Speaking of fruit, avocados are a type of fruit that is popular because it contains a myriad of benefits for health. Not only for adults, this super fruit is also good for supporting children's growth and development. Even so, parents should not just give avocados for children, especially before their time. Then, when do children start eating avocados and how much, should they? Come on, see the full information below.
Avocado benefits for children
Avocados are one of the best types of fruit to be consumed by all ages, including children. Avocados contain the best source of fat, namely unsaturated fat, which is useful for optimizing the brain function of children in its infancy.
What's more, about 25 to 30 percent of children's calories come from unsaturated fats. This means that eating avocados alone can help meet your child's fat needs.
Not only that, avocados are also rich in vitamins and minerals that can support children's growth and prevent infection. Every 100 grams of avocados contain one percent of vitamin A which is useful for sharpening vision, 14 percent of vitamin E to sharpen children's memory, and 11 percent of vitamin C to maintain a child's skin health.
While when viewed from the mineral content, avocados contain calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc. The content of calcium and potassium in avocados serves to build strong children's bones and teeth. While iron is useful for preventing anemia in children. So, there is no doubt that avocados are very good for child development.
Avocado dose for children
Basically, children can only be given ASI until the age of six months. This is because every drop of breast milk contains complete nutrition that is easily digested by a small and sensitive baby's stomach. That is why, giving breast milk alone can meet the nutritional needs of your child.
After the age of six months, your baby starts to need additional food to supplement his nutritional needs. This is the right time for you to start providing nutritious and soft textured complementary breastmilk foods to make it easier for babies to digest.
Well, at this time you can only give avocados to children as one of the food menus. Avocados have a soft texture and a pretty sweet taste. The combination of these two things will certainly be very favored by babies who are just learning to recognize the taste of food, one of which is sweetness.
Based on the Nutrition Adequacy Rate issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, children aged 7 to 11 months need 725 kilocalories. To meet this need, you can make a bowl of avocado puree with 2 medium avocados (weighing about 136 grams each).
This bowl of avocado puree contains 436 calories and 14 grams of fat. This means that by eating a bowl of avocado puree can meet half the daily calorie and fat requirements for children every day.
Choosing avocados is good for children
Because the child's stomach is still small and sensitive, you must pay attention to the texture and type of fruit before giving it to your little one. Similarly, when you want to give avocados to children.
Make sure the avocado you choose is mature enough, usually marked with a dark green skin tone. Avoid avocados with bright green skin because they are usually immature, too brown because they are usually overcooked.
After that, try to hold the avocado and press it slowly. Mature avocados tend to feel soft when pressed. If it is still hard, then the avocado may not be ripe so it should not be given to your child.
If you have found a ripe avocado, cut the avocado in half and remove the seeds. Take the yellowish green flesh, then put it in your little bowl. You can serve it in the form of puree (porridge) or small pieces of avocado if your child wants to eat alone.