their meals will put an extra burden on the child’s body to eliminate excess sodium, especially the kidneys.

When there is an excess of sodium, children lose their appetite and are more tired because of the imbalance of water in the body. Excess sodium also increases the risk of calcium excretion in the urine, putting the baby at risk of calcium deficiency, the risk of rickets and possibly affecting the child’s height development.

According to Thanh Loan