What material is good for children's tableware?

The health of the baby is a concern for parents. When the baby is over six months old, you can add complementary food to the baby's diet, which will make the nutrition more balanced and better for the baby's development. When adding complementary food to babies, you should pay attention to the material of the baby's tableware. Some tableware materials are harmful to the human body. Many parents don't know how to choose their baby's tableware. What material is good for children's tableware? Let's take a look.

1. Select function

Babies who have just started eating complementary foods don’t eat much, so they don’t need a bowl that is too big and can be easily steamed or cooked. Therefore, it is recommended to choose a small bowl when the baby does not eat much. For babies who are just starting to learn to eat, you can use a bowl with a suction cup on the base. The suction cup on the base can be attached to the table and is not easily knocked over by the baby.

In addition, there are grinding bowls for grinding food, which can crush and grind various foods. It is much faster than cutting with a knife or grinding with a machine, and it is also easier to clean. There is a temperature-sensitive spoon. When the temperature exceeds 40℃, the spoon will change color to prevent scalding the baby.

Baby tableware has many functions, and mothers can choose according to the needs of their babies.

Second, look at the style

There are many styles of baby tableware: bowls can be round, oval, polygonal, gourd-shaped, etc.; and spoons, in addition to the traditional straight-line style, also have "L" shapes, which makes it convenient for adults to feed babies without having to use their arms and legs to feed them. There are also special complementary food bottles whose nipples become spoons, making feeding complementary food as easy as feeding breast milk.

It is recommended that the style should be practical and safe. The round bowl is practical and easy to clean, and it is not easy for the baby to be scratched. When choosing a spoon, you should choose one with a thicker head so that the baby's mouth will not be easily cut. Also pay attention to whether the design of the spoon handle is scientific. It is best to let the baby hold it to see whether it is suitable for the baby's hand shape and whether the curvature makes it easy for the baby to eat.

3. Distinguish materials

Whether it is function, style or color, they are all superficial. Ultimately, what we care most about is the material of the tableware. Each material has its advantages and disadvantages.

(1) Ceramic tableware

Material: Made of sand and porcelain clay.

Pros: This is one of the tablewares with a long history. It is delicate, smooth, beautiful and elegant. It does not rust, decay, absorb water and is easy to clean. It is not easy to get hot and is very convenient to use.

Disadvantages: It is relatively heavy and easy to break. Many parents worry that their babies will be hurt by the breakage. The glaze of some poor quality ceramic tableware contains heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, and long-term use may pose a risk of heavy metal poisoning.

Tips for choosing: When buying ceramic tableware, try to choose products produced by regular manufacturers, and don’t buy them at stalls. If you are rich, you can also choose lead-free glazed ceramic pots. Modern technology has strict requirements on the production process and quality of ceramic tableware. As long as the product is qualified, there is no need to worry.

(2) Stainless steel tableware

Material: It usually contains 10%~30% chromium and is mixed with other metals.

Advantages: More beautiful appearance and easier to clean. It is resistant to falling and not easily damaged. It is longer lasting, more corrosion-resistant and stronger than ordinary steel.

Disadvantages: easy to get hot and poor heat preservation.

Tips for choosing: Be sure to choose qualified products in regular shopping malls. Stainless steel pots have good corrosion resistance and high temperature resistance, and are relatively safe. They are the most commonly used type now. When choosing, it is recommended to choose ones with rounded edges, otherwise it is easy to scratch the baby.

(3) Porcelain tableware

Material: Imitation porcelain tableware, melamine mostly refers to melamine-formaldehyde resin, which can be used as food contact material and is the most common material for plastic tableware.

Advantages: The surface is as smooth and shiny as ceramic tableware, has good chemical and heat resistance, is unbreakable and very durable. You can also print vivid patterns or cartoon characters, which children will love.

Disadvantages: Not easy to clean, always feels sticky after washing.

Tips for choosing: When buying, check whether the product is evenly colored, whether it is deformed, and whether the surface is smooth. After buying it home, boil it in boiling water for half an hour, dry it and boil it again for half an hour, repeat four times. If there are white or black spots, the quality is not up to standard. Generally speaking, my country's standards stipulate that the migration limit of melamine in melamine-ceramic tableware is 0.2 mg per square decimeter. As long as it is qualified melamine tableware, you can use it with confidence.

(4) Plastic tableware

Advantages: It looks good, makes people like eating more, and it is lightweight and very shatterproof.

Disadvantages: Easy to adhere to grease and dirt, difficult to clean. It is easy to have edges and corners after friction.

Tips for choosing: Never buy plastic tableware that has a strong plastic smell, has messy colors, and fades if you scratch it with your fingers. It is best to choose colorless, transparent or plain tableware. If your baby really wants it, buy tableware with flowers on the outside but without flowers on the inside. Usually the ingredients in the tableware are very safe. If you are really worried, you can choose tableware that does not contain bisphenol A.

(5) Wooden tableware

Material: Bamboo and Wood.

Advantages: good heat preservation, more natural texture, more delicate and soft, not easy to hurt the baby.

Disadvantages: Easy to breed bacteria.

Tips for choosing: If you buy bamboo or wooden tableware, be careful not to buy those with a shiny surface, varnished or painted. Try to choose those that have been ground and polished. When buying, touch it with your hands to see if there are any sharp corners or edges.

(6) Titanium alloy

Material: Made of titanium alloy.

Advantages: Tableware made of this material has high strength, good corrosion resistance and high heat resistance.

Disadvantages: relatively expensive.

Purchase suggestion: Baby’s tableware often disappears, so if you can afford the price, you can consider it.

4. Tips

When choosing tableware, try to go to a regular place to choose regular tableware for your baby. No matter what the material is, as long as it is a regular product, don't worry too much. Don't just buy things from roadside stalls for the sake of convenience and cheapness. When using tableware normally, try not to use sharp utensils (steel wool) to clean it, otherwise it will damage the surface of the tableware and accelerate the damage of the tableware.

5. Can boiling water disinfect dishes and chopsticks?

Boiling dishes and chopsticks in water can disinfect them, but its effect is only effective in killing a very small number of microorganisms.

Because effective disinfection requires two conditions: time and temperature. The temperature of boiling water for boiling dishes and chopsticks generally cannot be maintained at 100 degrees Celsius for a period of time, and the time for boiling dishes and chopsticks is also short. Therefore, boiling dishes and chopsticks with boiling water cannot completely disinfect them.