The text is for informational purposes only. We urge you not to use diets, do not resort to any medical menus and fasting without medical supervision. Recommended reading: “Why you can not go on a diet on your own.” A special hypoallergenic diet for children can be prescribed even for newborns. It is characterized by the exclusion of products having increased sensitizing activity.
Also, organic compounds contained in the tissues of plant and animal organisms (extractive components), or substances containing a large amount of essential oils, often fall into the group of prohibited products. Often you can meet kids whose body refuses to accept canned blanks.
But most often, the reason for switching to such a specific diet is various nutritional supplements that are difficult to detect without preliminary analysis. We are talking about dyes, preservatives and emulsifiers, which not all manufacturers indicate in the instructions for baby food. Flavorings with fruit essences that improve the taste of confectionery are also dangerous.
But a truly correct format of nutrition must meet the standards of rational replenishment of microelements, vitamins and energy for a growing organism. To do this, it is necessary to take care of the physiological needs of each child, without infringing on his calories.
Alarm bells
Allergic diseases associated with improper diet are a global problem for parents. This is due to the growing number of chemical additives in food. But if an adult organism is able to more or less cope with an increased load, then for a child’s fragile immunity, such a load can be toxic.
Such loads are most often manifested by varying degrees of damage to the skin and begin with the development of diathesis. Later, seborrhea is added to it, especially pronounced in the crown area. But if you continue to ignore the alarming symptoms, the disease will continue to progress to such manifestations as a milk scab, diaper rash in the groin, armpits and even behind the ears.
Despite the stereotype that diathesis is a disease of the smallest, this is not entirely true. Exudative diathesis is also observed in schoolchildren. Characteristic signs can be found on the elbows, under the knees and other closed areas of the skin.
If you do not change the diet of the child at this stage, then further development is possible:
- severe itching;
- weeping, dry eczema;
- neurodermatitis.
In addition to problems with appearance, the child will have problems with sleep, metabolic disorders, which leads to a sharp weight loss, increased irritability.
Any gastrointestinal disorders contribute to a protracted allergic reaction, and against the background of a weakened immune system, colds, most often of the upper respiratory tract, join.
What to do
To prevent the development of the above events, it is necessary to respond quickly to the first manifestations of the disease. First, remove problematic dishes and purchased snacks from the table.
Children under the age of one year usually suffer from a high susceptibility to cow’s milk protein. If you do not take care of the search for analogues at an early stage, then in the future you cannot avoid a violent reaction to almost all types of complementary foods.
To identify the primary source of problems, it is recommended to enter information about the child’s diet every day in a special notebook. Under all new products, it is better to allocate a separate column, where the time of occurrence of side effects with a detailed description of what happened will be recorded.
Experts insist that the reaction usually manifests itself almost immediately. And delayed variants of the course of the disease provide an interval of approximately 2-3 hours. Based on the observation presented, it would be more logical to introduce a new product in minimal quantities in the morning in order to have time to follow the possible consequences.
In the absence of a reaction, it is allowed to gradually increase the amount and reach the optimal level within three days without fear of encountering an organism’s response such as indigestion, intestines, or a rash. With the opposite effect, the problematic ingredient must be removed immediately and after three months the experiment is allowed to be repeated.
The reason for another attempt is due to scientific research. Since the child’s enzyme systems are quickly rebuilt, the body may not even “remember” that he “did not like” the broth or something else.
Things are a little different for schoolchildren, whose nutrition is more difficult to control. Everything is fine as long as the children at home, under the supervision of their parents, eat only healthy food. However, as soon as the new school year begins, they can secretly buy unhealthy chips, crackers and other fast food, which contains a lot of chemicals that threaten health.
Doctors recommend focusing on the daily rate, as well as on creating a balanced scheme that includes the optimal content of:
- carbohydrates;
- proteins;
- fats.
In newborns who are unable to digest cow’s milk proteins, you will have to replace it with:
- soy formulations;
- low-lactose mixtures.
Because of this, mothers should start their usual complementary feeding schedule a month earlier. It starts with vegetable puree at about three months, and after another four to five weeks, cereals are added on decoctions of vegetables and fruits.
At five months it is allowed to give meat. But fish should be avoided for the first year, since it is it that is listed as an obligate allergen. Fermented milk products, which contain practically no sugar, are added with caution.
For children with exudative diathesis, preference should be given to vegetable puree, casserole, salad, porridge with vegetable oil.
Dietary tables
So that the menu does not turn into a real torture, and the child eats with appetite, you should be especially careful about compiling it. The diet for babies over two years old should include:
- dairy;
- eggs;
- fats;
- meat;
- cereals;
- vegetables;
- berries;
- fruit;
- bread;
- well-chosen drinks.
Any expert will confirm that you should not completely abandon eggs, limiting their use to two times a week, after boiling them hard. If there are suspicions about their safety, you can exclude the protein, which is characterized by increased allergenicity compared to the yolk.
It is better to boil milk for at least 15 minutes, in addition to milk, it is allowed to give:
- low-fat cheese, you can even homemade;
- sour cream;
- cottage cheese.
Butter should be limited, giving preference to refined vegetable oils: sunflower, olive, rapeseed.
If the child still has difficulties with the tolerance of cow’s milk, then beef, beef liver and veal should be excluded from the diet. Instead, you can enter lean pork, lamb, turkey, rabbit meat. Moreover, the meat of young animals is considered more dangerous.
To reduce allergenic activity, it is recommended to first freeze the product, and then put it to thaw, followed by soaking, and the cooking should be completed by long cooking.
Instead of convenient pasta, the use of which is minimized, the emphasis is on acceptable cereals:
- buckwheat;
- oatmeal;
- barley;
- rice;
- corn.
You can supplement them with seasonal vegetables, including cabbage, zucchini, turnips and pumpkins, eggplants, turnips, potatoes.
To reduce the risk of excess nitrate content, vegetables are recommended to be soaked in cold water for about two hours. The same algorithm is used with fruits like:
- some varieties of apples;
- cranberries;
- blueberries;
- plums;
- blueberries;
- Cherries
- cranberries;
- pears;
- gooseberries.
If they are first cleaned before serving, or placed in the freeze/cool mode in the multifunctional refrigerator, the content of possible allergens can be reduced. It is allowed to bake apples, and berries perfectly give vitamins in the form of freshly brewed compote.
In addition to such healthy drinks, you can offer table mineral water or unsweetened tea.
Contrary to the general stereotype regarding the inadmissibility of giving bakery products, black, gray, white bread and croquette-type cookies are allowed.
“Black box”
When compiling a menu for a week, you should definitely keep in mind the entire long list of prohibited ingredients. The easiest way is with representatives of fast food and sweets.
No chewing gum, confectionery, unhealthy yogurt with an almost infinite shelf life. It is better to buy a yogurt maker and cook fermented milk products for the whole family at once. The ban includes sausages and sausages, which are “stuffed to capacity” with sodium nitrite, which is responsible for an attractive appearance.
It is also forbidden to experiment with overseas innovations. Exotic fruits that are not susceptible to allergies due to hereditary predispositions will worsen the situation. Also, be extremely careful to be with:
- any seafood;
- fish, caviar;
- smoked meat
Before giving a child a purchased treat, parents are required to familiarize themselves with its composition. Incomprehensible emulsifiers and other representatives of chemical terminology are a warning factor for parents not to experiment with the health of the child, and even their own.
Experts have developed a rough menu for every day, which looks like this:
- Monday. It is better to start the day with rice porridge and tea without sugar. Dessert is an apple. Lunch consists of meatballs, vegetable soup, and drink compote. For dinner – tea according to the morning recipe with vinaigrette.
- Tuesday. Breakfast includes wheat porridge, apple, tea. For lunch, barley soup, mashed potatoes, beef stroganoff, compote are prepared. Dinner is limited to cottage cheese casserole with jelly.
- Wednesday. Breakfast – buckwheat porridge and tea. Lunch – vegetable soup, stewed cabbage, meatballs, compote. Wednesday ends with milk soup with jelly.
- Thursday. For breakfast, semolina porridge, a bun with jam. Lunch hearty milk soup, stewed carrots, meatballs, compote. For dinner, they cook cottage cheese, pouring low-fat sour cream. They drink kissel.
- Friday. Breakfast – millet porridge and tea. Lunch includes vegetable soup, potatoes, meatballs, compote. Dinner includes a cake with warm milk or cocoa with milk.
- Saturday. Breakfast – milk soup with noodles, tea. Lunch can be more satisfying: barley soup without meat, stew with vegetables, compote. Before going to bed, a vinaigrette with jelly is given.
- Sunday. Breakfast – rice porridge, cheese, tea. Lunch includes borsch, stewed cabbage with meat, compote. For dinner – boiled potatoes with sour cream, jelly.
Culinary experiments are welcome within the allowable list. But all ingredients must undergo preliminary heat treatment. Any pickles, like fried foods, should be completely excluded. The emphasis is on baking and steaming. An alternative would be to use smart technology like a multicooker, double boiler.
Before preparing the soup, there must be a soaking of cereals for two hours, and when cooking meat, feel free to get rid of the broth. After a while, the child will feel relief, and after another couple of months, it is allowed to gradually return to the usual diet, adding in turn the previously excluded foods.
Following dietary prescriptions on a word-for-word basis will help keep the baby in a good mood, and will not disrupt the emerging immunity. Because of this, it is so important to adhere to the doctor’s recommendations without independence and concessions. Only then the result will not keep you waiting.