About the benefits of fish in children's nutrition
The nutritional value of fish is in no way inferior to meat. The protein it contains is no less useful and, moreover, is absorbed much better and faster by the child’s body. This is explained by the fact that fish, unlike meat, has less connective tissue. Fish pulp contains a large amount of B vitamins , which help strengthen the immune system and maintain metabolism in the child’s body. Vitamins A (necessary for vision) and D (provide bone growth) are found in the largest quantities in fish compared to meat. Fish is rich in minerals: iodine (ensures full mental and neuromuscular development) and fluorine , necessary for the formation of tooth enamel and the skeletal system. In addition, fish contains: phosphorus, iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium , which a growing body needs.
Preparing fish soup for a child 1 year and older
Children should be taught the habit of healthy and proper eating from an early age. Therefore, it is important to approach the choice of dishes responsibly. If you have passed the stage of the first complementary feeding, which consists of vegetables and fruits, and have already tried meat, then we suggest preparing fish soup for your child. The first dish will appeal not only to the baby, but to everyone in the household. Moreover, one serving contains many useful substances that are important for a growing body.
Fish is a valuable product, rich in saturated acids. If your baby is already one year old and he only eats chicken broth, then this is wrong. There is no need to limit the children's diet, because the baby needs vitamins. As you know, most of the nutrients come from food, so don’t be afraid to give your baby something new.
What types of fish can children eat?
Start complementary feeding with low-fat varieties of fish, it is worth starting with silver carp, cod or pollock. Also suitable: hake, flounder, pollock and sea bream. Their meat contains only 4% fat and they are less allergenic. At 1.5 years old, you can introduce your baby to carp, pink salmon, perch and catfish. They are considered a fish with moderate fat content (only 8%). Fish broth should also be given to a child after one year. and only from the age of three can you start giving your baby fatty varieties of fish - mackerel, salmon, salmon and sturgeon. Regarding the issue of seafood, they should be introduced into a child’s diet no earlier than three years of age due to their high allergenicity.
Fish recipe for babies
Fish puree for babies
It is better to introduce fish into a baby’s diet in the form of puree. To prepare it, you need to boil 100 g of lean fish: hake, pollock, cod, haddock, flounder - and grind in a blender. Add 1 tsp to the fish. milk and vegetable oil. Mix the resulting mass well and boil for 2 minutes.
To the fish puree, especially during the first feedings, you can add a little ready-made potato or vegetable puree, to which the child is already accustomed.
Fish pudding
Boil the fillet, chop, then mix well with half an egg beaten with salt and mashed potatoes (ingredients: 1 potato, 2-3 tbsp milk, 2 tsp vegetable oil). Transfer the resulting mass into a mold and steam or steam for half an hour.
Metamorphoses of cod
Cutlets are an ideal dish for children. Especially if they ignore it with enviable consistency. Cut the crusts from 2 slices of white bread, soak the pulp in milk for 5 minutes and squeeze. Cut 500 g cod fillet and a small onion into cubes. We pass the fish, bread crumbs in milk and onions through a meat grinder twice. Add an egg, finely grated carrots, 4-5 sprigs of chopped fennel, 50 g of dill to the resulting minced meat and salt to taste. We form small round cutlets, roll them in flour and cook in a double boiler or on a rack in a slow cooker for 20-25 minutes. A successful duo with aromatic cutlets will be curly boiled broccoli.
How to determine how long a product has been on the store counter and what is its freshness?
indicate good quality :
- The scales fit tightly to the fish and shine.
- The eyes are bulging, without cloudiness.
- The gills are quite hard, bright red or pink.
- When you press on the abdomen, the dent quickly disappears. Abdominal bloating is a sign of spoilage!
How long can the product be stored after purchase?
You can keep fresh fish in the cold for up to 2 days, and if you freeze it, then up to 3-6 months. When there is no fresh product on sale, you can purchase frozen fish fillets or whole carcasses in stores.
When purchasing, you should ask about the date of capture and freezing. It is important to consider how much time has passed since the day of freezing: the fresher the product, the more microelements it contains. A smooth, transparent crust of ice indicates that the product has not been defrosted.
To preserve the maximum amount of microelements, fish should be thawed in lightly salted water.
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After defrosting, you can conduct another suitability test
: pay attention to the condition of the product. When the pulp falls apart, does not hold its shape and resembles a rag, this means that the product is damaged. You shouldn't cook this fish for kids. Any suspicion of poor quality cannot be ignored, because the health of children is more important than the money spent.
Fish ensemble
There should be no doubt about fish soups on the children's menu, but not with strong broth or red fish. Put off getting to know them until they are 3–5 years old. But tender puree soups can be given to babies as early as one year of age. Boil 300 g of hake without bones and skin in unsalted water for 20 minutes. Take out the fish and add carrots, onions and diced potatoes to the broth. Next add 1-2 tbsp. l. millet. Bring the soup to readiness, return the chopped hake to it and cook for another 5 minutes. Puree it with a blender, decorate with a pattern of grated cheese and finely chopped dill. It is unlikely that anyone can resist such a delicious dish.
Salmon in gold
Starting from the age of one year, you can include boiled, baked and fried fish in the children's menu. Of course, in small portions of 60–70 g. The fish recipe with sesame seeds will help you quickly get used to new flavor combinations. Cut 300 g salmon fillet into portions. Lightly salt, dip each one in whipped egg white and roll in sesame seeds. Place the fish slices in a heated frying pan with vegetable oil and fry for 4 minutes on each side. Make sure that the sesame does not burn. Add a vegetable salad, vinaigrette or puree to the salmon, and little gourmets are unlikely to refuse such a hearty composition.
At what age is this product given?
The best way to cook cod for children is to boil it.
Some cod recipes can be used for children under one year old. How much fish to give for the first time depends on the child’s tendency to allergies. If he tolerated other complementary foods well, it is recommended to start with 0.5 tsp. at 9-10 months. Children under one year old are given soup, steamed cutlets, and boiled fillet. In the future, you can prepare more complex dishes for your child - casseroles, mousses, pies.
For children under one year old, it is recommended to pre-cook any fish, but under no circumstances fry it. The daily norm for a child is about 50-70 g. This product can be present in the diet of a baby up to one year no more than 2-3 times a week. If your child is prone to allergies, decide for yourself how much fish to give him. Experts recommend limiting yourself to 1 serving per week.
How to cook fish for a child
For the first time, you should steam or boil a piece of fish for your baby. First of all, check for the absence of bones. Then grind the pulp using a blender. If the child chews well, then simply mash with a fork. Add boiled vegetables already included in the child’s diet in a 1:1 ratio. After a couple of weeks, you can cook meatballs or bake fish in foil.
Almost everyone loves fish dishes, with the possible exception of only those people who have some kind of personal dislike or allergy to fish. Fish dishes are very healthy for humans, especially for a small growing organism, that is, for a child. And if it is quite difficult, and maybe even impossible, to influence an allergy to fish dishes, then a personal dislike for them in most cases appears in early childhood, when the child does not like the taste of the fish served to him. Therefore, so that children do not refuse to eat it, you need to know how to cook fish, how to serve it correctly, etc.
At the House of Knowledge, we present to your attention popular recipes for preparing fish dishes that, if prepared correctly, will appeal to your child, and he will not develop a dislike for this product.
Products:
- Pike perch – 100g
- Roll – 20g
- Milk – 30g
- Oil – 15g
- Egg white - 1 pc.
To make your child like fish cutlets, soak 20g of bread crumb in milk, squeeze out and mix with butter (5g). Then remove the skin and bones from the pike perch (100g) and pass it through the meat grinder twice along with the bun. Divide the dough (fish), add salt and rub well with 1 tbsp. cream or milk, then lightly stir into the whipped egg white foam. Then form cutlets from the minced fish, roll them well in breadcrumbs and fry until cooked.
Products:
- Fish – 100-150g
- Potatoes – 100g
- Egg - 0.5 pcs.
- Milk – 25g
- Salt - 3g
- Rusks – 20g
- Oil – 15g
To prepare fish cutlets for a child, peel, rinse and remove fish fillets (100-150g) with a sharp knife. Throw the skin, head and bones into water and cook as for broth. Grind the fish pulp 2 times in a meat grinder with 100g of boiled potatoes, add 1 tbsp. crackers, 1 tsp. butter, half a yolk (fresh), 2 tbsp. milk and add a little salt.
Mix all ingredients thoroughly and place on a (wet) board. Then roll the resulting mass into cutlets, coat them with egg white, roll them in breadcrumbs and fry in very hot oil. It is better for a child to serve fish cutlets with mashed potatoes.
Products:
- Egg - 0.5 pcs.
- Pike perch – 100g
- Oil – 10g
- Potatoes – 50g
- Milk – 30g
To make fish pudding for your child, boil the potatoes and mash them with a spoon, mixing them with milk. You also need to boil the pike perch, remove bones and skin, mash and mix with potatoes. Then add butter (5g dissolved), yolk, white (whipped) and salt. Grease a pudding mold with butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Then put the whole mass into the mold and steam for about 40 minutes (water bath), covering the top with paper (necessarily oiled).
Products for minced meat:
- Pike perch – 100g
- Egg - 1/10 pcs.
- Oil – 2g
- Rusks – 5g
- Milk – 20g
Ingredients for the sauce:
- Oil – 3g
- Flour - 3g
- Milk – 30g
To prepare this dish for a child, pass the pike perch meat through a meat grinder several times (2-3 times). Add butter (2g), yolk, crackers and beaten egg white to the resulting minced meat. By mixing all the ingredients, you will get minced meat, the pieces of which must be separated with teaspoonfuls and thrown into boiling water. Cook the meatballs for up to 15 minutes.
When serving fish meatballs to your child, add bechamel sauce and heat in the microwave or oven.
Products:
- Roll – 25g
- Fish – 100g
- Flour - 6g
- Oil – 12g
- Cheese - 10g
- Rusks – 5g
- Salt - 3g
- Milk – 100g
To prepare delicious fish for your child, clean the pike perch (100g), remove the bones and skin and boil. Then prepare the white sauce.
Cut a slice from the bun, trim off the crusts and fry it in oil. Then place the boiled fish on top of the (fried) bread and pour the sauce over it, and drip the heated oil on top, sprinkle with grated cheese (grated) and small breadcrumbs (breadcrumbs). Then place the dish in the oven briefly, baking it until pink.
(for a child over 4 years old)
Products:
- Cheese – 5g
- Fish – 100-150g
- Oil – 10g
- Onion – 5g
- Rusks – 10g
- Milk – 50g
- Salt - 3g
To prepare fish casserole for a child, clean and boil (about 5 minutes) the fish. Then dip it in cool water, transfer it to a sieve and, after the water has drained, cut it into small pieces, removing all the seeds. Then make a white sauce and mix it with the cooked fish. Then transfer all the ingredients into a clay or any fireproof cup, after greasing it with oil. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with grated cheese (hard) and breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Products:
- Tomato – 20g
- Fish – 100g
- Flour – 10g
- Oil – 10g
- Salt - 30g
To prepare this dish for your child, cut the fillets from the fish (preferably pike perch), dry them with a paper towel, cut into small pieces, roll thoroughly in flour and place in a frying pan that has been previously greased with oil. Place a slice of ripe tomato (without seeds) and a little butter on top of each fish piece. Then the ingredients must be salted, covered with paper (oiled) on top and left for up to 30 minutes. bake in the oven.
(for a child over 4 years old)
Products:
- Fish – 100g
- Oil – 12g
- Milk – 100g
- Flour - 5
- Egg - 0.5 pcs.
- Lemon - 1 slice
- Salt - 3g
To bake fish for your child, cut it in half, remove the bones and remove the skin. Then salt the fish and sprinkle with lemon juice. Melt the butter in a frying pan, put the fish there and lightly pour the broth cooked from the head, bones and skin. After that for 25 min. put the fish in the oven.
Serve your child the baked fish with white sauce. You can also quickly mix white sauce with half an yolk, which is previously diluted with milk (1 tbsp) and lemon juice (0.5 tsp). Pour the sauce over the fish and serve to your child.
One of the important products necessary for feeding infants is low-fat sea and river fish, which contains fish oil, amino acids, vitamins F, A, D, E, B-12, which are very beneficial for the body, and minerals that promote proper metabolism: iodine , manganese, zinc, copper, boron, iron, fluorine, etc.
The choice of fish for a child's diet should be taken very seriously: if possible, use fresh fish; when buying whole fish, you should pay attention to the scales (high-quality fish have shiny ones), gills (without mucus), when buying fillets - to the color (white or pale -pink). Sea fish is safe and very healthy, as it is rich in minerals (primarily iodine and fluorine), as well as omega-3 fats; but it can usually only be bought frozen. Of river fish, which is more accessible and easier to digest by the body, nutritionists give preference to trout (it lives only in clean water and, therefore, does not contain harmful substances) and fish grown in artificial reservoirs.
When to introduce fish to an infant
Fish is introduced into the diet of infants later than other foods, as it can cause allergies. Nutritionists advise giving your child fish only after he has become accustomed to eating meat - at 9-10 months. You need to introduce fish into your baby’s menu gradually: start with 5-10 grams per day and increase the daily intake to 70 grams by 12 months. It must be remembered that fish broth contains substances that are harmful to the child’s body and are released during the cooking process, so fish soups are recommended to be given to children from 1.5-3 years old. You should also not feed infants fried, smoked, salted fish or fatty fish (all salmon, sturgeon, herring).
In order not to overload the child’s digestive system, you should alternate fish and meat days during the week, avoiding preparing these dishes on the same day; cook fish dishes no more than 2 times a week.
If eating fish has caused an allergy in a child, you should exclude it from the diet for two weeks, then try to cook a different type of fish (an allergy to both all fish and a specific type is possible).