Dairy products for babies and toddlers

Parents are often unsure about the question as to what to feed babies and toddlers. It’s because parents care about their children and they would not want to feed anything bad to them, which might affect their health or hinder their growth and development. One of the food items that is often discussed is dairy products such as tasty dahi, full cream milk for babies, and full cream milk for toddlers. Different experts seem to have different opinions on this topic, which further increases the confusion around the type of dairy products that can be given to babies and toddlers. While dairy products are recommended for kids, adults and old people, there are some precautions to be taken when it comes to feeding dairy products to babies and toddlers.

Tasty dahi – This can be given to babies at the age of 6 months. However, at this age, tasty dahi should be given only in limited quantities. Also, it is essential that the tasty dahi is prepared from plain, unsweetened, pasteurized, whole milk. Make sure that you do not add honey since it can lead to botulism due to the bacteria present in honey. Flavored dahi also needs to be avoided since it may contain additional sugar. If needed, you can add fresh fruit to tasty dahi. Once your baby reaches 1 year of age (toddler), you can then increase the amount of tasty dahi.

Full cream milk for babies – You can start giving full cream milk for babies when your baby reaches the age of 1 year. Before one year of age, your baby’s body is incapable of digesting cow’s milk.Not feeding cow’s milk to babies less than a year’s age is the standard recommendation provided in most cases by pediatricians.

Full cream milk for toddlers–As your baby reaches one year of age, he/she will technically become a toddler. At this point of time, you can start using full cream milk for toddlers. Starting at one year of age, your baby will need an increasing amount of nutrients, which can be supplied with full cream milk for toddlers. The recommendation, as per the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), is 16 to 20 ounces (2 to 2 1/2 cups) of cow’s milk a day for toddlers.

You need to check for food allergies to ensure your baby is not suffering from any unwanted health issues. Also, make sure that you buy milk and milk products from a reliable source.