Most recently, it was believed that kids under the age of 2-3 years should not eat yogurt.
Now the situation has changed — thanks to the appearance of special children’s yoghurts.
Yoghurt is a fermented milk product with a high content of fat-free substances, which is obtained by fermenting milk with a Bulgarian rod and thermophilic streptococcus (in other words, the base of yogurt is a starter culture).
The benefits of yogurt is that the Bulgarian rod is a type of microorganisms that has a high biological activity, which accelerates the death of pathogenic pathogenic microorganisms and bacteria, thereby being a natural antibiotic.
What are the benefits of yogurt for children?
- Yogurts are excellent sources of protein with high biological value.
- Yogurts contain calcium, which is necessary for the formation and strengthening of bones, as well as for the growth of teeth, and vitamin B2, which has a beneficial effect on the growth of the child’s body.
- Thanks to the use of yogurt, probiotics enter the body — substances that stimulate immune processes and ensure normal digestion in both children and adults.
Composition of baby yogurt:
- leaven (consisting of thermophilic streptococcus and Bulgarian sticks),
- depending on the manufacturer, a variety of fillers are added (fresh berries and fruits, not cake),
- Often, supplementary yogurts for children are enriched with vitamins of group B, C, as well as with trace elements — iron, zinc, iodine.
It is important to note that children’s yogurts cannot contain synthetic dyes, flavors, dietary supplements and toxic elements.
Yogurts for children, as a rule, are produced without the use of thickeners, so this product usually has a liquid texture and is called drinking yoghurt.
If the thickener is still used, then safe pectin or starch act as a thickener.
When to give the baby baby yogurt?
Today, pediatricians believe that up to 6 months a baby should receive only breast milk or adapted formula.
As he grows up, a child can drink yoghurts and increase their daily consumption.
What are yoghurts and to what extent can children:
- Specialized children’s yoghurts can be added to the nutrition of babies older than 8 months in a volume of 100 ml per day.
- Yoghurts that are not intended for baby food, but “live” (which are obtained by heating milk to 80 degrees, thereby preserving the beneficial microorganisms in the product, without dyes or preservatives), can be given to a child from 1.5–2 years in volume to 150 ml per day.
- For children older than 2 years, the amount of yogurt can be increased to 150-200 ml.
Please note that experts do not recommend the use of large amounts of yoghurt in baby food.
This is due to the fact that the total volume of fermented milk products, which include, in addition to yogurt, cottage cheese, kefir, ryazhenka, etc., should not exceed 50% of the total “dairy part of the diet” of the child.
Children can be transferred to “adult” yogurt at the age of 2 years (some experts recommend raising this bar to 3 years).
Baby yogurts. Rules of successful purchase
- The product should be called «yogurt.» If you have products with the names «yogurter», «biogurt», «yoghurt product», etc., then it should be understood that they do not have useful microflora and have only nutritional value.
- Try to choose yogurts without additives. Natural fruits can be stored in yoghurt only if special chemical stabilizers and preservatives are added to it. It is better to buy yogurt without additives and at home before use, mix in a blender with fruit or berries and immediately give the child.
- For a child not older than 2 years, choose yogurts with a fat content of up to 2.5%, for a child over 2 years old — up to 5%.
- If the package yogurt in the title has a bio prefix, then it should contain information on the concentration of microorganisms at the end of the shelf life. There should be at least 107 CFU (colony forming units) per 1 g of the product.
- If the packaging indicates that the product can be stored at room temperature, it means that it does not contain any living, beneficial microorganisms or bioculture.
Andrei Abakhov, pediatrician: “Yogurt is a very important product in the diet of a child, especially live yogurt. When buying baby yogurt, keep in mind the key differences between conventional (pasteurized) and bio yoghurt. Live yogurts, which contain the necessary microorganisms and beneficial bacteria, are important for the proper functioning of the baby’s stomach and intestines.
The shelf life of such products from 10 to 20 days (on average, 14-15 days).
And in heat-treated yoghurt, after heat treatment, there are no “live” bacteria left, respectively, they have fewer useful properties than in live yoghurt, but the shelf life is higher: for individual manufacturers, it can take up to 30 days.
If you do not trust the store products, you can make homemade yogurt.
But they can be stored for a maximum of 3 days at a temperature of + 4-6 ° C, as are the most “lively” yogurts that sometimes appear on the shelves of supermarkets (although it is almost impossible to find such quality products on sale). ”
Example from a store shelf
The composition of the children’s yogurt «ТЁМА Children’s Green Apple», 210 g:
- normalized milk,
- natural fruit filler «green apple» (fructose syrup, fruit — apple, apple puree from concentrate),
- thickeners (pectins, guar gum (preservative)),
- acidity regulators (sodium citrates, calcium citrates, citric acid),
- natural dye flavoring (natural carotene extracts),
- skimmed milk powder,
- mineral premix (calcium, zinc, copper, manganese),
- vitamin premix (A, D3, E, B6)
- yoghurt starter.
Normalized milk is heat-treated milk, during which a number of useful properties of the product are still preserved. In addition, it should be noted that this yogurt is enriched with vitamins and minerals, which is also a plus.
Buyers can confuse preservatives in the composition: guar gum, sodium citrate, calcium citrate, citric acid.
They are not considered harmful and with moderate consumption of products with their content, in principle, they cannot cause a negative effect on the child’s body.
But if you are still scrupulous in this matter, then try to choose yogurts with a justifiably short list of components.