10/04/2020 Alena Masheva Health Every mother carefully monitors her baby’s diet. If she wants to diversify her menu, she studies all the benefits and harms of each specific product. At what age can you give your child an orange? The article will discuss the benefits and harms of citrus fruits for the baby’s body, as well as the peculiarities of their use.
Beneficial features
Orange is one of the most common members of the citrus family. Its fruits attract adults and children with their bright color, pleasant taste and special aroma.
When can you give your child an orange? Before moving on to determining the age of the baby when he can consume the fruit without harm to his health, let’s consider the benefits of the fruit. Here are the main positive properties of orange:
- The composition of the fruit includes: fructose, glucose, sucrose, phytoncides, vitamins C, B, E, B7, minerals and amino acids. Orange contains increased amounts of potassium and magnesium.
- Regular inclusion of fruit in food strengthens the immune system, improves heart and liver function.
- Thanks to orange, you can eliminate constipation, improve digestion and appetite.
- Freshly squeezed juice helps strengthen the skeletal system and preserve calcium in the child’s body.
Oranges have many beneficial properties that manifest themselves if consumed correctly.
Tangerine benefits
In addition to the sweet taste and appetizing aroma, tangerines contain enormous benefits. These “New Year’s seeds” protect children’s and adult health, and here’s why:
- Tangerines are a real treasure of vitamins A, C, D, PP and group B. This beneficial combination is complemented by potassium, calcium and phosphorus.
- This fruit is an effective antidepressant, and it’s not just the bright color. “Thank you” can be said to special essential oils. A child who loves tangerines will be active and cheerful.
- Citrus fruits are always associated with the fight against colds. Despite the leadership of lemons, tangerines also occupy an honorable position on the pedestal of healthy fruits. Tangerine juice has a phytoncidal effect, so it is a godsend during the peak of viral diseases and during the recovery period.
- Love for these citrus fruits ensures healthy glucose levels, excellent intestinal function and metabolic processes.
- Tangerine does not irritate the mucous membranes in the mouth, which cannot be said about its brothers orange and grapefruit.
- The minimum number of calories makes the fruit a dietary and permitted treat for overweight children.
- One cannot but rejoice in the beneficial effect on digestion due to the large amount of fiber.
Harm
At what age can you give your child an orange? Before deciding when to include the fetus in the baby’s diet, it is necessary to consider its negative impact on the child’s body.
Despite its positive properties, orange can also cause harm. It is a strong allergen, so it is not given to infants.
Drinking juice is not recommended for stomach diseases and high acidity. Oranges can negatively affect tooth enamel. This is due to the presence of certain acids in their composition.
Contraindications include:
- pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract (gastritis, ulcer);
- individual intolerance to citrus fruits;
- pancreatitis;
- diabetes.
Harmful substances can accumulate in the zest, so children under 6 years old should include oranges in their diet with caution.
Allergy
When to give lemon and orange to babies? Before including citrus fruits in your diet, you need to understand that they can cause an allergic reaction. Even a slice of orange can cause a rash, redness and swelling of the skin, and indigestion.
The body’s reaction can appear not only to the active compounds included in the fruit, but also to the chemicals with which they are treated for long-term storage.
Any fruit is introduced into a children's diet with caution and in small portions. This is done due to the risk of an allergic reaction. When it appears, they seek help from a pediatrician.
There are recommendations when a child can be given oranges. Parents need to heed this advice.
At what months can fruit be introduced into the diet?
At what age can you give your child an orange? Parents need to familiarize themselves with some of the nuances of introducing fruit into the diet:
- Before starting to include orange in children's menus, mothers should consume it themselves (you can eat just a little). This is done only when the baby reaches the age of 3 months.
- It is necessary to feed your baby orange starting from the age of 10 months.
- Up to a year, the child is given diluted juice or a few drops are added to compote or tea.
- If there are no allergy symptoms, then the portion can be increased with each feeding.
- It is not recommended to give your baby packaged juices, because they may contain harmful compounds.
- There is no need to introduce several fruits into your diet at once (orange, persimmon, lemon, kiwi). If a negative reaction occurs, it will be quite difficult to establish its cause.
- It is recommended to monitor the interval between consumption of citrus fruits (3-4 days). This is enough to establish the causes of the allergic reaction.
- It must be taken into account that even a healthy baby is given orange in certain quantities.
- When feeding fruits, you need to remove the seeds and peel.
When can you give an orange to a child and at what age? Parents should understand that such fruits should not be the first complementary foods for infants. First you need to familiarize the child’s body with local fruits. Oranges can be consumed by children aged 1 year and older. If the baby is allergic, then the inclusion of fruits in the diet should be postponed until 2-3 years.
Due to the fact that oranges are rich in acids, it is not recommended to consume them daily. This will lead to disruption of the gastrointestinal tract.
Negative consequences
Along with their benefits, oranges can have undesirable effects on the human body.
This is especially true for children, because their body is still weak and not ready for the action of some strong and chemically rich substances. Citrus is a strong allergen, therefore intolerance to its components is a contraindication to its use in any form.
High acid content negatively affects the problematic gastrointestinal tract. It is not recommended to eat orange pulp or drink juice from it for disorders such as gastritis, pancreatitis, stomach or duodenal ulcers. Diabetes mellitus is also a contraindication for consuming the fruit. Acid also negatively affects tooth enamel, especially in children, softening and destroying it.
For children, orange is dangerous due to a severe allergic reaction. Its manifestation is a rash, redness on the skin of the face, hands, abdomen, upset stomach, swelling of the upper respiratory tract, shortness of breath. Allergies can be caused by:
- hereditary predisposition;
- autoimmune diseases;
- immaturity of development of the intestinal tract and stomach;
- diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
- eating oranges in large quantities during pregnancy;
- unfavorable environment.
Sometimes a strong negative reaction to a fruit forces you to completely stop adding it to your child’s diet. In this case, it is possible to replace oranges with other foods high in vitamin C: greens, Brussels sprouts, berries. A decoction of rose hips is also used as a substitute.
Selection of oranges
At what age can a child have an orange? Before including it in the diet, parents need to choose the right fruits. The best option for kids are sweet varieties of fruits with a slight sour taste.
These oranges grow in Spain, the Mediterranean and off the coast of Sicily. To select excellent quality oranges, you must follow these guidelines:
Sweet oranges are usually small in size. The thickness of the peel does not affect maturity and taste, but is a sign of a particular variety. Navel oranges (there is a formation in the navel area) are an ideal fruit for babies. They are very sweet, have a lot of juice and almost no seeds.
In what form should I give it to my child?
Initially, the baby is offered fresh fruit. For the first time, one slice is enough. In the absence of allergy symptoms, you can continue to introduce your child to orange. At each subsequent feeding, add 1/2 slice.
Freshly squeezed fruit juice is the best choice for your baby. Can be combined with fresh juices from other fruits: carrots, apples and others. Juices should be diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio.
At what age can you give your child an orange? You can prepare a fragrant dessert for one-year-old babies. For this dish you will need the following ingredients:
Peel the oranges and cut into small pieces. Grate the peeled carrots. Mix all ingredients. Add sour cream and raisins, mix. If desired, you can add a small amount of sugar.
You can also make candied oranges from oranges. The process is as follows:
The candied fruits are placed in a colander and left to drain excess liquid. The process takes 6 hours.
Then the slices are placed on parchment and placed in an oven preheated to 80 degrees. It is best to leave the door ajar.
Orange desserts
A one-year-old child can start preparing delicious orange desserts. You don't have to add sugar to them. For children over 2 years of age, the dish can be sweetened. But remember that a child is allowed no more than 40 g of sugar per day. Here are several recipes for healthy and tasty desserts for children of different ages:
Pumpkin Casserole – ages 2+
- Grate 100 g of pumpkin and mix with finely chopped orange zest.
- Mix 250 g of cottage cheese, 100 g of sour cream, ¼ tbsp. semolina and 1 tbsp. l. sugar and yolk.
- Beat the whites into a strong foam. Mix the curd mass with the pumpkin-orange mixture and carefully fold in the protein foam.
- Place in a greased pan and bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees.
Carrot-orange dessert - age from 1 year
- You will need two oranges, the pulp of which must be finely chopped.
- Grate two carrots on a fine grater.
- Mix some raisins and 150 g of sour cream.
- Add citrus and carrots to the mixture.
Fruit hedgehogs - age from 3 years
- Cut a small orange and tangerine in half and place on children's plates.
- Place grapes on toothpicks and stick them into the peel of the fruit so that you get small hedgehogs.
Ice cream with fruits - age from 3 years
- Wash and peel the kiwi and orange.
- Grind finely in a blender.
- Place in molds, insert sticks and place in freezer.
When can children eat other citrus fruits?
At what age can you give your child tangerines? They are recommended to be given from one year of age. First, a little tangerine juice is introduced into the diet, after diluting it with water. Only then can you give the baby a slice. If the body reacts normally to the fruit, then you can give 1-2 tangerines per day.
Lemon is allowed to be tried starting from 8-10 months. At this age, kids can already perceive the quality of the product. And there is a high probability that he will like the sour taste of the fruit.
Lemon juice diluted with water can be given even earlier - from 6 months. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar per glass of water to the drink.
Where do we start?
Feeding with citrus should occur gradually. We recommend starting with tangerine juice and half water. After such a first acquaintance, carefully monitor the reaction. If everything went well, next time offer your child 1 cut piece of fruit.
If the baby’s teeth do not yet allow him to fully chew a tangerine, then show him how the pulp can be sucked and the excess fibers can be thrown away. Children often like this method the most, because it is the most delicious.
And if a child’s teeth are just in the teething stage, then he is unlikely to like the pulp. In this case, you can pamper your baby with equally delicious tangerine juice, so as not to further cause irritation and friction to sensitive gums.
