Health and growth are the most important factors that you will need to consider for your baby. You need to keep thinking about all the items that you will have to provide your baby to stay healthy. Also, nutrition is one more important item that you need to take care of. Nuts are one of the most vital things that you might think to give your baby. But nuts for babies carry the risk of choking hazard. Still including them in the baby’s diet is important to meet their growing nutritional needs.
So, how can you introduce nuts to your baby and what is the right time and form to introduce them in? What about the risk of nut allergies? This article touches upon the various vital aspects of nuts for babies so that when you plan to introduce, you have the confidence of being well-prepared.
In This Article
- Is it Safe to Give Nuts to a Baby?
- When Can You Introduce Nuts to Your Baby?
- Nutritional Value of Nuts
- Amazing Top 4 Benefits of Nuts For Babies
- How to Introduce Nuts to Babies?
- Precautions to Take While Introducing Nuts to Babies
- Are There Any Side Effects of Nuts For Babies?
- How Do I Know if My Baby is Allergic to Nuts?
- Top 4 Healthy and Tasty Nut Recipes For Babies
- FAQ’s
Is it Safe to Give Nuts to a Baby?
So, your baby has started having solid food, and you have decided to give your baby nuts to have. Before you go ahead, you need to make sure that your baby doesn’t have any history of food allergies or eczema. If this is completely fine, then you definitely can go ahead and give your baby nuts to have.
If you are not sure about the peanuts and whole nuts you can go for other options as well. You can try almonds, walnuts, and others. You need to make sure that if you will start it once, you must continue to give nuts to your baby.
When Can You Introduce Nuts to Your Baby?
There is no such certain age when you can give nuts to your baby. You can start giving nuts while your baby is 6 months old. This time period is just like the time when your baby is going to start having solid food.
You might think about the allergies at that time, but you need to know if you are going to start potential allergenic food at a lower age, then the chances of getting allergies will be less. So, start it at lower age and try if all will be okay.
Nutritional Value of Nuts
This is really one of the most important factors that you need to know before you go ahead and give nuts to your baby. Nuts are rich in protein, fiber, fat, minerals, and vitamins.
So, nuts like pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, and all are really nutrition-dense food items. Also, these will boost the immune system of your baby as well. That is why it is always a better option to provide nuts to your baby if that will not make any issues at all. Here are some of the vital nutrients present in the common nuts that we eat regularly
| Nutrients | Almond | Peanut | Walnut | Pistachio |
| Energy | 580 K.cal | 567 K cal | 650 k.cal | 570 k.cal |
| Protein | 21 gm | 25.8 gm | 15 gm | 21 gm |
| Fat | 51 gm | 49.24 gm | 65 gm | 46 gm |
| Fiber | 12 gm | 8.5 gm | 7 gm | 10 gm |
| Calcium | 248 mg | 92 gm | 98 gm | 110 gm |
| Iron | 4.3 mg | 4.58 mg | 2.91 mg | 4.2 mg |
| Magnesium | 275 mg | 168 mg | 158 mg | 120 mg |
| Phosphorus | 474 mg | 376 mg | 346 mg | 485 mg |
| Potassium | 728 mg | 705 mg | 441 mg | 1025 mg |
| Alpha-Tocopherol | 25.87 mg | 8.33 mg | 0.7 mg | 1.93 mg |
Amazing Top 4 Benefits of Nuts For Babies
While looking for some benefits of nuts for your babies, you will be getting a lot of those. You need to know those before you will go ahead and give nuts to your baby.
1. Nutrient-Dense
Nuts are full of nutrients, and your baby will be getting fat, protein, iron, and vitamins E and B. Not only these, but nuts will provide some other micronutrients like zinc, and copper. These will help your baby to have proper growth as well.
[Read : Zinc For Babies]
2.Heart Health And Metabolism
The various nutrients present in the nuts promote heart health and support a healthy metabolism. All these are necessary for the proper growth and development of a baby.
3. Immune System
Nuts have several antioxidant compounds, and that will help your baby fight various diseases, especially conditions such as cough and cold. Babies have a still-developing immune system and tend to fall ill quickly. They need nutrients that will help them develop a strong immunity and nuts can be of great help in this aspect.
4. Overall Growth And Development of Babies
Various vital aspects such as hormone production, enzyme function, eye development, nerve transmission, and so on are vastly influenced by the intake of nuts. Having nuts regularly can promote the overall development of baby health and wellness
How to Introduce Nuts to Babies?
Nuts are a choking hazard for babies and parents must be careful not to give whole nuts to babies until they are at least 2 years old. But babies need nutrition from nuts. To ensure this proper nutritional supply, you can introduce nut pastes to your munchkin. You can soak the nuts overnight, blend them the next morning and feed the paste to your baby.
It is important not to introduce all the nuts at the same time. Give a gap between two different kinds of nuts. This will give the baby enough time to adjust to new foods. You can identify in case your baby develops any allergies to these nuts.
[Read : Infant Choking]
Precautions to Take While Introducing Nuts to Babies
Before you go ahead and give nuts to your baby, you need to take care of a lot of several things. You will be needing to take some precautions and some of those are as follow.
- Ensure that your baby is not allergic to nuts. The three-day rule is a good way to check if your baby is allergic to nuts.
- If you or your spouse has a family history of nut allergies, you must consult the pediatrician on the right approach to introduce nuts to your munchkin
- Pick organic nuts if you can.
- Avoid giving salted nuts to your munchkin. Salt must not be added to baby food in any form till your baby turns a year old at least.
- Make sure that your baby will have enough water to prevent any types of issues.
[Read : Is It Safe To Add Salt To Baby Food?]
Are There Any Side Effects of Nuts For Babies?
Babies who are allergic to nuts can experience many side effects such as
- Skin redness and irritation
- Hives and skin allergy
- Redness and itching
- Swelling around the mouth and inside the throat
- Blocked nose, running nose
- Difficulty breathing
- Wheezing/asthma
- Stomachache
- Diarrhea
- Nausea and vomiting
- Indigestion
Excess consumption of nuts can lead to
- Weight gain
- Obesity in the long run
- Acidity and heartburn
- Stomachache and diarrhea
How Do I Know if My Baby is Allergic to Nuts?
One of the most needed factors to know before you go ahead and give nuts to your baby is whether their are allergic to nuts. Most often, your baby will develop an allergic reaction within minutes to hours after eating nuts. Some of those are like
- Stomach distress like diarrhea and vomiting
- Redness around the mouth and skin where the nuts will come in touch
- Redness and itchiness on the nose
- Hives can also be there
- Swelling in the face with puffiness around the eyes
- Runny and snuffy nose with discharge
You need to check for all these symptoms, and then you will be able to know if there are any allergies that nut will cause to your baby.
Top 4 Healthy and Tasty Nut Recipes For Babies
Here are four tasty nut recipes for your babies who are starting their journey to solids.
1. Nut Purees
These are the best way to introduce nuts for the first time. Just ensure that you introduce one nut puree or paste at a time and do not introduce mixed nut pastes till you are sure that your baby doesn’t have allergy to any of the nuts. Making nut puree is simple. Soak the nuts of your choice overnight. Next morning, wash the soaked and drained nuts well. Peel the skin for nuts which have skin on them. Now you can make a paste of the nut by adding purified water, breast milk or formula milk.
2. Nut and Fruit Puree
Once your baby is comfortable with a particular nut paste, you can add it to a fruit puree or any puree of your choice.
3. Nut Powder
Dry roast the nuts of your choice, let them cool down, blend them well in a food processor into a smooth powder consistency. You can add this powder to your baby’s formula. You can also cook this powder into your baby’s porridge, cereal, rice or any other meal that they are having. Alternatively, you can cook this powder into some water to make an instant dry fruit paste.
4. Nut Butters
Homemade nut butters are an excellent snacking option for babies. You can also choose to feed organic branded store-bought nut butters but make sure to check the ingredient list for added sugars, salts and preservatives.
Nuts are an important part of a baby’s diet. The risk of choking must not stop you from including them in your baby’s diet. Knowing the right preparation methods and the right age to introduce various nuts is vital. You must also give a sufficient gap between introducing two different nuts. When in doubt, do talk to your pediatrician before giving nuts in any form to your baby.
FAQ’s
1. What Nuts Are Good For Babies?
Almonds, peanuts, walnuts are all nutrient-dense and are excellent for babies. A small intake of these nuts goes a long way in providing vital nutrients and minerals to the baby.
2. Why Are Babies Not Allowed to Have Whole Nuts?
Babies are not allowed whole nuts due to choking hazard. You can introduce nut pastes and nut butters to babies who have started solids.
3. Can Babies Digest Nuts?
Yes, your baby can easily digest nuts and derive all the excellent nutritional benefits as long as they don’t have allergies or reactions to eating nuts.
Read Also: Peanut Butter For Babies – When to Introduce, Benefits and Precautions
