From what age can young children eat chocolate

Chocolate is one of the most widespread sweet temptations, and that's why we think it's a good prize for children, but when can they eat it without problems?

Credit

Infant feeding is a topic that often generates many doubts to parents , especially first-timers, who do not know how and when they can begin to give some more specific foods to their children. In this case, chocolate is one of the sweet foods that most often create questions in them, since it is a meal that is not very well considered for its high content of sugars and fats.

From what age can children eat chocolate

As a general rule, after 12 months children are ready to eat everything , the dishes we give them are less and less solid and milled, but when can children be given chocolate? Although it seems a contradiction due to the prejudices we have with this food, chocolate is not a forbidden food for them. Although it is true that it is a food rich in fats and sugars, the organism of children demand much this type of elements since they have a very active life and need energy for it.

Children can eat everything from a year, including chocolate

The age at which we can begin to introduce chocolate into the diet of children is approximately 12 months , when they are already being prepared to chew, but we must be careful to ration the quantities well since the excess can cause overweight and health problems.

Credit

Although dark chocolate is much healthier than milk chocolate, children will not want to eat the purest version because their palate will tolerate sweet taste much better than bitter. The main difference is that milk chocolate has a percentage of calcium that will help the child maintain strong bones, while pure dark chocolate has lower levels of sugar and helps prevent overweight children. As they grow older they will choose what their favorite type of chocolate is.

In many occasions, chocolate is responsible for many allergies so before knowing if our child is allergic to cocoa we can try giving cocoa powder together with the glass of milk at breakfast or snack, for example. Without a doubt, it is in these two meals that chocolate consumption is recommended in children, since their sweet taste and their energetic values ​​will make them complete their day without problems.

Credit

We should not give chocolate excessively to children because it contains some caffeine

Finally, it should be noted that chocolate has a dose of caffeine , and how much purer it is, it affects the child's body. Therefore, sometimes it is not advisable to give dark chocolate and resort to the sweetest version as this will prevent our child from being affected by caffeine. As the child progresses in age we can go little by little introducing the pure chocolate, since it contains less fats and sugars, to see how it is tolerating caffeine.

It should be remembered that although chocolate is a food that provides many benefits in children can also cause cardiovascular health problems and overweight if we do not control the doses we give to children. That is why it is best to dose it so that they associate it with moments of controlled pleasure.