Is blended food harmful for children?

What is blended food?

I don’t see why it would be (but I am doing some research… I just wanted to share my thought on the subject, first). After all, some people have to be on a blended diet.. e.g. People who eat through a feeding tube. I did see a recommendation that children under one year of age should not be put on a 100% blended diet without close medical supervision… But that tells me that it should be fine for children around four years of age. The only real difference between a blended diet and a solid food diet is that the solid food has been.. Blended.

Some nutrients lose their value (for example, some types of fiber) when they are blended… While other nutrients become more easily absorbable by your body, as blending breaks down the cell wall that contains said nutrients.

“Blended” means “mixed together.” Do you mean pureed in a blender?

Welcome to Fluther.

Well, it certainly would be harmful if it was prepared the same as, say, “blended gasoline” or “blended whiskey”. But what do you have in mind?

@rimmikhatun

Welcome.

What do you mean by blended foods? do you mean different kinds of foods mixed together? do you mean food that has been run through a food processor or blender? either? both?

Isn’t that what baby food is?

Doesn’t your body blend it together anyway when it’s chewed up and in your stomach?

Children need to develop their ability to chew and digest food. Once they have teeth and are able to handle adult food, why continue to give them food that they can just swallow without chewing? Besides, part of the pleasure in eating is enjoying the various textures of food.

Not that a little applesauce or some mashed potatoes are going to harm anyone, but a steady diet of soft baby food seems like a bad idea.

By the time they are four they should be feeding themselves pretty much what we eat. I’m a child care worker and I work with children from the ages of 1 to 5. The four year olds are even given butter knifes so they can practice smearing their own sandwiches. They are expected to use a fork when they eat things like pasta and fish. They use a spoon when they eat oatmeal.

The development of speech is related to good chewing habits so infants who are moving off milk to solids should be offered roughly chopped foods rather than foods that are pureed and totally smooth. Babies and infants use their gums to chew before their teeth have emerged. This helps develop mouth muscles and leads on to better speech formation and the subsequent brain development too.

By four years old, the child should be eating the same type of foods as an adult, but in smaller quantities of course.

I don’t see how it would be.

I don’t think it’s harmful for the child. But some foods you need to keep an eye for the kids. Try to avoid those foods.

How could blended food be harmful?

What I said about chewing – the research on that has shown that blended food is not good for children.

We need to understand why the OP is even asking this question. At four kids can eat pretty much anything we eat. French fries get blended with chicken nuggets and orange juice in their stomach.

I don’t know of any one who continued to feed their kids pureed baby food after they start getting their teeth in. They gradually shift to crackers and Cheerios, things that need to be chewed, at least a little.

@Dutchess_III I deal with MANY cultures in my job. There are cultures that don’t do anything but spoon feed their children mashed food until past 3 years. I am currently dealing with a child who refuses all forms of food presented to the group and he needs to be specially fed something by one staff member and is unable to feed himself because of his home environment. It takes extra time and effort, but we have to find the manpower because that is our job. He will eventually be acculturated to the habits of the other children. Kids are amazingly adaptable when they are hungry and find a need to feed themselves.

BTW… this child also had NO discernable words. He can’t communicate verbally, even though he is of an age that should have a number of words by now.

Well, sure you can get extreme cases @cazzie. Especially in cases of abuse, or simple ignorance. I was talking about the average 4 year old.

I once saw an ER show about this child and his failure to thrive. He was five, but only as big as a 3 year old, and could barely walk. He had other issues. The doc started asking questions and found out that “all” the child would eat was oatmeal and milk. The parents let themselves be bullied into feeding him only that, because of his temper tantrums. For 5 years he’d had nothing but oatmeal and milk.
The parents loved him, they weren’t being abusive, they were just ignorant. They had to get steely eyed and firm, under the threat of losing their son to the state.

They said it was hell, but they stuck with it. Six months later he was rapidly catching up.

why early childhood programs like day care is essential.

But most parents aren’t that stupid.

I don’t think. Do you have any solid proof?