What foods should you avoid feeding your baby?

• What do experts say about babies’ diets? 
• What foods should you avoid feeding your baby? 
• Some food hazards include choking and allergies.

What foods should you avoid feeding your baby? It’s important to follow certain guidelines when feeding your baby to guarantee they grow up healthy and strong.

The American Academy of Pediatrics frequently updates their dietary recommendations for newborns and babies — find out what foods and products to avoid and the reasons behind these guidelines.

5. Foods you should avoid feeding your baby: Unpasteurized products

Some of the foods that you should avoid giving your baby are unpasteurized products, such as milk, yogurt, juices and some types of cheese. These can cause illness and even death.

Pasteurization is a process that eliminates pathogens — such as salmonella, E. coli and Listeria — capable of causing serious illness when consumed by babies under one year of age, when their immune systems are not fully developed.

4. Honey

You should never give babies under one year of age honey due to the potential risk of botulism, a food poisoning produced by the Clostridium botulinum bacterium, which is found in soil, dust and other contaminated foods.

When the spores release toxins into the baby’s body, it can lead to botulism, an infection that the baby’s body is unable to fight off. It can cause difficulty breathing, constipation, and in some cases, death.

3. Smoked or cured meat

When babies start eating solid foods it is essential to avoid feeding them smoked or cured foods, such as ham and bacon, since their processing sometimes encourages the growth of bacteria that can cause serious infections.

Another reason to avoid smoked meats is that they contain high levels of sodium. Babies’ kidneys may not be able to handle high sodium, and it can even lead to high blood pressure.

2. Foods you should avoid feeding your baby: Peanuts

There are three main reasons why it is not a good idea for babies to eat peanuts. The first one is that it is a potentially allergenic food that should only be eaten by children older than six months. Another reason is that some babies have trouble digesting foods that are high in fat and protein.

Because of their size, peanuts are also a choking hazard for little ones. Therefore, it is best to consult with your pediatrician to find out when it’s safe to introduce them to your baby.

1. Grapes, raisins and gum

According to statistics, in the United States a baby dies every five days from choking on food. Every year, 12,000 infants and children are taken to emergency rooms for this type of incident and some foods may be more risky than others, especially in the first few years of life.

Among the foods that pose high choking risk are raisins, grapes, large pieces of meat, cranberries, broccoli, carrots, apples and cherry tomatoes. To reduce the risk of choking, it is recommended to cut food into small pieces and carefully watch children while they eat.