Wait until at least 1 year old, preferably after 2 years old.
For babies under one year old, do not add sugar or salt to complementary foods. Add a little healthy oil when necessary. This point is often emphasized. Babies under one year old are mainly trying a variety of healthy ingredients, learning to chew, and guiding healthy eating habits. Therefore, do not try ice cream if you are under one year old.
Children after one year old should be integrated into a healthy family diet, with the principle of light, less salt and less sugar.
Ice cream is high in calories but low in other nutrients. If you eat too much ice cream, it may affect your child’s overall healthy diet structure, thereby affecting your child’s balanced nutritional intake.
In addition, ice cream is high in sugar and saturated fat, and eating more of it is bad for long-term health, such as increasing the risk of dental caries, obesity, cardiovascular disease, etc.
Regarding the amount of additional added sugar, the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022) recommend that children aged 7 and above should not exceed 50 grams per day, and preferably less than 25 grams; the American Heart Association recommends that children aged 2-18 should not exceed 50 grams per day. 25 grams. For children under 2 years old, no extra sugar is required.
Therefore, try ice cream after at least one year old, preferably after 2 years old.
How to choose?
The basic methods and principles for choosing ice cream are the same as choosing other foods. For example, by reading the nutritional label, you can find the one with lower fat and sugar content per 100 grams or per 100 ml; by reading the ingredient list, choose the one with relatively simpler ingredients. Variety.
From a practical perspective, the general principle for children to eat ice cream is occasionally and in small amounts. For ice cream that you eat once in a while, in addition to understanding the nutritional content, you actually need to pay more attention to the portion size of the ice cream. Try to choose small packages of ice cream for your children, which will help control the amount of ice cream you eat each time. If you buy a full family size box of ice cream, it is recommended to use a smaller container to serve your children in small amounts at a time.
