At what age can yogurt be given to children and how to prepare it?

Such a fermented milk product like yogurt is a favorite for many adults and children. It is obtained in the process of souring milk with special bacteria - Bulgarian rods and thermophilic streptococci. This distinguishes it from other dairy products and provides its beneficial effects.

At what age is it worthwhile to introduce a toddler with this at the same time tasty and positively affecting health product, what is its usefulness for kids and does yogurt have a harmful effect on the children's organism? Can children shop yogurt and how to choose it? Is cooking at home possible? Let's find out together the answers to these and other questions about yogurt in a child’s diet.

• Yogurt contains proteins that are well absorbed in the children's body.
• Yoghurt is a great source of calcium, important in bone formation and strengthening of teeth.
• Also in yogurt contains many vitamins and minerals that are important for the growth of the child.
• With yogurts, probiotics enter the body of babies, which have a positive effect on digestion and immunity. Due to the beneficial bacterial flora, such products are especially recommended after a course of antibiotics.
• Baby yogurt can be liquid (drinking) or thicker (using pectin), which makes the yogurt lure quite diverse.

Yogurts for baby food have a short shelf life, so there is always a risk to give the child poor quality or expired meals if the mother forgets to check the terms on the package or store the product incorrectly. In addition, due to the large variety of dairy products on the shelves, you can easily make mistakes and offer a crumbs product that is not recommended for children. To prevent such errors can only parental care.

The baby can react to yogurt with allergies in cases where the crumbs offer a product with fruits or berries. Allergic reactions to yogurt without additives are very rare if the child has an intolerance to milk proteins.

Babies who are bottle-fed yogurt can be given from 8 months of age, and babies who get breast milk, the introduction of this product into the diet is recommended by doctors at 9 months.

For the first test of yogurt, you should choose morning feeding, in order to follow the condition of the child until the end of the day and immediately find out whether the baby has transferred the new product normally. Next, yogurt is given most often in the fourth feeding (afternoon snack), combining with fruit, cottage cheese and biscuits.

“Live” yogurts, on which there is no “for children” mark, are allowed to be given to kids not earlier than two years. The volume of yogurt, which is recommended for use in early childhood, should be up to 50% of the daily recommendations for the amount of fermented milk foods.A child under one year old needs 100 ml of the product, and a 1-3-year-old baby can take up to 200 ml.

Make yogurt at home is simple enough, but for this you need to purchase a special leaven. Also, yogurt will need milk, which should be boiled. It is important to use sterile dishes for making yoghurts.

Boiled milk, in which ferment is introduced, should have a temperature of about + 40 °. If it is higher, the bacteria will not be able to multiply and yogurt will not work. The main advantage of the yogurt maker is the long-term maintenance of the temperature needed for the “work” of the sourdough microorganisms.

Most often, in such a device, yogurt is cooked for 8-10 hours, so it is quite possible to put milk with yeast in a yoghurt maker in the evening, and in the morning remove the finished product in the refrigerator. Giving such a yogurt to a child should be within 4-5 days after preparation, and best of all - in the first two days (the benefit will be maximum).

Preparation of yogurt is possible in this device in the presence of a suitable mode. For one serving, 2 liters of milk with fat content of up to 3.2% is usually used. It should be brought to a boil, and then cooled to a temperature of about 42 ° C. After adding a suitable leaven to the milk and mixing, the mixture is poured into the slow cooker, covered with a lid and set to “yoghurt” mode. The product will be ready in ten hours, when it should be poured into glass containers and sent to the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

After boiling the milk and cooling it to about + 40 + 45 ° С, add the leaven to it and mix well, then immediately pour into a thermos, which must be treated with boiling water (this will prevent the development in the milk of other bacteria, except dairy). Wrap a thermos in a warm cloth and place in a warm place, for example, near the battery in the heating season or in a sunny place in the summer.

After keeping the thermos in the heat for 4 to 7 hours, pour the yogurt into jars and keep in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. The cold will stop the growth of bacteria and will be an obstacle to further souring of milk. The finished product can be mixed with fruit, jam, syrup and other ingredients.

Home-made yoghurt or purchased baby product goes well with:

• Applesauce.
• Peach puree.
• Banana.
• Pumpkin.
• Pear.
• Cottage cheese.
• Children's cookies.

Remember that when mixing yogurt with fresh fruit, the product should be eaten immediately. But you can add ready-made mashed potatoes to yogurt in advance.

Using yoghurt as a dressing for baby fruit salad is a great idea. These salads recommend giving crumbs older than one year. Since it is most useful to eat seasonal fruits, these salads can be divided into summer and winter. Consider the examples of their recipes.

For a summer fruit salad with yogurt, take:

• 1 apple;
• 1 pear;
• 3 plums;
• melon slice;
• 10 grapes.

Cut the washed peeled fruits, add the yogurt to them and mix. If desired, you can sweeten a small amount of honey.

For a winter fruit salad with yogurt you will need:

• 1 apple;
• 1 Kiwi;
• 1 persimmon;
• 1 banana;
• 1 mandarin.

Remove the peel from the fruit, remove the seeds, then cut into cubes and layered, each of which is watered with yogurt and sprinkle (though not necessarily) with a small amount of sugar.

Serve these salads on the table to the child immediately after cooking, so that the fruits do not lose their valuable properties. To increase the appetite, you can arrange them beautifully, for example, in the form of an animal or a typewriter.

Watch a video recipe for making fruit salad with yogurt, filmed by the Recipeshare channel.

Buying leaven should be in a store or pharmacy, making sure that it is stored in the refrigerator. Be sure to ensure that the expiration dates on the starter packaging are not exceeded. For making yoghurts that you will give to babies (especially if the product is intended for children under one year old), it is advised to use a new batch of leaven every time.

To diversify sour milk foods, try cooking not only yogurt at home, but also use other sourdoughs, for example, bifivit, vitalact or streptosan.

• The word “yogurt” must be present on the product.
• Always read the product label, inquiring about the presence of thickeners, sugars, flavors or colors. Such components in children's yogurt should not be. The best product for a child is one in which there is only milk and sourdough.
• Fruit supplements are permissible, however such yoghurts should be given very carefully due to the risk of allergies. If you want to treat your baby with fruit yogurt, it is preferable to combine the yogurt without additives and fruit puree.
• Buy young children yogurt up to 3.2% fat. Creamy yogurts with a higher fat content are recommended only for children over 2 years old. Fat-free product is considered unsuitable for feeding children, if it is not recommended by a doctor.
• When buying, be sure to look at the terms and conditions of storage. Children should buy yogurt, which is stored for up to five (maximum seven) days. Also discard the product, which is permissible to store without a refrigerator.
• Yoghurts of such well-known brands of fermented milk products as Miracle, Actimel, Aktivia, Imunele, Hermann, Rastishka and the like, are not advised to give to kids under 3 years old.
• If yogurt is positioned as a bioproduct, its label should contain data on the concentration of microorganisms. Usually by the end of the shelf life of their content should be at least 107 CFU.

For how to choose yogurt, see the TV channel.