For proper balancing of the child’s diet it is not necessary to enrich it with organic products. This is what I want to offer you: base your family’s diet on generally available products, treating organic food as its enrichment, a valuable addition. Of course, organic products contain more certain amounts of valuable ingredients and if it is possible, it is sometimes worthwhile to use them, especially since they also have a positive impact on our environment.

However, their absence in the diet does not automatically mean that it is badly balanced. If you make sure that your family’s diet is varied, follow the principle of proportions and when composing your meals you follow the food plate, you rather have nothing to fear. If you want to include some organic products in your family’s menu, you can do it! Which organic products are worth introducing?

What organic food to choose?

Remember that it is important what organic products for children are available in your area. You also don’t have to use them always, but e.g. when they appear in a store or are in a promotion. In my opinion, if we are to choose a group of organic products, it is best to buy organic meat, eggs, fish and dairy products. Especially if you do not have a proven place where you can buy them in the traditional version. You may be surprised that I did not mention vegetables and fruits. So, one by one!

• Traces of antibiotics may be present in meat “in the markets”. It happens that producers do not respect the withdrawal period between the administration of the antibiotic and the slaughter of the animal.
• The way in which animals are reared in industrial breeding (animals for slaughter, dairy cows or hens) may be inconsistent with ethical beliefs. When buying organic meat, dairy and eggs we can be sure that the animals were raised and killed in a humane way.
• Animal husbandry is one of the sources of pollution on our planet. Organic farms have to follow stricter rules of care for the environment.
• Higher prices of organic meat or fish may mean that we will eat less of them and it is not good for our overall health to eat too many animal products.
• Finally, the nutritional value of organic meat, poultry or dairy products can be higher. First of all, due to a more natural (and thus varied) way of feeding animals.

Choosing organic cereal products, sweets or snacks will be much less important for our diet.

What about organic fruit and vegetables?

As I have already shown, organic fruit and vegetables can contain more than some of the valuable ingredients – minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. A frequently raised argument is that no pesticides are used in their production. However, there are two issues worth taking into account:

• Products available in stores are also tested for the amount of pesticides. Those that exceed standards are not allowed to be sold.
• Pesticides and plant protection products also occur in soil, groundwater and air. Their trace amounts therefore also get into organic products.

If you can afford to buy organic fruit and vegetables, do it! In my opinion, however, it is “good enough” to treat them as a valuable addition that sometimes appears in our diet. Especially if you only reach for organic products, the diversity of our diet would suffer.

Organic food for children from the home garden?

We often think that fruits and vegetables from a plot of land or our own garden are better than those from a store. However, let’s remember that such products are not ecological – we do not grow them in accordance with the rules of certification, nor are we able to test them. We do not know how polluted the air is or what mineral composition the soil has. Let us not fall into extremes from any side!

A home garden is a great fun for children. It allows you to get used to the food, spend time together while taking care of the beds. However, not always the effect of such home-bred breeding is super safe and ecological food. We do not have to avoid generally available products. Let us not limit the consumption of seasonal products, because we cannot find their eco version.

Organic food for children – summary

There are many indications that organic food products have a positive impact on our health. However, this does not mean that they are necessary for a good dietary balance. We can base our diet on products available to the general public, without worrying about their safety or nutritional value, also at the beginning of extending the diet.

Unfortunately, due to the difficulty in accessing organic products, we often decide to buy them only for the smallest child, who is beginning his or her adventure with learning about tastes. Thus, we exclude the child from family meals and necessarily cook for the infant separately.

As an exception, of course, this can happen, but expanding the diet also means learning good habits, getting to know the tastes of parents and enjoying the food. Let’s not forget about that!

If we have such an opportunity, it is sometimes worthwhile to enrich our diet with organic food products. Especially those from the group of zoonotic products. The most important thing, however, is to apply the principles of rational nutrition, consume unprocessed products, consciously choose what will be on our table, and then store food well.