[Baby Snacks Guide] Who Says Snacks Can’t Be Healthy?

Why Do Babies Need Snacks? 

Since babies do not eat a lot at one time and have varying daily activity levels, snacks can provide sufficient energy, nutrition, and hydration between meals. Additionally, it is generally harder to incorporate enough dairy products and fruits into main meals, so giving babies healthy snacks can help achieve a balanced diet. 

Tips for Choosing Snacks 

1. Avoid High Salt and High Sugar 

High salt and high sugar snacks can easily lead to overweight and obesity in babies, increase the risk of tooth decay, and may make babies develop a preference for strong flavours, leading to picky eating habits as they grow. Even if the food contains artificial sweeteners (i.e., sugar substitutes), it can still cultivate a sweet tooth in babies. Moreover, high salt snacks can cause excessive sodium intake, leading to calcium loss through urine, affecting bone growth. According to the Department of Health and various recommendations from different regions, food for infants under one year old should not contain added salt. Additionally, high salt and high sugar snacks often contain trans fats, which can cause issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar. 

Parents should choose foods rich in dietary fibre, calcium, iron, and vitamin D. 

2. Smartly Read Product Ingredient Lists 

To choose healthy snacks for babies, parents need to learn how to read food ingredient lists. If the packaging of the snack does not provide sugar content (pre-packaged food for infant and young children under 36 months is not required to list sugar content on the nutrition label), how should parents choose? The ingredient list on food labels is arranged according to the amount of each ingredient, with the highest content listed first. Parents should pay attention to the top ingredients to see if they contain the following added sugars: 

Sugar, fructose, sucrose, lactose, rock sugar, brown sugar, black sugar, glucose, invert sugar, raw sugar, molasses, honey, maltose, malt syrup, syrup, high fructose syrup, corn syrup, maple syrup, concentrated fruit juice, concentrated cane juice 

Snacks without added sugar are ideal, and those with added sugar listed towards the end of the ingredient list can also be considered. 

Additionally, some foods may not list added salt but contain sodium bicarbonate (sodium bicarbonate/sodium hydrogen carbonate) as a raising agent, which increases the sodium content of the food. Parents should be aware of this. 

3. Consider Homemade Healthy Snacks 

Besides buying pre-packaged snacks, parents can consider making snacks at home. Using ingredients that are less commonly provided in main meals can help cultivate a child’s preference for a variety of natural foods and ensure they absorb different nutrients. When preparing snacks, parents should use fresh ingredients and avoid excessive seasoning. Examples of healthy snacks include oatmeal with milk, whole wheat sandwiches, congee such as congee with corn and chicken, congee with pumpkin and minced meat, and avocado rice cakes. 

Feeding Arrangements 

Lastly, breast milk provides the best nutrition for babies. Mothers can consider continuing to breastfeed while introducing solid foods and snacks, until two years old or above, to enhance  babies’ immunity.