Black pudding is a delicacy enjoyed around the world. However, is this rich blood sausage safe for your baby to consume? Let’s talk about it!
Overall, black pudding is safe for your baby to consume as long as it is fully cooked and served in a texture appropriate for their age.
Let’s talk more about the nutrition and safety of black pudding for your baby! Read on!
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Is Black Pudding Safe for Babies?
Black pudding is safe for babies as long as it is fully cooked. Black pudding, also called blood sausage or boudin noir is a popular dish in the United Kingdom and other countries.
Black pudding is made from pork blood or beef blood. Traditionally, it also contains a type of fat, spices, and herbs for flavoring, and a type of grain or cereal, such as oats.
When your baby is around six months, start by feeding them pureed black pudding (source: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). Next, add some breast milk or baby formula to the puree to make it more of a thin liquid texture.
After that, you can feed your baby a thicker consistency puree in the seven to nine-month range and increase the volume slightly to two to four tablespoons at each feeding.
In the ten to 12-month range, your baby can begin to have finger foods. Cut up the black pudding into very small pieces and remove the casing since it can potentially cause choking.
Black pudding can be an excellent option for baby-led weaning because it can be easily grasped and picked up when cut into small pieces.
Offer your baby one new food at a time, especially something as flavorful as black pudding. Feeding one food at a time, say every three days, is also a good idea because if there is an adverse or allergic reaction, it is clear what food is causing it (source: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia).
Then, try multiple attempts to see if your baby will eat the black pudding.
Is Black Pudding Good for Babies?
With such a unique and earthy flavor, black pudding is rich in essential vitamins and minerals such as iron (source: United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] Food Database).
Iron is very important for a growing baby. However, the exact amount they need varies based on whether they are exclusively breastfed, given a combination of breast milk and formula, or exclusively formula-fed.
Iron helps the red blood cells in the body carry oxygen to areas all around the body. Adequate iron intake supports your baby’s ability to learn and helps to prevent iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia (source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]).
However, black pudding is very high in saturated fat and sodium. While babies do need fat to grow, it is best that they have healthy fat sources instead. Additionally, it is recommended to avoid giving your baby high-sodium foods.
Therefore, provide your baby with black pudding in moderation.
Can Babies Eat White Pudding?
White pudding is also safe to give your baby when it is fully cooked and prepared in the appropriate texture for their age. However, without the blood, it is lower in iron and other vitamins and minerals.
Therefore, the white pudding does not have much nutrition to overweight the downsides of high saturated fat and high sodium. Instead, choose a lower sodium type of meat such as chicken or fish when feeding your baby.
In conclusion, black pudding is safe for your baby but is best in moderation. I hope you found this article helpful in breaking down the information regarding black pudding for your baby.
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