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Bread: a snack to introduce at the right time
Theoretically, bread should not be introduced into the child’s diet. before 7 months have passed. And, in all cases, its introduction should be adapted according to the chewing abilities and swallowing and digestive tolerance toddlers. At this age, bread is rather offered to toddlers as a supplement to their diet, to train them to chew and help them relieve their gums. It is only around 12 to 15 months that it will be fully considered as a food. At that age, we recommend that you serve 10 g of bread for lunch and up to 20 g for afternoon tea.
Bread: is it good for baby’s health?
Compared to confectionery, industrial cakes, four-hour bread, bread appears as the wise child in the category of more or less essential snacks that punctuate our day. To the point that some do not hesitate to say: “With bread, snacking is no longer an enemy”. Simple food, bread participates in the nutritional awakening of the child. Poor in lipids, it is a good source of carbohydrates (to supply the organs with energy, and especially the brain), vegetable proteins, fibers, vitamins, calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron. If its regular consumption avoids many deficiencies, it must take a daily place in children’s diets, both nutritionally and culturally. It is proven that those who consume bread for breakfast do not know the “pump stroke” of 11am! Without forgetting that, in the diet of obese children, bread is a rebalancing factor. Giving your baby a buttered toast for breakfast is more beneficial for him than stocking up on pastries. So do not deprive him of it.
What kind of bread to give your baby? At the beginning, it is better to give a piece of baguette, sourdough or country bread to a toddler and avoid sandwich bread. Around 12 months, when his digestive system is more mature, you can offer him cereal bread or wholemeal bread.
Which salty or sweet toast for Baby?
Here are some ideas for sweet or savory toast for babies from 15 months…
Sweet toast bread :
– fresh butter (or half-salt) and mashed banana
– sweetened condensed milk sprinkled with bitter cocoa and orange marmalade
– fresh goat cheese and liquid honey
Bread in salty slices :
– crushed tuna and cottage cheese (with a touch of mayonnaise)
– fresh butter and crushed sardines
– butter, ham, mimolette, pineapple, all passed under the grill
– coarsely crushed potato, mayonnaise, chopped watercress
– roquefort and petit-suisse
– slices of Gruyère cheese and slices of tomatoes
– crushed steamed zucchini, salt, lemon juice, sesame seeds
10 bread-based baby recipe ideas
Grilled, sliced, in a sandwich or in breadcrumbs, bread has more than one asset to seduce Baby and all other eaters!
- Country bread (from 12 months)
- Panade (from 12 months)
- French toast (from 12 months)
- Apple slice (from 12 months)
- Sailor sandwich (from 12 months)
- Sweet pizza (from 12 months)
- Breadsticks (from 12 months)
- Mint meatballs (from 12 months)
- Italian pudding (from 15 months)
- Chicken tortilla (from 18 months)