Sabudana for babies can be an excellent solid food choice due to its carbohydrate-dense nutritional profile. Sabudana is also known as tapioca pearls, and these are tiny starchy balls prepared from the starch of the cassava root. You may recognize them from the popular tea drink called bubble tea. Tapioca pearls are used in various foods and beverages due to their neutral flavor and tendency to gel. Many parents consider including it in their infant’s diets once they are ready to eat solid foods. This post discusses the benefits of sabudana for babies, precautions to consider when feeding, and some tasty sabudana recipes to try.
When Can Babies Consume Sabudana?
Cassava is a common weaning food for babies (1) (2). Therefore, babies can consume sabudana from the age of six months, when they are ready to consume other solid foods. You can begin by feeding with two to three teaspoons of sabudana water (not whole sabudana) in a day. Once the baby adjusts to the sabudana’s taste and digestibility, gradually shift to a wide variety of sabudana recipes, such as porridge, soup, stew, and pudding made with tapioca pearls or flour.
Nutritional Value Of Sabudana
Sabudana is rich in carbohydrates, including the healthy resistant starch. It also contains small amounts of essential nutrients. 100 grams of dry sabudana (tapioca pearls) contains 88.7g of carbohydrate, 20mg of calcium, 11mg of potassium, 7mg of phosphorus, and 1.58mg of iron (3). Sabudana contains only trace amounts of protein and barely any vitamins. Therefore, feeding sabudana to your baby as part of a well-balanced diet is advisable. Sabudana is only meant to supplement a normal diet.
Possible Benefits Of Sabudana For Babies
Although sabudana has limited nutrients, it can still be a valuable addition to your baby’s diet for the following reasons (4). Sabudana is also considered to have anti-inflammatory and cooling effects on the body (4). Thus, its consumption during summer is often recommended in alternative medicine, such as Ayurveda.
Precautions To Take While Feeding Sabudana To Babies
Below are some precautions to observe while feeding sabudana to your baby.
Sabudana Recipes For Babies And Toddlers
Here are some tasty sabudana recipes that you can feed your baby and toddler in moderation.
1. Sabudana water (6+ months)
½ cup sabudana 2 cups water
2. Sabudana and carrot puree (8 months+)
½ cup sabudana 4tbsp fresh carrot puree ½ tsp jaggery powder 1tsp organic ghee (clarified butter)
3. Sabudana khichadi (10 months+)
½ cup sabudana (washed, drained, and soaked) 1 small onion (finely chopped) 1 small potato (peeled and chopped into small pieces) 1tsp cumin seeds ½tsp fresh lime juice 1tbsp parsley 1tbsp ghee Pinch of black pepper powder
4. Sabudana kheer (Sabudana porridge) (12 months+)
¼ cup sabudana (washed, drained, and soaked) 2 cups whole milk 1tsp dry fruit powder ½ tsp dates puree or date syrup ⅛ tsp cardamom powder
5. Baked sabudana vada (12 months+)
½ cup sabudana (washed, soaked overnight, and drained) ½ cup peanuts (roasted and grounded) 1 potato (boiled and peeled) 2tsp lemon juice 2tsp Kosher salt 1tsp freshly ground cumin 1tsp green chili (chopped) 1tbsp parsley (chopped) 2tsp vegetable oil
