What can and can not feed children at the festive table

In the New Year, the whole family gathers at the festive table. What dishes from the adult menu can be dangerous for children and how to replace them, experts say Rambler.

Our people have a New Year's tradition - to arrange a magnificent feast.

How many things are cooked on this day: Olivier, herring under a fur coat, boiled pork! And how many snacks the hospitable hostesses place on the festive table: caviar, red fish, smoked sausages, pickles! What can we say about cakes and sweets. On this day, no one thinks about how useful or harmful such food is.

Children do not lag behind adults and happily crush all of the above for both cheeks. But pediatricians, gastroenterologists and nutritionists are skeptical about such feasts and urge parents to carefully draw up the New Year's menu. Better yet, arrange a separate table for the children, where food is more suitable for sensitive stomachs.

The experts told which "adult" products need to be replaced, and which ones should be completely excluded from the children's menu without spoiling the holiday for all family members.

On the subject: Soviet New Year traditions worth reviving

Comments Elena Kalen, psychologist, expert in the psychology of weight loss, author of weight loss training

Some believe that if a child is over a year old, he can be fed with the same foods as adults. This is true if the whole family adheres to the rules of healthy eating.

When there are many mayonnaise salads on the New Year's table, fried potatoes, jelly and pickles are present, it is better to prepare a separate table for children.

Here are the products worth exclude from the children's menu:

• Sausages and smoked fish. Sausage contains a huge amount of salt, which interferes with the absorption of calcium and significantly increases the load on the cardiovascular system. Smoked fish is often supplemented with liquid smoke containing substances hazardous to health.
• Shrimp and mussel salads. Seafood can cause allergic reactions and severe poisoning.
• Mushrooms A child up to 7 years does not produce enzymes capable of digesting quinine - a trace element found in mushrooms.
  And if the adult mushrooms have a neutral effect, then the fragile children's organism is not affected in the best way.
• Ketchups, mayonnaise. As part of the shop sauces contain a large number of trans fats and preservatives that cause allergies, lead to gastritis and other problems with the stomach.
• Soda. 200 ml of famous soda contains at least 10 of spoons of sugar, as well as caffeine. Such a composition is detrimental to a child: sugar causes caries, and caffeine - nervous excitement.
• Some fruits. Do not feed children with melons and grapes.
  These fruits make it difficult for the pancreas to work, cause colic and gas.
• Jelly. Pediatricians and nutritionists believe it can be given to children over the age of three. And only if it is cooked from natural ingredients at home. It is recommended to use turkey or chicken meat for its preparation.
• Red caviar. It is believed that caviar is useful for children of any age, because it contains a lot of protein and vitamins of groups A, D and B. However, this product is often allergic to skin rashes. There are also cases of individual intolerance.
• Sweets. If the baby is less than three years old, it is recommended to exclude chewing marmalade, tangerines and chocolates.

How to adapt the New Year's menu for the child?

Choose healthy foods. In the traditional Olivier, add boiled chicken instead of sausage, and replace the mayonnaise with sour cream or make it yourself.

Treat homemade sweets. Margarine and flavor enhancers are not uncommon in store cakes and pastries. If you cook the dessert at home, it will be much less calories and food coloring.

Interestingly decorate. Even boring broccoli cabbage can be beautifully and advantageously decorated. Buy original molds, cut animal figurines, Santa Claus or a snowman from a simple but useful food.

Have a snack. Since the New Year's feast takes place much later than the traditional dinner, it is recommended to have a snack at a time when your child is used to eating. Do not tell the child "be patient, now the guests will come" and bring to a state of acute hunger. In this case, the risk of overeating and gastrointestinal problems increases.

Serve gradually. Do not immediately put on the children's table salads, snacks and a few hot dishes. The child will want everything at once, will not cope with their desires, which will result in unpleasant consequences for him and for you.

On the subject: New Year's Eve 2021: what dishes can and cannot be served on the table

Nadezhda Vasilchenko, doctor of the highest category, head of the pediatrics department of the network of clinics, comments.

Although the New Year is a family holiday, and adults are trying to set the table as rich and diverse as possible, children from early and early school age do not like dishes from an adult table (fried, fatty, dressed with mayonnaise, spicy, pickled) due to the characteristics of digestion .

For serving the children's table, you can prepare a salad of fresh vegetables, seasoned with vegetable oil or sour cream, fruit salads with yogurt.

It is not recommended for children under 3 years old to prepare salads; it is better for them to serve vegetables, finely chopped or grated on a coarse grater separately. A very healthy dish on the children's table can be baked meat or fish.

When cooking, remember that the products in them must be recognizable to the child, since children, especially small ones, may refuse to eat unfamiliar products.

Additional tips:

• Do not use plastic utensils.
• When arranging the plates, check them for the presence of chips, cracks, so that the baby does not accidentally break them when tapping with a spoon across the bottom of the plate.
• Use cutlery according to age: for a very small child, put a light spoon, from 5-6 years you can offer both a spoon and a fork, school-age children can already use a knife.
• Food should not be hot so that the child does not burn.
• Drinks (fruit drink, juice, water) are better to be poured into glasses with a handle (not into a glass) and put them on the table immediately, as many children are accustomed to drink food while eating.

Commented on Julia S. Budko, a gastroenterologist, pediatrician.

Most families are planning New Year's Eve feasts with a huge range of products. Adults often strive to give something tasty to a child, just a spoon, just try it, for example Olivier or jelly, because he asks so. What an adult can do is not always possible for a child, no matter if he is 2 years old, 5 years old or 10 years old.

If possible, do not need to deviate from the usual menu, even "for the sake of the holiday." Meals can be festively decorated and made from baby’s favorite foods.

If parents adhere to a healthy diet, then in this case, a baby from 3 years old can be seated at a common table. If they are supporters of Russian traditions of a feast with mayonnaise salads, smoked meats, pickles, fried meat with a spicy sauce, then they will have to control what the child takes from the table.

Try to include only familiar foods on the menu. New ones can cause discomfort, especially in children under three years old, since they do not yet produce all groups of enzymes.

It is desirable that one dish contains no more than 3-4 ingredients, then it is well digested. It is better to avoid high-calorie foods (mayonnaise, sour cream with a fat content higher than 10%, cheese with a fat content higher than 20%, and fatty meats and fish), because they overload the pancreas.

Let the sharp appetizers and salads of Korean cuisine, seafood, caviar, fatty salads, vegetables that cause flatulence (beans, radishes), chocolate, cream cakes, citrus fruits remain on the “adult” table.
Be wary of the children tasting salted tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and mushrooms.

The next day, many ready-made dishes become unsafe. Especially salads, which were dressed with mayonnaise or sour cream. Therefore, I would like to warn everyone: do not eat them up!

After all, they stood for a day, and part of the time on the table, without a refrigerator. So, it is quite likely that the next day, microorganisms can actively reproduce in them, which threatens foodborne toxicoinfection.

Commented on Alexander Sheremet, brand chef of the gastronomic restaurant Saint Michel.

In my opinion, the New Year is still a family holiday, so everyone should gather at one holiday table, regardless of age. Dishes of the New Year's table can be familiar and simple, a lot depends on the serving.

If there are children at the table, it should be taken into account when drawing up the New Year's menu.

General recommendations are as follows:

• To the maximum exclude all fried, fatty, spicy and salty.
• Limit the rich broths, smoked meats and sausages, as well as foods that can trigger an allergic reaction: seafood and fish, tangerines, oranges and chocolate.
• Use sparing methods of cooking, such as cooking, roasting, steaming, grilling.
• Try to include as few ingredients as possible in each dish.
  Carefully use spices and all sorts of sauces, if possible, serve them separately.
• Pediatricians are not advised to teach the child to complex tastes from a young age. Let the baby learn to distinguish, appreciate and prefer the natural taste of each product.
• If, nevertheless, you decide to cook a dish for adults only, then do not put it on the common table, but serve each on a separate plate, while offering the children attractive and healthy dishes prepared only for them.
• But if a child likes, for example, Olivier or you cannot imagine a New Year's table without him, then prepare a lightweight version. Replace traditional sausage with chicken fillet, and instead of mayonnaise, use yogurt or another less fatty and spicy dressing.

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