Benefits of kefir for babies, toddlers, and kiddos
What you’ll find in this article:
Kefir is a potent source of probiotic bacteria and enzymes which may play a role in preventing allergies and eczema.
It is inexpensive and easy to make at home.
Fermenting milk into kefir adds beneficial enzymes and enzymatically produced vitamins and is great source of calcium, healthy fat, vitamins A and D, and protein.
Unlike un-fermented cows milk, kefir may help increase iron absorption, and it exposes babies and toddlers to an important learning flavor: sour!
Are you familiar with kefir? If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve heard me blabbing about it for years. I have a friend who told me she yells “KEEEFURR” out loud every time I post about it. It’s that exciting 😂.
VERY simply put, Kefir is a beverage that uses a starter culture to ferment milk into tart, probiotic drink. For more on the basics of milk kefir, check out this post.
Homemade vs Store Bought
Kefir is becoming much easier to find, in fact it can be found at pretty much any grocery store (it’s even a regular item at Aldi now!). Although store bought kefir is a nutrient dense option, homemade is better for a few reasons:
Cost - store bought kefir is about $.08-$.10* per ounce whereas homemade is around $.02 per oz (basically just the cost of milk). I don’t even factor in labor because it is so simple to make yourself (100x simpler than DIY yogurt, for example). The cost savings of homemade kefir is even greater when compared to a probiotic supplement!
*prices for milk and kefir from Walmart ap may 2021Packaging - Store bought kefir is typically packaged in heavy duty 32 oz plastic bottles (only 4 servings!). Home fermented kefir produces far less plastic waste.
Quality - Store bought kefir is very similar to thin, drinkable yogurt. Homemade kefir has a much broader range of flavors and an effervescent texture. It’s light, tangy, and fizzy and can be used in both savory or sweet recipes. Homemade kefir is also a more potent and diverse probiotic source with no added sugar or flavor.
One of the main reasons I recommend homemade kefir is the way the fermentation process adds nutrients and enzymes to pasteurized milk, a childhood staple. Pasteurized whole milk is definitely a nutrient dense food (it contains for example calcium, added vitamins A and D, healthy fats, and protein) but it is lacking some of the beneficial bacteria, enzymes and enzymatically produced vitamins found in milk prior to pasteurization.
Fermenting whole milk is a safe, cost effective way to add beneficial bacteria and enzymes back into pasteurized milk. A few other reasons that make kefir a standout food for little bellies:
Kefir is a potent source of probiotic bacteria (AKA good bacteria).
The good bacteria found in homemade kefir is diverse and changes over time. It’s also hugely potent compared to yogurt and even compared to supplements (homemade kefir is estimated to have CFUs - colony forming units of bacteria - in the trillions).
That doesn’t mean that all of the good bacteria will end up in the gut where we want them, but the good thing about kefir is the ferment itself provides beneficial enzymes that are otherwise missing from our diet. There are also several studies that DO show colonization in the gut from fermented foods like kefir so that’s a plus!
Bonus good news: some probiotic strands found in kefir have been shown to have a protective effect, reducing the number of harmful pathogens in the gut and reducing inflammation.
The fermentation process makes milk more digestible.
The main carbohydrate found in milk, lactose, requires sufficient enzymes to break down into lactase in the body. Most of the time babies and kids have plenty of lactase (they need it to break down lactose in breast milk), but as they age many people lose the ability to efficiently digest lactose and intolerance may develop. Even if lactose intolerance isn’t an issue, many people find themselves not feeling all that great after drinking pasteurized milk.
The fermentation of milk into kefir breaks down the lactose into lactic acid ahead of time, making it much easier for many to digest.
Fermenting milk into kefir produces beneficial enzymes and B vitamins.
Pasteurization makes sure that there is no harmful bacteria in milk and makes milk safe to ship, but it also destroys the beneficial bacteria and many of the enzymes that were present in milk straight from the cow (similar to the massively diverse array of beneficial enzymes and bacteria present in human breast milk).
Fermenting pasteurized cows milk adds back in a number of beneficial enzymes, some of which make kefir easier to digest than regular milk. Other enzymatic qualities of the yeast and bacteria present in kefir synthesize complex B vitamins (especially folate and riboflavin).
Kefir is a good source of protein, healthy fat, calcium, and vitamin D.
When you take a probiotic supplement, you may or may not be getting the benefit of beneficial bacteria colonization in the gut. When you eat fermented foods such as kefir, you also may or may not be getting the benefit of these bacteria but what you are getting along with those beneficial enzymes (and giving to your little ones!) is protein, healthy fat, calcium, and vitamin D - all of which are important nutrients for babies, toddlers, and kids.
Kefir may help increase iron absorption
Unmodified cows milk is not recommended prior to age one because it contains too much protein and insufficient iron, potentially contributing to iron deficiency anemia, a widespread issue among children under four. After one, drinking too much unmodified cows milk can cause similar issues (drinking too much = drinking more than 16-24 oz per day from 12 -24 months according to AAP).
The fermentation process in kefir making breaks lactose into lactic acid which may actually help enhance iron absorption among babies 6 months and older. It is also known that consuming iron rich foods (especially plant based iron foods, known as non-heme iron) along with a source of vitamin C will aid in absorption of iron.
For more about iron, check out this post.
Kefir is WAY less expensive than a probiotic supplement
Once you purchase the starter grains (which cost around $20, often less, and literally last forever), the cost of producing kefir the same as the cost of whole milk.
Probiotic supplements may be warranted in certain situations, but in general the best bet for little ones is to incorporate fermented foods into their diet. Supplements can vary widely in cost but typically cost at least $25 for a 30 day supply. Often good quality spore based options are twice that expensive.
Probiotic supplement vs homemade kefir
Kefir’s tart flavor is a great learning opportunity for little taste buds
The basis of both of my books is early exposure to many flavors and textures in order to increase food acceptance later in life. One flavor that is often left out of the conversation is sour (aside from giving babies the occasional lemon slice to see their hilarious reactions).
Kefir and other fermented foods have a tart, complex flavor that is a great learning opportunity for little taste buds. Kefir and plain yogurt are great sour options to start with because of their creamy texture, which may be better accepted than a more difficult texture like sauerkraut.
Kefir also makes a great base for smoothies and can be used in the place of milk, buttermilk, or yogurt in recipes.
Kefir may play a role in preventing allergies and asthma.
As scientists better understand the gut microbiome, they continue to find links between specific diseases and the microbiota. Research has indicated that the complexity of organisms living in the gut can play a role in prevention of food allergies and asthma. Basically the more good bugs you have, the better your overall health. For example, infants with higher levels of bifidobacterium and lactobacilli in the gut have lower incidence of allergies later in life.
People have been making and consuming milk kefir for centuries.
Before pasteurization, raw milk was often clabbered or allowed to ferment at room temperature before given to little ones. The fermentation not only reduced the likelihood of contamination from potentially harmful bacteria, but it also extended the shelf life of fresh milk prior to refrigeration.
Kefir is a different process because it introduces a starter culture to milk rather than relying on existing bacteria (which aren’t present in pasteurized milk anyway) to do the fermentation, and it’s history goes back thousands of years. Sandor Katz writes much more eloquently than I ever could about the history of kefir in his books The Art of Fermentation and Wild Fermentation.
I bring up clabbered milk because it was especially popular for babies and young children in North American and Europe. In other parts of the world, first foods included fermented porridge using whatever grain was prevalent. The microbiome is rapidly developing during early childhood and providing it a regular supply of beneficial bacteria through kefir and other fermented foods is likely a crucial piece of the vibrant microbiome puzzle.
Follow me on Instagram for kefir making video tutorials and ideas on flavoring kefir at home for little ones.
