Can a child have liver: chicken or pork, and when?

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The health of every baby depends largely on the care he receives from birth. Baby food is of particular importance. In the first days and months of life, the best food is mother's breast milk. But gradually the baby will need a more varied diet.

There comes a time (optimally 6 months) when the children’s diet is gradually enriched. First, easy-to-digest foods, mainly vegetables, are given for testing. But already at 8-9 months you should switch to food of animal origin, in particular meat.

Mothers try to choose meat pieces of chicken, turkey, and rabbit as a protein supplier. But you can try offal for complementary feeding, namely liver.

Fresh, properly prepared liver for a child will become a storehouse of vitamins and beneficial microelements.

At what age should you start giving?

Before you put a dish made from this product on a plate, you should know when it is acceptable for your baby to eat it, when you can give it a try, and when not. There are different opinions about at what age children should be given liver. There are supporters of the theory that this offal is harmful to health and there is no need for the baby to try it.

In practice this is not the case. Liver dishes are healthy and nutritious and should be included in children’s diets several times a week. They can cause harm in such cases as:

• Have an allergic reaction to the product,
• Used poor quality, stale,
• Incorrectly or long ago prepared, without observing storage conditions,
• It is given to the child in the first months of life.

In other cases, it is safe for the baby. On an individual basis, it is useful to consult with your treating pediatrician about whether liver can be given to children and when to introduce it into the diet.

Liver in the diet of a one-year-old child: tasty and healthy recipes

Liver and potato puree

We will need:

• two potatoes;
• two hundred grams of beef liver;
• 50 ml milk;
• salt to taste.

1. Peel the potatoes. Boil it with added salt.
2. We thoroughly wash the liver and remove the skin. Boil it in a separate saucepan. Don't forget to salt it.

3. Transfer the potatoes and liver to a blender. Add milk. Grind the ingredients.

4. The puree is ready.

Benefits of the liver for a child

When choosing each new product for her child, a normal mother will think, first of all, about the benefits and possible harm to the child’s health. If the positive qualities significantly exceed possible disadvantages (such as an allergic reaction), then the product can be included in the menu. However, if you know in advance that an allergic reaction may occur, it is better to abandon such an idea.

The baby should receive liver dishes regularly every year. The best option, according to pediatric nutritionists, is 2-3 times a week. It is this frequency of intake of this by-product in food that is considered optimal for children under 7 years of age, when the child is actively developing.

You can introduce offal into your child’s diet during the same period when it is recommended to try meat. Many people recommend preparing the liver for your first introduction to meat. After all, the delicate texture is ideal for baby purees.

The content of useful microelements makes this puree ideal for the nutrition of children and their development.

The liver contains such useful substances as:

• Vitamins: A, B, PP, E, C, D,
• Lots of iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, selenium.
• There are essential amino acids that are not produced by the human body and can only be obtained from animal foods.

Vitamins are necessary for the baby for normal growth and development, for the formation of immunity, and for the prevention of rickets. The presence of folic acid allows you to regulate the mechanism of excitation and inhibition of the child’s mental activity. The nervous system will have all the prerequisites for normal development.

The high content of microelements allows the baby to develop strong bones, developed muscles, and strengthen the cardiovascular system.

Chicken liver is useful for those who have lung problems, have recently suffered infectious diseases, injuries with open wounds and for solving other health problems.

The benefit of liver dishes also lies in the ability to increase hemoglobin levels, promote the formation of red blood cells and saturate the body with oxygen. The trace elements it contains contribute to the formation of strong bones and bone marrow.

Norms for complementary feeding with liver by month

The timing of the introduction of by-products is approximate. For example, in certain cases, chicken liver may be introduced a little later. Permission to add any type of offal to the diet of a particular child is given only by a pediatrician who has been observing the baby since birth.

Complementary feeding up to one year

How often to give your child liver

Liver dishes are included in children's menus no more than twice a week, alternating with meat dishes. It is necessary to start from the age of 5, gradually increasing to the full norm of 70 per day by the one-year period.

Amount of complementary foods

Offering liver to an infant should be done with caution. At first, try no more than a quarter of a teaspoon during your usual feeding. Be sure to pay attention to the baby’s well-being. In case of any rashes or problems with stool, the product is excluded from complementary foods. If there are no allergic manifestations, the portion is gradually increased to normal.

What can you combine liver with?

A large selection of canned food makes it easier for mothers to prepare a children's menu. It is much healthier to prepare homemade food from fresh liver, combining it with the usual ingredients: porridge, eggs, vegetables.

To improve the taste, liver can be mixed with porridge or vegetables.

Nutritionists offer their own version of including offal in the diet: mix liver puree with vegetable puree and offer a mixed dish. These will be new taste sensations that the baby may like more than the taste of monocomponent puree.

Advice. It is not advisable to add salt and spices to cooked dishes until the child reaches one year of age.

Minuses

Along with the positive aspects, like other foods, offal in a child’s diet may not take root and have a number of negative consequences.

First of all, due to the specific taste, a child may not like such food. In this case, you should postpone getting to know her for several weeks. After a while, you can try offering it to your baby again.

A much bigger problem is that due to the individual characteristics of the body, an allergic reaction may develop. In order to avoid this, it is better to administer the product after consulting a doctor.

There is a stereotype that such food is dangerous for children, since it contains all the bad substances from the “owner’s” body. But this stereotype has long been scientifically destroyed. It does not contain toxins that accumulate over the life of a bird or animal. Harmful substances are excreted with bile.

How to properly introduce complementary foods

Liver dishes in the food of children in the first year of life should be simple and healthy. For the first time, you can’t come up with complex recipes with many ingredients. It is enough to properly boil a small piece, grind it to a soft puree in a blender, and give it to the baby.

When deciding which month is best to introduce complementary foods, you should consult with a pediatrician who regularly monitors the baby. It is not recommended to start before the seventh month or after the ninth. The optimal period is 7-9 months.

You need to give one teaspoon. If no negative reaction occurs within one or two days, and the child does not refuse such food, then you can increase the portion or add it to vegetable purees.

Cooking rules

We will look at how to properly prepare this product for a small child using liver puree as an example.

1. Take a fresh, high-quality product and rinse it thoroughly under running water.
2. Soak the liver in milk (or water) for half an hour. This is necessary in order to get rid of excess bitterness.
3. Cut the liver into pieces.
4. Pour cold water over the product and bring it to a boil.
5. Cook for approximately 25 minutes. The time depends on the type of liver.
6. When half the cooking time has passed, you need to drain the previously salted water and add new water, without salt.
7. The boiled product is crushed using a blender or meat grinder, then rubbed through a strainer twice.
8. To make the product more tender, you can add a little broth.

Which products to choose for baby food

Hand-cooked children's dishes deservedly have the most supporters. The offal is affordable for most mothers; it can always be bought at the nearest butcher shop or supermarket. The cooking process takes a small amount of time. At the same time, young parents can be sure that the composition does not contain preservatives or other harmful additives.

Ready-made baby food with liver

Many mothers do not cook themselves, but prefer ready-made purees from a jar. This is a good option for those who are going on a trip or need urgent food for a hungry baby.

Responsible manufacturers prepare baby food responsibly and in compliance with standards. But along with banks from reliable manufacturers, their cheap analogues with dubious composition and quality may also be on the shelves.

Therefore, before you start buying food for children in jars, you need to familiarize yourself with the reputation of the manufacturer.

Among the best baby food manufacturers whose lines include jars of liver are the following brands:

• Agusha,
• Heim,
• Spoon in palm
• Home,
• FruttoNanny,
• Semper,
• Theme, etc.

It is better to choose small jars so that the baby eats everything in one or two times. After all, such products cannot be stored for more than a day, and throwing them away would be illogical, since such food is not very cheap.

To prepare any dish, it is necessary that the liver is always fresh.

Types of liver

In children's cooking you can find recipes for dishes with the liver of such animals as:

• Beef (veal),
• Turkey,
• Pork,
• Chicken,
• Fishy.

The latter is considered the most useful, as it is rich in a huge amount of nutrients per small portion. It is especially recommended to consume cod liver. But fish aged 7-10 months is not recommended for children, as it can cause allergies. Therefore, for the first complementary feeding it is enough to choose chicken or turkey, with minimal risk of allergies.

Chicken

There is no need to think about whether children can eat chicken liver - this is the most common type, which has beneficial properties, is easy to prepare and is inexpensive.

Rich in proteins that are actively involved in the formation of muscle tissue. The percentage of protein content is almost equal to that of breast meat, which costs twice as much.

There is a high content of vitamin A, which strengthens vision and is useful for the formation of strong and healthy teeth. The taste is tender and pleasant. If you process it correctly, remove the bile ducts and the green sac with bile, you will be able to avoid bitterness. The cooking process will take 10-15 minutes. If you overcook, the dish will turn out tougher and drier, which the baby may not like.

Turkey

Turkey by-product is considered the most healthy and dietary. Very soft and tender. Even just boiled and mashed with a fork it becomes like a pate soufflé.

Recommended by pediatricians for complementary feeding in the first year of babies' lives. It is a dietary and anti-allergenic product.

Promotes the formation of strong bones, normal growth and development of the whole organism, activates thought processes, and develops memory.

The only negative is that it is less common on sale and costs a little more than chicken.

Beef

Beef offal is no less healthy. But for children it is better to find a product made from calf. Calf liver takes longer to process than poultry liver. Liver prepared from several pieces should be served chilled and chopped.

The pediatrician, having determined the different forms of anemia in the baby, can prescribe a diet with calf liver. It perfectly compensates for the lack of hemoglobin in the blood. This protein helps saturate the blood with oxygen and transport it to all organs and systems of the child’s body.

Pork

It is believed that this product is best absorbed by the human body, since its structure is as close as possible to the human one. But this opinion has been repeatedly questioned. The greater benefit is that liver is rich in minerals, vitamins, proteins and essential amino acids.

Has the following effects on the baby:

• Improves sleep, removes unnecessary anxiety,
• Strengthens vision
• Promotes the absorption of protein, calcium,
• Normalizes the hematopoietic process.

According to leading nutritionists, it is not important whose derivative is chosen, but what quality it is and how it is prepared. The composition and beneficial properties of the offal of both poultry and cattle are similar.

Choosing the right liver

Green stool in a formula-fed baby

Recommendations have been developed for the age at which liver can be given to a child, and for which each type should be included in complementary feeding. It is useful for mothers to know that types of offal have their own characteristics, so the timing of their inclusion in the diet of infants will be different.

Timing for inclusion of by-products

Liver is allowed to be included in baby food from six months, along with other products. A large number of its varieties allows you to make your baby’s menu varied and nutritious.

When entering, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of a particular type of liver in order to observe the order of inclusion:

• It’s better to start getting acquainted with veal and beef offal because of their easy digestibility and hypoallergenicity. Vitamins A and B, which are present in the liver, increase immunity and maintain hemoglobin at the proper level. The downside is the rigidity of the product and labor-intensive cleaning of the films.

Baby will love chicken liver puree because it has a delicate and pleasant taste.

• Chicken by-product has a delicate texture and pleasant taste, and is easy and quick to prepare. The main value is the high level of iron and folic acid, which strengthen the baby’s immunity. There is also choline, which is necessary for the functioning of the nervous system and brain activity. However, liver puree is administered only to those children who are not allergic to chicken.
• Turkey liver is similar to chicken liver, easy to digest, quick to cook, soft and pleasant in taste. It contains twice as many calories as other types of liver. Turkey liver is introduced later than chicken liver due to its increased fat content. Food prepared from it enriches the child’s body with vitamins B12, K and C, iron, phosphorus and other microelements.
• Rabbit liver puree has useful substances: beta-carotene, calcium, tin, selenium, vitamin D. Disadvantages - high cost and rare sale of canned puree, unlike other types of liver.
• Pork liver dishes are low in calories and cook quite quickly, since there are no hard films in it. The downside is the bitter aftertaste of the finished food. To prevent the child from rejecting the product, it is introduced much later than other varieties. Properly prepared pork liver is a supplier of iron, copper, manganese, iodine, vitamins A, E, B.
• By the age of one, you can introduce a delicious product - cod liver, rich in microelements: zinc, iodine, calcium, vitamins A and D. Dishes made from it prevent rickets, skin and dental diseases, as well as strengthen bones and protect against infections.

Cooking rules for a child

You need to prepare liver dishes for children correctly and with inspiration. This product has a specific taste and if served incorrectly, you can forever discourage your baby from trying it.

To begin with, you should buy a fresh product, with a shiny surface and an even red-brown color. A light sweetish aroma is characteristic of fresh liver.

Before cooking, remove all films and ducts, cut out the green bladder with bile. If this bubble breaks during processing, you need to thoroughly rinse the pieces under running water. There is nothing dangerous in bile, but it will cause unpleasant bitterness.

After processing, you can keep the pieces in milk for 30-60 minutes. This will help get rid of the bitter taste and achieve a more delicate taste. It is important to cook briefly without overcooking. Otherwise the product will become dry. And in the case of veal and pork liver, it will acquire a rubbery structure. If you are distracted from cooking and realize that the meat has become rubbery, it is better to throw it away and prepare a new portion. All beneficial properties in overcooked foods will be lost.

Chicken liver recipes for children after one year

Take note of the recipes that mothers who want to prepare healthy and tasty food for their children from birth need to know.

The experience of culinary specialists allows us to prepare from this offal:

• Juicy cutlets for children,
• Soufflés and pates,
• Pancakes and pancakes
• Puree,
• Goulash and other dishes.

To make the soup less meaty, you can add a little potatoes and carrots at your discretion.

Liver soufflé

For the first feeding, you can try making liver soufflé. The soft and delicate texture will appeal to the baby. To prepare a small amount of soufflé, mix 100 g of liver, a piece of bread, and an egg. The mixture must be whipped in a blender until it has an airy, homogeneous consistency.

There are two recipes for making soufflé:

• Steam cooking
• Bake in the oven.

You can choose the option for preparing soufflé that is more convenient and familiar.

How to choose and cook

Take liver with a smooth shiny surface and even color, without plaque or stains. It should have a light sweetish aroma and a brown-burgundy color. Choose fresh, unfrozen and frozen liver. Before cooking, wash the piece, remove veins and film.

You can first boil the liver, which takes about ten minutes, and then grind the boiled meat to a puree. You can make puree without pre-cooking. To do this, first fill the product with water or milk and leave for half an hour.

After this, cut the liver into pieces, add water and bring to a boil. Then grind the chicken in a blender or meat grinder. We dilute the resulting puree with water or milk. In the future, you can prepare various dishes with chicken liver for your children, the recipes for which you will find below.

Liver with vegetables

You can try cooking liver with vegetables after the child has already become accustomed to its taste.

Take the following ingredients: 100 g liver, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 bell pepper, 2 tablespoons sour cream. Cut everything into cubes or slices and fry in a small amount of olive oil. At the end, sour cream is added, the dish is covered with a lid and simmered for 5 minutes over low heat.

A good option for dinner, especially if your baby likes vegetables. If your child loves goulash, then you can add a small amount of tomato paste to the sour cream.

Liver pancakes

For preparation, take 300 grams of liver, to which you need to add a small amount of breadcrumbs, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of sour cream. You can add one small carrot. You can add a little salt. Everything is whipped in a blender. It is recommended to leave the mixture in the cold for some time. After half an hour you can start frying. To do this, use a non-stick frying pan, on which you just need to drop a little olive oil or grease it with butter. Place a few spoons of the mixture on the hot oil, turn over after a golden crust appears and cover with a lid for 1-2 minutes.

How to make puree

To make a delicious puree, just boil the product until ready, beat with butter or egg, put the mixture in a mold and leave it in the oven for a while.

For pureed pate, vegetables are usually added: carrots and onions. This dish can be eaten on its own or spread on bread.

Such food is very healthy and nutritious for the child’s body, but you need to gradually increase the amount so that the child does not overeat.

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