Q:I’m trying to replace Cheerios. Is puffed rice a good snack food for a 10 month old?A: Nope, it’s really not ideal. Puffed rice and other puffed cereals are subject to extreme pressure and temperatures (extrusion) damaging the grain (rice, oats, wheat) significantly and it has some negative effect on endocrine system.Animal studies comparing 3 groupsshowed that when rats were fed puffed rice vs. water vs the cardboard box from the puffed rice, the animals being fed puffed rice died faster and with much more aggression than those fed the cardboard box (or water)! Crazy huh? Autopsy showed something about their endocrine system getting disrupted from the puffed rice.
If you must absolutely insist on buying a dry snack at the health food store for your infant 12 months or under, a better option for dry snack is something NOT puffed, is organic (thus no GMO), has no gluten, no corn syrup, no artificial colors, and no artificial flavors.
I always encourage moms to stick to “real food” snacks like fruits. Your infant should not be having more than 1-2 snacks per day. Instead, focus on sitting down for their meals.
I’m sorry to say that 99% of the boxed snacks targeted for infants and kids which are found in your regular grocery store are all total garbage . Just read the ingredients and you’ll see what I mean. They usually are some puffed grain product like rice, oats, or wheat (gluten), mixed with sugar or corn syrup, and often have artificial colors or flavors!
Those are snacks that do NOT nourish your baby. They are fake foods that cause inflammation in their intestines, dull their taste-buds, stress their endocrine system, and rob their body of hunger for real foods. Kids are happy to fill up on these nutrient depleted fake foods if you let them, and they won’t be very hungry for their real meal afterward.What you’ll find at the health food store isn’t much better. Health food store dry snacks for kids are “treats” not snacks. They contain sugar and are a packaged processed food, thus not ideal, but they are a healthy version of the conventional packaged foods since they are organic, sometimes gluten free, and do not contain GMOs or corn syrup.
Healthy “real food” snacks for infants under 12 months
Note: *always buy organic and/or pastured, grassfed products for your children. And always watch for reactions when introducing new foods.
DRY SNACKS
- Coconut flakes (organic, unsweetened, very thin flakes)
- Crispy Kale Chips (homemade ones melt in their mouth with a little crunch)
- SeaSnax Seaweed sheets (can be cut into squares)
- Dried Anchovies (loaded with minerals and iodine, naturally salty)
NON-DRY SNACKS AND FOODS
- Liver Pate (on a spoon or finger – read benefits here)
- Avocado cubes
- Soft boiled egg eaten with spoon, or hard boiled egg
- Salmon Egg Roe (little orange eggs)
- Fruit (raw mashed fruits–banana, melon, mangoes, papaya, avocado)
- Cooked fruit purees: organic apricot, peaches, pears, apples, cherries, berries
- Cooked vegetables/puree: zucchini, squash, sweet potato, carrots, beets, (always add plenty of of butter, ghee, or coconut oil – 1/2 Tbsp)
- SeaSnax seaweed snack sheets
- Smoothie with coconut milk, fruit, a soft egg yolk, and Cod Liver Oil. (egg either raw or soft boiled 3 min)
- Frozen fruit popsicle (homemade)
- Pureed meats–lamb, turkey, beef, chicken, liver and fish
- Soup broth–(homemade beef broth, chicken, lamb, fish bone broth) added to pureed meats and vegetables, or offered as a drink. (take an online cooking class for food allergies here)
Click here if you are looking for healthy snacks for your toddler who is over 12 months.
