Is It Safe For A Baby To Drink Condensed Milk?
Can baby drink sweetened condensed milk?
Sweetened condensed milk is yellowish with a high viscous liquid. It is basically concentrated milk, made by removing most of the water from cow’s milk, to which sugar has been added.
Based on the Singapore Food Database, sweetened condensed milk contains plenty of sugar, in which you can find around 50g of sugar in 100ml of sweetened condensed milk! In other words, a serving of 30ml of sweetened condensed milk has just over 15 grams of sugar! It is extremely energy dense, because just 2-3 tablespoons provides approximately 100kcal (1 ½ slices of bread provides equivalent energy too). On top of that, sweetened condensed milk contains little beneficial vitamins and minerals.
Is sweetened condensed milk considered milk for babies?
It is obvious that sweetened condensed milk does not meet the nutrients requirement for babies at all ages. It has minimal micronutrients contents with very high energy and sugar. Also, because of lacking complete essential nutrients, babies fed by sweetened condensed milk might have stunted growth with other nutrient related deficiencies. What’s more, it will affect their emerging teeth, and develop a taste preference, particularly sweet tooth, which leads to picky eaters in future.
In a nutshell, sweetened condensed milk is not the right milk for babies’ main source of energy and nutrients. Never feed babies especially those below the age of two with sweetened condensed milk, although it may sound promising by its name with the ‘milk’ labelled. Stick to the world’s best milk for babies- breastmilk, or at least infant formula.
Article written by:
Foo Kai Li
Nutritionist
Registered Member of Nutrition Society Malaysia (NSM)
𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐛𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐍𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭 & 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧. 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.
REFERENCES
- Dairy Processing Handbook (2021). Condensed Milk. Retrieved from https://dairyprocessinghandbook.tetrapak.com/chapter/condensed-milk#:~:text=Sweetened%20condensed%20milk%20is%20basically,which%20sugar%20has%20been%20added.&text=This%20is%20followed%20by%20heat,in%20the%20subsequent%20sterilization%20process.
- Health Promotion Board (n.d). Energy & Nutrient Composition of Food. Retrieved from https://focos.hpb.gov.sg/eservices/ENCF/FoodAnalysis.aspx?p=1