Find out whether it”s safe to give your baby sausages. Plus, get tips on how to safely cut sausages for children if you choose to serve them, as well as other protein foods that are suitable for your baby.
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The official advice on when babies can eat sausages
The NHS advises against giving babies sausages because of their high salt content, as too much salt isn”t good for babies” kidneys.
As well as advising against sausages due to their saltiness, the NHS also includes other salty foods like bacon, chips with extra salt, crackers, crisps, ready meals, takeaways, gravy, and meals made with stock cubes as those to be avoided for babies. Plus, it”s important to remember that babies don”t need any salt adding to their food either.
If you do choose to give your baby sausages, the NHS also lists sausages as a choking hazard for babies, and advises that you make sure to peel the skin off sausages before offering them to your baby, in order to lower the risk of choking.
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It”s also important to ensure that you slice sausages into the correct shape in order to avoid choking when serving sausages to babies and young children. It”s advised that you make sure to slice sausages lengthways, so that their shape poses a lesser risking of choking.
How to safely prepare sausages
Sausages are one of the main foods which pose a choking hazard for children, not just due to their skin, but also due to their shape. Hotdog sausages are particularly hazardous due to their smooth, cylindrical shape.
If you are serving sausages to your child, it”s important to make sure you slice them correctly to reduce the risk of choking.
It”s advised that you slice sausages lengthways, so that their shape poses a lower risk of choking, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). They say that the ideal shape is “short thin strips”.
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The US advice also states that no child under the age of four should eat a hotdog sausage unless it has been cut up, and that kids over the age of four may still need their food cutting up.
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There”s no harm in slicing hotdog sausages lengthways for older kids too – and the same goes for any kind of sausages. Plus, it”s always important to teach kids of all ages to take small bites and to chew what’s in their mouth.
You can use these images as a guide for the wrong and right way to slice sausages:
The wrong way to slice sausages for kids
Sausages sliced lengthways and correctly (be sure to remove the skin, too). For younger children you should slice them smaller still.
What can babies eat instead of sausages?
While the NHS advises against offering sausages to babies, there are plenty of other protein packed foods and meats that are recommended for your child to eat from six months onwards.
It”s safest to wait until around six months before giving your baby any solid food, because younger babies may not be able to sit up and swallow well.
At six months, your baby should be able to eat a variety of foods, including a range of protein foods and meats – and ensuring they get used to different flavours and textures can help to stop them becoming fussy eaters when they get older.
The different kinds of meat recommended for babies by the NHS include:
chickenturkeybeeflambpork
The NHS also recommends a range of other protein foods for babies, including:
lentilsbeanstofupulses, such as chickpeas
These protein foods are suitable to be mashed or blended into a puree, or offered to your baby as finger food.
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How to safely cook meat for your baby
TheNHSwarns that your baby is more vulnerable to the bacteria that can cause food poisoning. As such, if you choose to offer sausages or another kind of meat to your baby, it”s important you think ofsafety and hygienewhen preparing and cooking meat for their meals.
The NHS recommends:
Always wash your hands before and after handling any raw meat.Store raw meat in clean, covered containers at the bottom of the fridge to prevent any drips falling onto other foods.Cook all food thoroughly and cool it until lukewarm before giving it to your child.Don”t save meals your child has half-eaten. Instead, they need to be thrown away as they can be a breeding ground for bacteria.Cool food as quickly as possible, ideally within one or two hours, and put in the fridge or freezer. Food that you”ve put in the fridge should be eaten within two days.
Health benefits of meat and protein foods for babies
Even if you don”t offer your baby sausages until they are older, they will be able to get lots of important vitamins and minerals from different kinds of meat, such as chicken, turkey, beef, lamb and pork, and other protein foods like eggs and beans.
These meats and protein foods are a good source of:
iron (for combatting anaemia and low energy) – in meat, beans and chickpeaszinc (for strengthening the immune system) – in meatvitamin B12 (for making red blood cells and releasing energy from food) – in meat, fish and eggsvitamin B3 (niacin – for releasing energy from foods and healthy skin and nervous system) – in meat and fishpantothenic acid (for helping the body to release energy from food) – in chicken, beef and eggsvitamin B6 (pyridoxine – for using and storing energy from foods and forming haemoglobin) – in pork, poultry and some fishvitamin A (for a healthy immune system, skin and vision) – in eggsvitamin B2 (riboflavin – for healthy skin, eyes and nervous system) – in eggsvitamin D (for healthy bones, teeth and muscles) – in red meatfolate (for healthy red blood cells and avoiding anaemia) – in chickpeas and kidney beans
Could my baby be allergic to sausages?
It”s often a good idea to wait three to five days between introducing any new foods to your baby. This way, you can catch any reactions to new foods, and you”ll be able to more easily identify which food was the cause.
Signs of allergies in babies
According to the NHS, the symptoms of an allergy to look out for include:
diarrhoea or vomitinga coughwheezing and shortness of breathitchy throat and tongueitchy skin or rashswollen lipsand throatrunny or blocked nosesore, red and itchy eyes
If you think your baby may have an allergy, speak to your health visitor or GP. If the reaction is mild, don”t cut important foods out of your baby”s diet until you”ve received medical advice, as your baby could miss out on valuable nutrients.
However, if allergies, asthma or eczema run in your family, your child may be more likely to develop an allergy, so you might want to talk to your GP or health visitor for advice before weaning your baby.
Meat isn”t considered to be among the main foods that can trigger an allergic reaction. However, because sausages are ready-made foods, they can often contain other ingredients that could cause an allergic reaction. The main food and drink allergens to be aware of, according to theNHS, are:
cows” milkeggsfoods that contain gluten, including wheat, barley and ryenuts and peanuts (serve them crushed or ground)seeds (serve them crushed or ground)soyashellfish (don”t serve raw or lightly cooked)fish
If you do choose to give your baby sausages, check the label carefully for potential allergens (they”ll be listed in bold on the ingredients list).
Baby recipes with meat
These meat recipes are suitable for babies:
Weaning by baby feeding guru Annabel Karmel is a must for every parent”s bookshelf and has all the information you need about your baby”s first foods.See more details here at Amazon.
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The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook by Gill Rapley has over 130 recipes that the whole family can enjoy.See more details here at Amazon.