Said many adults, when asked to choose from a variety of juices they were offered. The reason is simple. Who hasn’t grown up having a refreshing glass of orange juice at breakfast time? Or perhaps, after a day spent playing outdoors?
There’s no reason our babies should not enjoy this delightful, ‘tangy’ juice, too. What’s more, they might even prefer eating it whole! Just in case you were wondering, ‘Are Oranges Good for Babies’, you can rest assured they most certainly are! We at EuroKids have carefully compiled for you a list of all pertinent Orange-related information. From the Benefits of Orange for Babies to Orange Recipes for Babies, you can count on us to ensure we have all the ‘slices’ of information you need to know about Oranges, and more!
Join us in this journey of ‘dissecting’ this Citrus fruit loved by adults and children alike, Let’s begin, with a look at When to Introduce Orange Juice to Baby!
Table of Contents:
- Getting the Timing Right: When to introduce Orange Juice to Baby
- The Nutritional Value of Orange Juice
- The Benefits of Oranges for Babies
- Introducing Oranges to Babies: Orange Recipes for Baby
Getting the Timing Right: When to Introduce Orange Juice to Baby
By the time they are 6 months old, you’re gradually going to be weaning your baby towards eating solid foods. While it might be tempting to introduce your favorite ‘Orange juice’ to them at this stage, you might want to wait for another 6 months!
Cool Fact: While the offer of an ‘abundant supply of Vitamin C’ might be a tad too hard to resist, your baby might just have an allergic reaction to orange juice at this stage of their lives. The reason being, the acidic levels in oranges are pretty high, which might make it hard for babies to digest the fruit, or even its juice, for that matter.
Conclusion: You want to wait until they are a year old, before giving them their first ‘dose’ of Orange.
Note: You want to remove the seeds and the rigid ‘membranes’ for your little one, as they can pose a potential choking hazard.
The Nutritional Value of Orange Juice
Are Oranges good for Babies? While we might have answered the question in the introduction to this blog post, here are the ‘reasons’ why.
- Packed with the ‘Essentials’
- Rich in Vitamins
- Minerals and Antioxidants
Of course we want to ensure our baby gets an adequate dose of nutrients like ‘carbohydrate’ and ‘fiber’. Luckily, the orange has them all, along with a high water content!
Did you ever think that Vitamin C was the only vitamin you would get out of eating oranges? It’s laced with others too! Like Vitamin B6 and Vitamin A.
Be it antioxidants like ‘flavonoids’, or vital minerals like ‘potassium’, you can be sure that orange juice is bursting with them all.
The Benefits of Orange for Babies
It’s certainly worth waiting a year to give Oranges to your Baby. Presenting the top reasons why.
- A Bundle of Fiber
- A Storehouse of Vitamin C
- Bursting with Antioxidants
- Fighter of Infections
- Helps prevent Anemia
- Helps prevent Dehydration
With every slice of orange that Baby eats, they are being provided with a good amount of Fiber!
Cool Fact: Having plenty of fiber from oranges, will surely help to keep Constipation away.
One of the most important reasons babies should be having oranges, is the most obvious one.
Cool Fact: Yes we know oranges contain Vitamin C, but why is it so important for Baby? It’s because it serves to improve their immunity, and even helps in their body’s absorption of Iron from plant foods.
The word ‘antioxidants’ sounds cool, but do you know why they are ever so important?
Cool Fact: Free radicals cause plenty of damage in our bodies, and the antioxidants help limit that very damage!
Cough and Cold are the most common ailments out there, but you can never take them for granted, especially in the case of your little ones.
Cool Fact: Eating oranges can help minimize the occurrences of Cough and Cold, in Baby.
Anemia, another common ailment in little children, can be prevented with enough oranges in their diet!
Cool Fact: As touched upon earlier, it’s the absorption of Iron thanks to that vitamin C, that helps stave off anemia by raising the level of hemoglobin in baby’s blood.
All babies run the very real risk of dehydration, especially in tropical climes like India’s.
Cool Fact: Aside from all that nutritional goodness they are laced with, oranges have plenty of ‘water’ that ensure your baby never falls prey to the evils of dehydration.
Introducing Oranges to Babies: Orange Recipes for Baby
Can’t wait to get started, when it comes to introducing your one-year-old to your beloved ‘Orange’? Try the following Orange Recipes for Baby, to help make that transition a most pleasurable one.
Orange Recipe #1: Orange and Carrot Mash
Any solid food, when mashed, makes for the perfect way to introduce oranges to babies.
Ingredients
- ½ cup carrot (chopped)
- 1 tbsp orange juice
Instructions
- Cook the carrots in a pressure cooker till they are soft.
- When they are soft enough, add the orange juice to the carrots.
- Blend the mixture till you get a good ‘mash’, before serving it to Baby!
Orange Recipe #2: Orange Sherbet
Get your baby to cool off in style, with this wonderful Orange Sherbet!
Ingredients
- 1 cup apple juice
- I orange
Instructions
- After you have peeled and deseeded the orange, blend it well. Then add apple juice to it and blend again.
- Freeze the blended mixture in a container for around an hour, before blending once more.
- Transferring the mixture back to the container, freeze until the consistency is ‘firm’. Voila! You have your Orange Sherbet for Baby!
Orange Recipe #3: Orange and Peach Smoothie
There’s nothing quite like an Orange smoothie. With the added goodness of a peach, it’s even better!
Ingredients
- ½ cup yogurt
- 1 peach, chopped into small pieces
- Water
- ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- Mix the orange juice with the peach slices and yogurt, then blend the mixture in a blender.
- Add some more water to the blended mix, before blending again until you get a ‘smooth’ consistency.
- Refrigerate that smoothie before serving it ‘chilled’ to your little one!
The next time you get your weekly supply of fruit, make sure that you get plenty of oranges, too. It’s really the one fruit that people gravitate most towards, babies included. It’s far better to get babies accustomed to eating healthy fruits like Oranges, instead of giving them the highly processed foods that line supermarket shelves today.
References:
- MedicalNewsToday
- Healthline
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/272782
https://www.healthline.com/health-parenting/babies-eat-oranges
