My 7 month old loves spicy food,,,, is this harmful?

Question

He will eat anything spicy. He loves it. Should i refrain him from eating it? Do you know if it is harmful for his tummy? I have a doc appointment in november so i thought i'd ask some moms before then. thanks.

He begs me for it and loves it. He is growing alot of teeth now, 4 already. He is interested in other foods because he sees me and his father eat other stuff. And It is only rice and noodles i let him eat. I grew up in China so i eat alot of rice. He doesnt seem to have a problem with it and is only intriegued bye it.

This does not mean that I am taking him off formula and cereal and baby food. After he is full from that he wants a bit of my spicy food for taste test.

Answer 1

try in moderate amounts, his tummy's gonna tell u if he's able to digest or not !

don't let it become a regular habit
> else he's gonna reject bland food sooner rather than later

>> checkout site below for some tips,
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babyfeeding/9195.html#1

< also remember babies are human too, so no hard & fast rules apply, quite a few things u'r baby knows best alongwith you, may even surprise your doctor !
doc. knows best., does not allways apply >

at a personal level, i see no harm in rice & the variety in food stuffs ... when most babies tend to reject, u'r fella loves em is indeed good news !

Answer 2

If you were able to eat spicy food while you were pregnant and it is part of your normal diet it should be okay. It is normal to introduce new foods to a 7 month old, he is starting to need solid foods more. I knew a boy who was eating tamales out of the garden at 6 months, seeds and all. If your son is not showing signs of indigestion it is fine, obviously limit how much spicy food he eats, but a little is not harmful. I have three nieces who are 1/2 Hispanic, two of them love spicy food and one doesn't. I believe a taste for some foods depends on the child's heritage, for instance an Italian person probably likes lasagna, why wouldn't they feed their kids the same? It is normal for a child to like the same foods the parent likes. You're doing a good job, at least you're not asking if it's okay to give him soda! He has a healthy diet and that is what matters.

Answer 3

Wow! I've read about 1/3 of the answers to this question and am not going to continue because it's becoming repetitive and there is SO much misinformation! I can't believe how many people give advice on a topic they know nothing about! What do they suppose babies ate before Gerber's came along? What do they suppose babies in other cultures eat? Babies have always been weaned on to whatever food their culture eats - and some are VERY hot!

Your son's digestive system is fully formed and will not be harmed by spicy foods. Even very young children have food preferences, and if he likes it hot, by all means give it to him. It sounds like he is eating a well-balanced diet, so allow him to choose from a wide variety - and feel good that he won't grow up to be a picky eater!

P.S. Most doctors are NOT trained in human nutrition!

Answer 4

I find that many a mom have given green sinal for the redhot food. If the child is asking for spicy food it may be his metabolism needs it. In an experment conducted some year ago to ascetain the tastebuds of children by doctors food of all tastes including bitter was put on the table and the infants were free to partake any food they wanted.The result of the experiment showed that the body needs various 'rasas'. The infants enjoyed even the bitter dish.It is quite likely that your child may have an inherent need of spicy good. I also find from your query that you give him just a weeny bit of spicy food after filling his belly with the standard foods.So at least in your case there does not appear to be any need to become nervous. Even the medical consultation is unnecessary.Your child cannot verbally protest if you keep him on tastellss, colourless and odourless food but his metabolism will cry and you will hea the cry in the child's later life by which time the time to give him a square meal would already be past.

Answer 5

We, as Americans are very naiive. Look to the rest of the world. Our culture's foods are either full of sodium, fat or grease. Definitely not healthy at any age. Most other cultures tend to have spicy foods in their culture. I lived in Mexico for a bit and they didn't eat baby food like our babies do, no they ate off the nipple and when they were big enough they had rice in milk and soften tortilla shells, beans and meat, etc. Basically any food that could be gummed to mush. Spice was just par for the course. There is no reason to withhold it from your child if he wants it. It's not harmful. As with introducing any new foods, keep it to being the only new item introduced for that day and watch to ensure that it doesn't cause an allergic episode and watch the diapers for a change in the stool. This will tell you if it's irritating his tummy even mildly.After that, obviously keep it to a moderate amount for awhile. Again watch his diapers, they will give away any amount of mild irritation.

Answer 6

My daughter ate pretty much what we ate from around 10-11 months, spices and all. THough she did go through a spell during her preschool years when she didn't like spicy foods. You'd probably want to leave the chopped Habanero peppers off of baby's portion, and skip the hard taco shells, but other than that, I can't see why he couldn't eat the other ingredients in the tacos.

Answer 7

I know that what goes in hot and spicy comes out hot and spicy! I do not know about you or your child's body but I would wait on the spicy foods. People talk about other countries feed their young children spicy foods but they use natural spices. American foods are more artificial and genetically enhanced so just try to stick to the most natural baby foods until he is over 1-2 years old. Why don't you call the doctor, they can help you over the phone with a question like that. You should not wait until Nov. and most certainly should not ask for answers about your child's health from strangers online.

Answer 8

I do believe on "cravings from the womb" when I was 8 m. pregnant my mom gave some hot spicy food that my baby was jumping up and down inside, now at age of 2 yrs old he is not afraid of eating spicy hot food, but he will also tell me "no" when he doesn't want to try spicy food, I think kids know what they can handle and is good for them to try new foods, I wouldn't worry too much, obviously your baby feels ready to try this new foods and sure you got to be careful of what you are feeding your baby but I would try to call your Dr. and leave a message with the nurse so they'll call you back at a convenient time and ask him directly. He will know better what to advise you.

Answer 9

I wouldn't be feeding him spicy foods. As srucker81 pointed out, American spices are genetically enhanced to not be as pure or fine as other countries.

My father's been eating hot & spicy foods since he was a child. He's now in his mid 50s & constantly complains about gas, diarrhea, cramps, bloating. He also complains that some foods don't taste the same as they used too. Example...I make homemade chocolate peanut butter chip cookies every year at Christmas & have for 5 years. I don't change the recipe either. This last year, 2005, he said the cookies tasted different. I assured him I hadn't added or removed anything to the cookies. He eats Tobasco sauce, green chili sauce & Talapia on all his foods, claiming the food needs "more flavor". His girlfriend told me that his tastebuds are almost non existant now from the continued long exposure to the hot sauces. This was told to them both at a routine check up.

If you don't want your child complaining later in life, you'll avoid hot & spicy foods immediately. If he cries, begs, etc, give him something else to eat. Or, eat the hot & spicy foods while he's napping.

Answer 10

It's fine. My son was chewing on bratwurst since he was 4 months. People here are so worrysome. I wouldn't let him drink salsa from the bottle but if all he's doing is basically tasting it, he'll be fine. It's just something new to him and he'll get over it soon. It's like kids like the tast of lemons, but by the look on their face you'd think it were awful. It's a good thing when your baby wants to eat what you eat. I've never bought baby food because my son refused to eat it, so whatever we were eating for dinner is what he ate. I would just blend it in the blender a little and give it to him. His favorite was lasagne. He's 3 now and his favorite food is broccolli. What 3 year is like that?

Answer 11

I can't see why not as long as its not too spicy as it may give him bad heart burn or burn his bottom on the way out (if you know what I mean) apart from that I would say no. Look at people lets say in India they eat lots of food like this and feed it to there young and they don't seem to have any troubles.