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Shelled Hemp Seed Benefits for Babies & Toddlers
What are the benefits of hemp seeds for babies and toddlers?
Hemp seeds provide many nutritional benefits for babies and toddlers, including heart and brain health. Consuming hemp provides fiber for digestive health and fatty acids which boost immunity. A diet which includes hemp seeds will keep your baby operating at optimal health.
Imagine, finding a healthy snack that your baby loves that isn’t overly processed. Have you looked at the list of ingredients in your baby’s favorite snack?
Luckily for you, I’m going to show you that hemp seeds are safe for babies and toddlers. Not only are they safe, but they’re shelled and ready for snacking. Who doesn’t want a convenient and healthy snack for their child?
Are Hemp Seeds Safe for Babies & Toddlers?
Hemp seeds are safe for babies and toddlers. The soft inner heart of the hemp seed provides vitamins and minerals children need to grow.
Hemp seeds come from the Cannabis Sativa plant, but don’t contain THC or CBD. The FDA evaluated hemp heart products and determined them safe for babies, toddlers, pregnant, and nursing women.
Hemp hearts are legal products that don’t cause any psychoactive reactions. Hemp hearts are not only safe for babies and toddlers; they are a good part of a healthy diet.
Can Babies & Toddlers Digest Hemp Seeds?
Babies and toddlers can digest hemp seeds easily because of fiber. If choking is a concern blend, crush, or mash hemp seeds into baby food. Blending hemp hearts will also aid in faster digestion.
Hemp seeds contain fiber, so they are beneficial for the digestive system. Fiber ensures that you slowly and safely digest the protein and fat in hemp seeds. This gives you a sustained effect of staying happy and full without digestive discomfort.
Slow comfortable digestion also helps with energy, not that a toddler needs any more of that.
Do Hemp Seeds Make Babies & Toddlers Poop?
The fiber in hemp seeds can help your baby or toddler have healthy poop. If your baby is constipated, adding healthy fat and fiber into their diet can help relieve them.
Fiber absorbs water into your stool making it easier to pass. Parents beware it will make stools, softer and bulkier, which is great until you have to change them. Therefore, make sure your child is getting plenty of water and eating fibrous hemp to help facilitate bowel movements.
Hemp seeds have been known to cause gas and diarrhea in pregnant women and those with digestive issues. However, healthy digestive systems can process fat and fiber. If eaten in moderation hemp seeds will benefit the overall function of your digestive system.
What are the Benefits of Hemp Seeds for Babies and Toddlers?
The biggest advantage of hemp seeds for babies and toddlers is the heart, brain, bone, and digestive health benefits. The nutrients in hemp hearts help babies and toddlers with growth and development.
Heart Health
Hemp hearts reduce the risk of heart disease because of the high amounts of the amino acid arginine. Hemp seeds are protein-rich with all the essential amino acids the body needs. Arginine creates nitric oxide and makes blood vessels contract and relax, lowering blood pressure.
While amino acids work on healthy blood flow, omega fatty acids help support healthy cholesterol levels. Healthy fat and amino acids keep the heart’s arteries clear. The combination of protein and fat gives children an early start in preventing heart disease.
Brain Health
Omega fatty acids play an especially big role in children’s brain development. Children’s brains double in size in the first year. And will grow to about 80% of the adult size by the age of three. Early brain development is important for lifelong health.
The nutrients, protein, iron, zinc, omega fatty acid, and folate are essential for the brain. All of these nutrients and more are found in hemp hearts making it the ultimate brain food.
Bone Health
Bones are important for what children do most: grow and play. Hemp hearts have calcium, the most popular ingredient for strong bones. However, hemp also contains magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium which helps keep bones from becoming brittle.
Therefore, hemp helps your kids run, jump, and dance!
Digestive Health
Before you have children, no one warns you how much poop is involved. So a healthy digestive system won’t only benefit your child, but you as well. The fiber and fat in hemp hearts helps keep your little one regular. But potassium also plays a role in digestive health.
The potassium in hemp seeds signals the brain to contract the muscles in your digestive system. Contracting muscles keep food moving through the digestive system without getting stuck.
Immune Health
Children are building up an immune system. While it seems they are sick every other day, you can do everything you can to help them stay healthy. Essential fatty acids have been shown to help with immune system function.
But to help prevent colds, load up on vitamins like zinc, B6, and B12. The right combination of vitamins helps prevent colds and provide a healthy immune response if you already have a cold.
The quickest way to feel better is to eat right. So if you’re feeling under the weather try some hemp hearts in your soup.
What Nutrition do Hemp Seeds Provide?
Shelled hemp seeds are a superfood full of healthy fats, protein, calcium, iron, and fiber. Since hemp seeds are so nutrient-dense they are great for growth and development. Hemp seeds can help your children get the nutrition they may be missing.
Hemp seeds contain macro and micronutrients that every person needs to survive. Some essential vitamins and minerals that you can only get from food can be found in hemp hearts. Carbohydrates, healthy fats, protein, and minerals are a long list of ingredients that make up the nutritional benefits.
Carbohydrates
Hemp hearts have minimal amounts of carbohydrates (carbs). The carbs that are found in hemp hearts are necessary for healthy body function. Fiber is the main carb component in hemp hearts. Fiber is important for your child’s bowel function and the entire digestive system.
Healthy Fats
Hemp seeds are made up of mostly healthy fat and protein. The fat found in hemp seeds is healthy omega fatty acids. Omega fatty acids are one of the essential nutrients found in hemp hearts that you can only get from food.
Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are important for children because they help you absorb vitamins. The vitamins and fat children absorb aid in sleep quality which reduces symptoms of ADHD and asthma.
Sleep is also important for growth. While children sleep they use healthy fat to build up their nervous system. The next time your child wakes up a little taller think of all the nutrients they used while they were sleeping.
Protein
Protein is very prevalent in hemp seeds. Children need protein to help with growing and repairing cells. Protein is also important for hormone growth. As you know, a child’s main job is to grow.
The healthy nutrients inside hemp seeds give children the tools needed for strength. Hemp seeds help with strong muscles that repair rips and tears that children get during play.
Vitamins & Minerals
The FDA has recommended dietary intake rules called RDI’s based on age. For children under the age of four, it tells you how many milligrams of iron, calcium, and other nutrients a child needs. The nutrition facts labeling requirements are a guideline for all companies to follow when listing ingredients.
The RDI for infants (in milligrams) through 12 months are:
- Vitamin D 10 mcg
- Calcium 260 mg
- Iron 11 mg
- Potassium 700 mg
- Vitamin E 5 mg
- Thiamin 0.3 mg
- Riboflavin 0.4 mg
- Niacin 4 mg
- Vitamin B6 0.3 mg
- Folate 80 mcg
- Phosphorus 275 mg
- Magnesium 75 mg
- Zinc 3 mg
- Copper 0.2 mg
- Manganese 0.6 mg
The RDI for toddlers one through three years of age are:
- Vitamin D 15 mcg
- Calcium 700 mg
- Iron 7mg
- Potassium 3000 mg
- Vitamin E 6 mg
- Thiamin 0.5 mg
- Riboflavin 0.5 mg
- Niacin 6 mg
- Vitamin B6 0.5 mg
- Folate 150 mcg
- Phosphorus 460 mg
- Magnesium 80 mg
- Zinc 3 mg
- Copper 0.3 mg
- Manganese 1.2 mg
Each of these nutrients can be found in hemp seeds. The FDA’s full list includes more vitamins and minerals. The FDA also lists the nutrients needed for pregnant and nursing women.
Eating an all-natural food like hemp hearts will help you reach your recommended daily intake without supplements.
How Can I Serve Hemp Seeds to Babies & Toddlers?
You can serve hemp seeds to babies and toddlers the same way you would any food. Since most toddlers are picky about their food, it’s best to introduce a new food in stages. Allow toddlers to try new foods prepared in different ways three to four times.
Slowly introducing food gives babies a chance to make up their minds about new flavors and textures. It also helps parents monitor any reactions babies have to new food.
Hemp hearts are considered an allergy free food. It is possible to have allergies to hemp hearts, but it’s extremely rare. However, it’s best to be extra careful with our children.
Hemp seeds are soft and shelled, so they are ready to eat right out of the bag. They are already small enough to fit in toddler-sized hands. In fact, the small seeds provide a chance for fine motor development and hand-eye coordination.
Depending on the child you may want to make snack time easier and help them avoid choking hazards by blending and mixing hemp hearts into food.
Here are ways to serve hemp seeds to babies and toddlers:
- Mix into baby food
- Add to yogurt
- Blend into sauce
- Stir into baby cereal and oatmeal
- Blend into fruit smoothies
- Blend into hemp milk
- Crush into powder for seasoning
- Sprinkle over applesauce and other fruits
For toddlers, you can even get them involved in making protein balls and other fun recipes. The possibilities are endless, as children grow they can try new meals.
What is the Recommended Serving Size of Hemp Seeds for Babies & Toddlers?
The recommended serving size of hemp seeds for babies and toddlers is one tablespoon (about 57 calories). However, children will often eat less than the recommended amount. How much your child should consume depends on your child’s personal recommended nutritional needs.
Keep the daily recommended values in mind to decide the correct serving size of hemp seeds for your baby or toddler. The RDI’s for babies and toddlers is based on age and caloric intake. The calories your child needs will be based on their weight. Use the number of calories your child needs to determine the amount of hemp seeds they should have each day.
The nutrition facts on the Humming Hemp hemp hearts bag are based on an adult diet of 2,000 calories. Toddlers need between 1,000 and 1,400 calories per day. Look at the milligrams listed of each vitamin and mineral to decide how many servings of hemp seeds your child needs.
For example, a child needs 7mg of iron a day. One tablespoons of hemp seeds provides you with 0.79 mg of iron. So your child won’t go over their daily values of iron with one serving size of hemp seeds.
Summary: Benefits of Hemp Seeds for Babies and Toddlers
So after reading this article you have the recommended serving size and all the RDI nutritional needs for your toddler. You know that hemp seeds are safe for everyone. Most importantly, you know that hemp hearts provide benefits for heart, brain, immune, bone, and digestive health.
The vitamins and nutrients are what fuel the health benefits of hemp hearts. Carbs, healthy fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals help your little one grow big and strong.
All you have to do now is introduce your baby or toddler to hemp seeds. Try serving them in applesauce or baby cereal for the first time. Here’s a tip: pretend the food is for you and your toddler will want to eat every bite.
In fact, why not try hemp hearts for the whole family. Check out our recipes for ideas for everyone. If you come up with a new idea don’t forget to share your recipes at #humminghemp.