Fish has many nutritional benefits for your 1-year-old. But fish can also carry high levels of environmental toxins such as mercury. Your 1-year-old can eat canned tuna as long as you limit his intake and choose the tuna lowest in mercury levels. Fish also has high allergenic potential. When you start feeding your child tuna, watch carefully for signs for an allergic reaction and don't start any other new foods for at least three days. Babies can eat fish, including canned tuna, any time after age 6 months, but talk to your pediatrician first.
Canned tuna is high in omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, more commonly called DHA and EPA. Omega-3 fatty acids aid in the brain development of young children and can also benefit your child's visual development. It's difficult to get omega-3 fatty acids in your diet because few foods supply them. While you can also take fish oil supplements, it's best to get nutrients from foods.
The oceans have become contaminated with mercury and other toxins such as polychlorinated biphenyls, better known as PCBs or dioxins. These toxins don't naturally occur in the ocean; they find their way into the ocean from industrial waste. Tuna, a large, fatty fish, can contain large amounts of mercury and other contaminants. Toxins accumulate in the fatty tissues, building up over time. Mercury can cause brain damage if levels rise too high; infants, children and fetuses are especially susceptible. Early signs of mercury poisoning include fatigue, numbness in fingers and toes and blurred vision.
Types and Amounts
Albacore tuna, a large fish, has a higher mercury content than skipjack, a smaller tuna often used to make canned, light tuna. But canned tuna can also contain yellowfin tuna, a larger fish that contains more mercury. A January 2011 "Consumer Reports" article found that 6 percent of canned light tuna had two or more times as much mercury as albacore tuna. Limit your toddler's intake of canned tuna, even if you serve the light, canned tuna. Give no more than two child-sized servings per week of canned, light tuna and no more than one serving of albacore tuna. A serving size for a 1-year-old equals 1 ounce of fish. While albacore tuna has a higher mercury content, it also contains more omega-3 fatty acids, which makes it worth eating as long as you keep it within suggested limits.
Fish ranks as one of the eight most common food allergens in children, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Symptoms of food allergy generally occur within a short time after eating a food. Hives, rash, itching, facial swelling, difficulty breathing, wheezing or nausea and vomiting can occur. More serious reactions include anaphylaxis, which causes low blood pressure, throat swelling, rapid pulse and collapse. Seek immediate attention if these symptoms occur. Your child may or may not have an allergic reaction on his first exposure to a new food; allergies can develop at any time.
Articles For Your Diet
- BabyCenter: Should Your Kids Eat Fish? How They Can Avoid Mercury and Still Get Their Omega-3s
- Consumer Reports: Mercury in Tuna
- Environmental Protection Agency: What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish
- Epidemiology: Public Health in North Carolina: Contaminants
- American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology: Food Allergies in Children
- BabyCenter: When Can My Baby Eat Fish?
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