Prunes are a delicious dried fruit with many health benefits. When and in what form can it be introduced into the children's diet? Is it worth introducing prunes to a nursing baby, how to prepare this product for baby food and how to choose the right prunes? Let's figure it out.
Benefit
Dishes made from prunes have the following beneficial properties:
- They contain vitamins necessary for the full growth of an infant.
- They act as a source of pectins that help cleanse the child's body of harmful substances.
- They give the body crumbs of plant fiber, which is important for the digestive tract of the toddler.
- They contain organic acids involved in metabolic processes.
- Replenish the needs of the crumbs in various minerals.
- They are able to normalize blood pressure, prevent the development of cancer and protect the child's digestive tract from harmful bacteria.
- They are a source of substances that protect the body from the harmful effects of the environment - antioxidants.
Harm and contraindications
- Prunes and any dishes made from them are not recommended for infants under 3 months of age, including situations where dried fruit is consumed by a nursing mother.
- You should be extremely careful with prunes in case of diabetes mellitus and excess weight.
- Excessive amounts of prunes can cause diarrhea.
The child may develop an allergic reaction to the product itself, as well as to the chemicals that can be used to process prunes.
Does constipation help?
Prunes contain substances that have a mild laxative effect, as well as plant fiber, thanks to which dishes made from its fruits help eliminate constipation in babies. It is for this reason that constipation in bottle-fed babies is recommended to try to eliminate such a natural and tasty remedy as dried plums. If constipation torments a baby while breastfeeding, meals with prunes should be consumed by a nursing mother.
From what age?
According to the guidelines for introducing complementary foods to breastfed babies, prunes can be fed from 6 months of age. For children who are fed with a mixture, this product can be introduced into the diet from three to four months, especially if babies have problems with stool. A decoction of dried plums is prepared first for a young infant. After it, you can introduce the baby to the infusion, and after 1-2 months - with compote and mashed potatoes.
The introduction of prune dishes should be started with a small portion (for a decoction or compote, this is a teaspoon, and for mashed potatoes - half a teaspoon) in the morning, observing the baby's reaction. It is permissible to increase the portion size only in the absence of any negative reactions to prunes.
How to cook with your own hands at home?
As we have already noted, children of 4 months of age on artificial feeding can get acquainted with prunes in the form of a decoction, compote or infusion. These drinks are usually made at home from dried plums. From the age of 5-6 months, such children can begin to introduce prune puree into the children's diet.
Breastfed babies in the absence of constipation are better off getting familiar with prunes after 6 months.
Puree can be prepared by hand or ready-made (canned) from well-known manufacturers of food for children. Let's take a closer look at the nuances of preparing dried plums for babies at home.
Compote
Wash 10 prunes well in running warm water. Put dried fruits in a saucepan, add 300 ml of cool water and put on fire. When the liquid begins to boil, add 50 g of sugar and cook the compote, reducing the heat, for about 20 minutes.
Puree
Take 3-4 medium sized prunes, wash them thoroughly under running water, and then put them in a saucepan and pour boiling water over them. Leave the dried fruit to soak for several hours (you can also pour boiling water over the prunes in the evening and puree it in the morning). After removing the berries from the water, fill them with clean water and boil for minutes.
After removing the skin from the boiled prunes, grind the pulp through a sieve or chop in a meat grinder. If the consistency of the puree is very thick, add a little broth or boiled water. Put the mass on the stove and bring to a boil, then cool and you can treat the crumb.
Do not store mashed potatoes prepared in this way in the refrigerator. Give your baby only fresh food.
Decoction
Take 5 prunes, then rinse the dried fruits several times in warm water. Put the prunes in a saucepan and pour 200 ml of clean water. As soon as the liquid boils, turn off the stove and leave the drink until it cools completely.
Infusion
Wash 10 prunes in boiled water and place in a saucepan, then pour 200 ml of boiling water there. Place the lid on the saucepan and let the drink sit well for 8 hours.
The main differences between drinks prepared on the basis of prunes:
Should I add dried apricots?
By adding such a healthy dried fruit as dried apricots to the prune compote, you will enrich the drink with valuable minerals, pectin, vitamins and other substances.
Dried apricots are considered more allergenic than dried plums, so the introduction of this version of dried fruit compote should be very careful.
To make a compote from dried plums with the addition of dried apricots, take 10 pieces of each of these dried fruits, about 100 g of sugar and a liter of water. Soak the washed berries for half an hour, then cover with water. Add sugar to the boiled liquid and cook the dried fruits for about 20-30 minutes.
How much to give for constipation?
- Any dish containing prunes helps to cope with constipation in infants, but dried plums compote is called the most effective. You need to give it to the baby a tablespoon several times during the day.
- Both the infusion and the decoction of prunes should be given to infants by a teaspoon in the morning. A lower dose is associated with an earlier age of administration of such drinks.
- When the baby starts to eat prune puree, give him a dish of 3-4 berries. This is the acceptable amount of dried plums that a child under one year old can eat in one day.
How to choose quality dried fruits?
Even adults are not advised to eat improperly processed prunes, so it is important to avoid buying it when it is planned to prepare dishes for little children from berries. When choosing prunes, consider the following nuances:
- Prunes should not look like they are smoked. This may be a sign of the use of liquid smoke in the preparation of a dangerous carcinogen that is banned in many states.
- Choose matte dried fruit that lacks shine. If the berries are shiny, they can be treated with glycerin or other chemicals.
- The color of prunes purchased for a child should be black. The presence of a brown tint indicates the processing of the plums with boiling water, which reduces the useful properties of the final product. If the berries have a gray tint, then glycerin was used when processing the plums.
- Touch the berries with your hands. If the product is good, then there should be no marks on the fingers.
- Check the quality of the purchased prunes by holding them in water for half an hour. During this time, a high-quality natural product should turn white in places. If the color has not changed, this indicates processing of the berries.
- Try one berry before preparing prunes for a nursing infant. The product should have a sweet taste with a slight sourness, but there should be no bitter aftertaste.
Tips
In the process of preparing prune puree for a child, the water in which the berries were cooked should not be poured out. It will come in handy for breeding excessively thick mashed potatoes, and can also be used separately as a compote.
Broth, puree and infusion of these dried fruits can and should be used in the preparation of cereals and curd dishes.
An excellent option would be to combine prunes with constipation-provoking dishes, for example, with rice porridge, mashed bananas or pears, and baked goods.
Find out if your child's weight is normal using the following calculator.
