Looking to spice up your baby’s culinary experience and are wondering, can babies eat jello?
As soon as a baby can start taking solid food, parents start wondering if they can and can’t assume.
We want them to have the best experience of everything, whether the food provides nourishment or not.
Desserts and candy might run at the top of that list, but are they really good for your child?
Jell-O is one of the desserts many parents consider giving their kids.
Not to mention it’s a snack that offers a fun sensory experience and taste because of the jiggly properties and exciting colors.
So, can your feed your baby desserts like jello?
Can Babies Eat Jello
Jello is a colorful and sugary snack that is made from gelatin, a protein extracted from the skins and bones of certain animals.
While you buy jello from most retail shops, you can still make it at home as long as you have the gelatin mix.
Since jello has no nutritional value, most parents use it as a treat or an introduction to solid foods.
However, experts recommend that you limit how much jello you feed your baby. In fact, most experts advise that you restrict jello in your child’s diet.
The chemicals present in the food coloring products that help give jello its various colors are poisonous, especially when used in large quantities by children.
Jello can also cause stomach upsets and make some children refuse to eat other nutritional foods.
Considering that your young one is still developing and their immune system is still compromised, it is best to only feed them with nutritious foods.
A treat is okay, once in a while, but desserts like jellos and other products with processed sugars and food colors should not feature in their regular diet.
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1. Other Foods Dangerous to Babies
Jello may not be the only dangerous food to the baby. There are other categories of food that a baby should not eat, including:
Foods that can choke a baby
As mentioned earlier, your baby is still growing.
Even if they can consume solid foods, their system is not fully developed to consume most of the solid foods adults consume.
We are talking about hard foods like cereals, nuts, meat, gummy candies, among others.
These foods are one of the greatest choking hazards for babies, which can easily lead to death.
Fast Foods
Fast foods are harmful and dangerous to babies. For starters, they do not pose a lot of nutritional value to babies.
Second, they are full of excess sugars, salts, and fats.
Unpasteurized Foods
Unpasteurized foods include cheese, milk, juice, and beverages.
These foods are dangerous to babies because they contain harmful bacteria and parasites that cause illness or even death to babies.
2. Healthy Foods for Babies
It is best to know foods with nutrition values as soon as your baby is old enough to start eating solid foods. Some of the foods you can add to their diet are:
Vegetables
During weaning, you can feed your baby some vegetables. Vegetables are high in vitamins, minerals, and fiber providing nutrients for your baby’s growth and development.
Fish
Babies who have attained the age of six months can eat fish. Ensure you soften the fish before feeding the baby as it makes it easy for them to munch it. Fish provides babies with vitamins, minerals, protein, and omega 3 fatty acids for brain development and a healthy body.
Milk
As you introduce solid foods to your little one it is good to understand that babies will only eat small amounts of solid foods because their stomach sizes are still small. Feeding the baby with breast milk and formula milk helps the baby to continue getting the much-needed nutrients for their growth and development.
Can babies eat jello? Yes, you can give your baby jello. However, it should not be the main feature in every diet your baby has, jello has no nutritious values. Also, the sugars and food colors in jello can affect the baby’s health.
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Mo Mulla is a work from home dad who enjoys reading and listening to music, He loves being a dad and husband to a growing family. He also loves writing about his passions and hopes to change the world, 1 blog post at a time!