Mushrooms are always delicious, but not always healthy, and sometimes dangerous. Even if you do not take into account the risk of poisoning, pediatricians consider this product to be harmful to young children. But maybe the mushrooms in the soup won’t hurt a small child?
In the section «Ask an expert a question», our reader Jane asks:
«Tell me, from what age can I add mushrooms to a child’s food? Now at the height of the season, I really want to cook mushroom soup. I just don’t know if it’s possible for a 2-year-old child.»
«2-3 years is very early to give soup or some other mushroom dish. It is advisable to introduce any mushrooms to the child into the diet no earlier than 5 years. The fact is that it is a very complex protein that is hard to digest. The digestive system should work in a special way, the intestinal microflora should be formed. And this happens in the first few years of life. In addition, mushrooms accumulate harmful substances, including radiation.
After 5 years, you can introduce mushrooms into the child’s diet a little bit. It is best to start with noble, white. Or with chanterelles — they have a slight antiparasitic effect, so in principle they will be useful for children. The main thing is that it is in season, and the mushrooms are well washed and cleaned. Then you can also add ginger. All the others are questionable, they will not be of much use.
What is important: be sure after the child tries mushrooms for the first time, look at how he goes to the toilet after that. So you will understand how the digestive system reacts. It’s different for everyone. Someone’s mushrooms will digest quickly, it’s good. It’s worse if it happens in 12-20 hours.
So, after the mushrooms, we look 1-2 times at the child’s stool. If you see pieces of mushrooms in it, it means that they are poorly digested, that the digestive and enzymatic systems are not ready to consume such a complex product. And most likely it will remain so throughout life — it’s better to give up mushrooms altogether.»
And here’s what the mother tells, who nevertheless risked feeding a small child with mushrooms.
«Unknowingly, I fed porcini mushroom soup to a child at 2 years and 5 months old. As a result, very severe pain after lunch for two days in a row, a visit to the doctor, dysfunction and medications.»
