At what age can a child be given kiwi: advice from pediatricians

Exotic fruits will no longer surprise anyone, especially when it comes to kiwi. This fruit has gained the trust of adults, but what about children? Many parents ask themselves a very pressing question regarding when it is permissible to treat their baby to overseas fruit. Let us say right away that kiwi is not suitable as a product for first complementary feeding. Apples remain the leaders in this area. In today's material, we analyze everything about the impact of kiwi on the health of the younger generation.

Positive effects of fruit on children's bodies

Before treating your child to this fruit, we advise you to familiarize yourself with the positive aspects of the fruit.

The main value lies in the fully formed and rich chemical list of compounds. The composition contains all the minerals that children require for proper development in accordance with their age group.
The base contains ascorbic acid in high concentration. By consuming just one fruit per day, you will be able to cover your daily requirement for this vitamin. It is noteworthy that kiwi contains more ascorbic acid than the notorious citrus fruits and some winter berries. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of vitamin C for humans. This substance increases protective functions in the off-season, during the spread of ARVI and influenza.
Kiwi is rich in vitamin PP, which is responsible for the correct functioning of the vascular system and heart muscle. The action is supported by the content of tocopherol, retinol, and B vitamins. All of them make the child’s body resistant to bacteria and viruses. To prevent serious pathological processes, it is enough to eat the fruit once a week.
B vitamins should be included in a separate category in terms of value. They calm babies who are often capricious. These substances have a beneficial effect on the psycho-emotional background, improve sleep, and fight the first signs of depression. Vitamins improve brain function and are responsible for cognitive abilities.
Tropical fruits are often included in the diet of children who are prone to gaining excess weight. Kiwi enhances absolutely all metabolic processes, including the breakdown of adipose tissue. The fruit stimulates the digestive system, eliminating constipation and other troubles (flatulence, gas formation).
Magnesium and potassium improve the functioning of the heart muscle. These mineral elements increase stress resistance and quickly restore the body after heavy physical exertion. Kiwi is given to active children to maintain vigor and good mood.
Overseas fruits are famous for their mild diuretic properties, due to which excess fluid leaves the body and cleanses the urinary system. The product can be eaten by diabetics, since the base contains mostly fructose.

Composition and calorie content

Kiwi is rich in vitamins and microelements and contains few calories. This is a very healthy dietary product.

It is no coincidence that kiwi is considered a dietary fruit: it satisfies the feeling of hunger and has a low energy value - 100 g contains 48 kcal.

100 g of fresh kiwi contains:

10.3 g carbohydrates;
1.0 g proteins;
0.6 g fat;
3.8 g dietary fiber;
2.5 g organic acids;
0.1 g each of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids;
0.3 g starch;
0.5 g ash;
83.8 g water.

Kiwi is one of the fruit leaders in the content of vitamins and minerals.

Vitamin composition of fruits:

15 mg vitamin A (retinol);
180 mg vitamin C;
0.02 mg B1 (thiamine);
0.04 mg B2 (riboflavin);
0.2 mg B6 (pyridoxine);
18.5 mg B9 (folic acid);
0.4 mg PP (niacin);
0.3 mg E (tocopherol).

The mineral content of these small fruits is also impressive:

300 mg potassium;
5 mg sodium;
34 mg phosphorus;
40 mg calcium;
25 mg magnesium;
135 mcg copper;
29 mg zinc;
0.21 µg manganese;
14 mcg fluoride;
47 mcg chlorine;
10 mcg molybdenum;
1 mcg cobalt;
2 mcg iodine;
15 mg sulfur;
0.8 mg iron;
815 mcg aluminum;
100 mcg boron.

Features of introducing kiwi into children's diets

Children under six months are prohibited from giving the presented fruit, as well as all others. As for the period after reaching 6 months of age, the opinion of pediatricians is ambiguous. Some argue that you can treat the baby for testing. Others advise abandoning this idea until the baby reaches one year.
Since the baby’s digestive system is not yet fully formed, it’s not worth the risk. When the child is one year old, give him the fruit in small quantities. Be sure to monitor the reaction and feed before lunch. On this day, do not introduce new products to the menu.
As for the one-time quantity, one lobe is enough for the child. If the body tolerates such a meal normally, you can subsequently increase the portion to 2 slices. Alternatively, treat your baby to 1 tsp. kiwi in puree form. Frequency of administration: once a week.
After reaching 3 years of age, there is no need to fear that the body will not accept the tropical fruit well. Usually at this age they give half a piece of fruit. Be sure to remove the skin and choose a fully ripe fruit.
Treat your child to cubes or purees. Despite the increase in quantity, there is no need to increase the frequency of administration. Children 3-5 years old eat kiwi once a week. After this period, the volume increases to 1 fruit at a frequency of twice a week.

Benefit

With regular consumption of kiwi, a child’s body can receive a variety of beneficial effects:

The fruit, which is unattractive in appearance, contains a combination of minerals and vitamins that have a healing effect on the body as a whole.
Eating one fruit will provide the daily requirement of vitamin C. After all, ascorbic acid in kiwi is 2 times more than in orange and other fruits. The “hairy” fruit is second only to black currants. And the role of ascorbic acid is difficult to overestimate. Being an antioxidant, vitamin C has an antitoxic effect. Together with vitamin PP, ascorbic acid will strengthen the wall of blood vessels.
The combined action of vitamins E, C, A increases resistance to infections, the child is less susceptible to viral and bacterial infectious diseases. To prevent colds, it is enough to consume kiwi 1-2 times a week.
The interaction of B vitamins and magnesium has a calming effect on the child, and an anti-stress effect is achieved. The child stops being capricious and crying for no particular reason.
Kiwi activates collagen synthesis, resulting in skin elasticity.
Due to the presence of special enzymes that break down fats, kiwi is included in the diet for obese children.
The presence of the enzyme actinidin helps improve food digestion. The fiber contained in the fruits can cleanse the child’s intestines of toxins. The effect of kiwi can be compared to a mild laxative. This effect of the fruit is especially important for children suffering from chronic constipation.
Potassium and magnesium are essential for normal heart function and proper heart rhythm.
Acting as a mild diuretic, kiwi ensures the removal of salts from the body, preventing their deposition and the formation of stones.
Since the carbohydrates in kiwi mainly consist of fructose, it can be consumed by children suffering from diabetes.
The amino acids contained in the fruits are used for the development of the muscular system.
Research continues on the effect of kiwi components on malignant cells. The first results are very encouraging. It is possible that kiwi extracts will soon be used to treat cancer.

Choosing kiwi for a child

Despite the fact that adults prefer to buy vegetables and fruits from familiar sellers at the market, when choosing kiwi for your baby, give up this idea and go to the store. Assess the fruit visually, be sure to feel it for hardness.
A good fruit will bend under the pressure of a finger. There is no need to take overly ripe fruits, as they are already beginning to rot. At the same time, you should discard unripe ones or buy them for the purpose of letting them lie on the windowsill for a while.
Kid-friendly kiwi has a citrusy scent. The fruit is smooth and uniform. If you press on such a specimen, it will retain the juice; liquid will not flow out of the stalk area.
Avoid purchasing if you notice wrinkles, spots, drops, or cracks on the skin. Good fruit is dry on the outside, but not overdried. At the slightest suspicion of unripeness, the product should be placed next to the bananas and left to ripen.

Harm to exotic fruits for babies

The main rule is not to overdo it with the amount of fruit you eat per day. You should also remember that this product may cause an allergic reaction. It is not recommended to use it if you have an individual intolerance to citrus fruits, that is, all those that contain large amounts of vitamin C.

If there is increased acidity, then the fruit is contraindicated for consumption. It is not recommended to use it if you have gastritis or gastric ulcer. If you really like it, you can eat one fruit, but one that will have a yellow, dull color inside, although such a variety is quite difficult to find on sale.

If you have problems with diarrhea, then kiwi is not the best choice, it has a laxative effect.

Precisely for the reason that the fruit is exotic and unusual for middle latitudes, it is necessary to very carefully select the period when the fruit can be given to the child for complementary feeding. So at what age can you give your child kiwi?

A properly structured plan for introducing such complementary foods will avoid many problems. According to the opinions and answers of experts, one must be very careful when introducing this kind of complementary foods.

The reasons for doctors' caution are as follows:

First of all, various allergic reactions threaten to occur. It is important for parents to understand that allergies can manifest themselves as a rash, various redness and itching of the skin, allergic rhinitis, and watery eyes.
The child's digestion process may be disrupted.

Since kiwi is a fruit that does not grow in our latitudes, you should try it very carefully in childhood.

First of all, the fruit is dangerous due to the risk of allergies. According to all pediatricians, this fruit is contraindicated for infants under six months of age. You should introduce your little one to such exotic things much later. But even if the terms allowed by pediatricians are observed, kiwi should not be given to children with diseases of the digestive tract, hypotension, diarrhea and kidney disease.

Dessert recipes for children with kiwi

Kiwi jelly

You can make a low-calorie dessert from the tropical fruit in question. The advantage of such a treat is that it will not create a big burden on the child’s digestive system. On the contrary, the active composition improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
This delicacy will please any sweet tooth. To do this, peel two fruits and pass through a blender. Mix 1.5 tbsp. l. granulated sugar. Place the mixture on the stove. Simmer until boiling over medium heat.
Dissolve 2 sachets of gelatin in water. Stir into the sweet mixture. Wait until the components are completely dissolved. Pour the prepared mixture into molds and refrigerate for a while. Meanwhile, add 3 sachets of gelatin to 50 ml. milk.
Heat the ingredients until the grains are completely dissolved. Leave at room temperature. Whisk 50 ml. cream, gradually add 1 tsp. vanilla sugar and 1.5 tbsp. l. classic granulated sugar. The creamy mass should double in size.
Gradually add 0.25 liters to the milk. yogurt and creamy mass. Place the finished mousse on the jelly and place in the refrigerator. Leave the treat for several hours. After this, you can pleasantly surprise your child.

Oatmeal with kiwi

Pour 0.75 l into the saucepan. milk. Place on the stove and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add 80 gr. oatmeal. Stir. Sprinkle the ingredients with a little vanilla and cinnamon. Stir and simmer for another minute.
Meanwhile, peel 3 kiwis and cut into slices. Place the fruit on top of the porridge. Add jam, crushed nuts, honey to taste.
For a baby, such a dish will be an excellent breakfast that will charge the body with energy for the whole day. This unusual porridge is recommended for children over 3 years old.

Cottage cheese casserole with kiwi

Use a convenient bowl. Grind 3 eggs and 120 gr. granulated sugar. Separately, melt 0.1 kg in a steam bath. butter.
Mix into the egg mixture. Add 0.7 kg to the common ingredients. cottage cheese, add 3 tbsp. l. semolina.
Peel 1 kiwi and 0.1 kg. pineapple, finely chop. Head over to the main ingredients. Pour the mixture onto a baking sheet and place it in the oven. Bake the treat at 180 degrees for about 50 minutes.

How to select and store

It is better to discard limp, wrinkled and damaged fruits. This suggests that they are already overripe. If the fruits turn out to be too green, then they can be left on the window for several days to ripen. But green fruits last a long time in the refrigerator.

Ripe fruit should yield when pressed, but not be loose. The color of the fruit's peel can vary from green to brown. The fruit should have a pleasant fruity aroma that can be felt through the skin. If there is a vanilla aroma, this is evidence that the fruit has already spoiled.

Kiwi can be frozen and can be stored in this form for up to 10 months. In the refrigerator, it is better to store fruits in a closed but ventilated container, not peeled. Over a long shelf life, almost all useful elements are preserved in unchanged quantities. But like any other fruit, it is better to eat it immediately; it will perfectly complement any dish, even meat, and can serve as a dessert.

Harm of kiwi

Numerous studies have confirmed the fact that the fruits in question belong to the list of allergenic fruits. Most often, an allergic reaction is manifested by swelling of the pharynx, tongue, shortness of breath and rashes on the skin.
In particularly severe cases, due to individual intolerance, anaphylactic shock may occur. It is for this reason that exotic fruits should be introduced into a baby’s diet with extreme caution. There is a high probability of developing allergies. Therefore, it is better to postpone acquaintance with the fruit until 5 years.
Before including fruit in the menu, take into account contraindications, due to which the child’s condition may significantly worsen. Kiwi should not be given if you have an individual intolerance, a tendency to develop any food allergies, gastritis with high acidity, loose stools, or kidney failure.
Do not forget that most often an allergic reaction manifests itself at an early age. Therefore, introduce kiwi to the menu as late as possible. Also consider possible chronic diseases that your baby may have. It is best to coordinate all the details with your pediatrician.
British scientists conducted research, thanks to which they were able to establish that the exotic fruit poses a particular danger to children who have at least once developed a food allergy. For this reason, it is recommended to postpone getting acquainted with the product for as long as possible.

Today we looked at a topic that worries many parents - how and in what volume to feed their baby exotic fruits. Rely on the opinion of experienced pediatricians who do not recommend giving kiwi to babies under one year old. Start introducing the product with one slice, gradually increasing the amount. After 3 years, you don’t have to worry about negative consequences; the body will get used to the rich composition and absorb it fully.

Tips for parents

So at what age can a child eat kiwi? There are several simple rules with which we can significantly reduce the risk of allergies.

On the day of the first test, there should be no other products that can cause allergies. This way, when a rash appears, you can easily determine the cause.
For the first time, one plate will be enough for the child. In this case, the slice should not be eaten, but simply sucked. It is important to timely monitor the reaction of the mucous membrane and skin around the mouth to kiwi.
The first exotic fruit should be a banana. According to research, if the baby does not develop an allergy to this fruit, then there will be no reaction to kiwi either.
Complementary feeding should start with a puree consistency, then you can move on to plates, and then give whole fruit.
If you want to give your child kiwi juice, the liquid should be diluted with water to avoid burns to the mucous membranes of the esophagus.
The peel must be trimmed. It causes irritation and is not absorbed by the children's digestive system.

When should you start feeding fruit?

The value of breastfeeding in Russia and the post-Soviet space was leveled for many years by society’s exploitative attitude towards women, which forced her to stop breastfeeding early and switch the child to complementary feeding.

In order to somehow compensate the growing body for the lack of valuable substances that were taken away from it when weaned from the breast, and which are not found in animal milk, pediatricians recommended early complementary feeding, from the age of two months.

Then such recommendations were recognized as incorrect, and complementary feeding began to be recommended for introduction as early as six months, when the child’s digestive system is ready to accept new food, and most children erupt their first teeth. The value of breastfeeding is finally being recognized by both pediatricians and societies.

But this scheme also needs adjustment - each child grows differently, and the need for complementary feeding may shift over time - for some you can try giving it from 4 months, for others early and at 7. Several criteria are chosen as a guideline for complementary feeding:

presence of teeth;
Is the child getting enough food?
complementary feeding tolerance
signs of a child’s behavior indicate his interest in adult food;
he tries to taste the taste rather than spit out the new product;
At the time of accustoming to new food, the baby must be completely healthy.

According to the opinion of a number of the most famous pediatricians, fruits can be introduced into complementary foods after the previous vegetable complementary foods are well tolerated, and start with traditional, familiar fruits. Usually the apple comes first.

Many doctors (by the way, this opinion is also shared by traditional Chinese medicine) are of the opinion that nutrition and treatment of a person should use products and herbs that grow in the area where he lives.

The abundance of exotic fruits on store shelves and the frequent trips of parents and children on vacation to exotic countries raise many questions among parents about when it is possible to give such fruits to a child. They are especially common in kiwi, which contains many vitamins and valuable substances and is considered one of the most valuable fruits.

To figure out when you can give kiwi, you should consider the positive and negative effects of the presence of this fruit in the baby’s diet.