# When can he eat sushi?



## KnitLady (Jul 6, 2006)

Google is failing me! A new sushi place just opened close to me and I've been eating lots of yummy sushi. When can I share it with my toddler? He's 16 months old.

What about cooked crab? I thought I could give him part of a California roll, but I don't know if crab is okay or not.


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## NannyL (Oct 11, 2005)

The cooked stuff you can definitely share with him. The kids I nanny for (we actually had sushi for lunch today!), really like unagi (sweet freshwater eel), and tamago (egg omelet), and they will occasionally eat a cali roll as well.


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## spughy (Jun 28, 2005)

I'm probably on the extreme end of things, but my DD has been eating sushi happily since she was about a year. She LOVES going out for sushi but the last couple of times the only thing she'd eat was salmon eggs. Yes, raw. They are fun to pick up and they taste just like cod liver oil, which she adores. She also likes the tobiko (flying fish roe). And she also eats salmon sashimi, octopus, seaweed (she actually loves kelp flakes as a snack generally) and the vermicelli noodles that come in sunomono salad, etc.

The only thing I don't let her have, beyond little tastes, is tuna, because of the mercury issue. And she's not fond of unagi (bbq eel).


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## devster4fun (Jan 28, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *spughy* 
I'm probably on the extreme end of things, but my DD has been eating sushi happily since she was about a year. She LOVES going out for sushi but the last couple of times the only thing she'd eat was salmon eggs. Yes, raw. They are fun to pick up and they taste just like cod liver oil, which she adores. She also likes the tobiko (flying fish roe). And she also eats salmon sashimi, octopus, seaweed (she actually loves kelp flakes as a snack generally) and the vermicelli noodles that come in sunomono salad, etc.

The only thing I don't let her have, beyond little tastes, is tuna, because of the mercury issue. And she's not fond of unagi (bbq eel).

Same here. DD is 14 months and has been "trying" Sushi since about a year.

I felt comfortable with it because DD never showed ANY allergies to ANYthing. Her Dad and I also have no allergies.

She also loves the edamame beans and rice. Lord, we make a huge mess. I just leave a BIG tip and hope her cuteness makes up for the floor full of rice!!


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## zanzylum (Dec 15, 2006)

Please be VERY cautious about feeding a child younger than three any shellfish whatsoever - It is one of the allergens that needs to be held off the longest, even longer than peanuts. This is especially important if you have allergies in the family or of your child has shown food senstivity to other foods. I got this advice from my dad, an old school medical doctor with classical training who raised his children to be as omnivorous and eclectic in their food tastes as possible (I mean, he took us to Sushi as kids in the early 80s... before it b/c common here in the states at all...) What this means for us as a family is that we avoid eating out at Thai and Vietnamese resturants b/c of "Fish sauce" (shrimp based) and shrimp paste. Sad very sad, but till she's three, a truth. I think that sushi grade fin fish would be OK for a young toddler (over 1 year).


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## StrawHatBrat (Jan 5, 2005)

I fed my kids cooked sushi since they were old enough to eat.
I don't normally eat the raw myself, so that hasn't been an issue with us.


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## AllisonR (May 5, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *StrawHatBrat* 
cooked sushi









: ???????

If you are comfortable with the place, why not? Sushi is so healthy.


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## e.naomisandoval (Aug 30, 2005)

My super picky older dd started at around 2. I was given a special "just for me" handroll to try and they were shocked as she wrestled it out of my hands. It had spicy mayo on it and they were telling me to get it out of her hands. She ate it all. I didn't get any. We got hooked on the spicy mayo and went back there on a regular basis and she always had it. She stopped liking sushi about a year ago (at 6). Silly girl!


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## Ms. B. Sprout (Nov 30, 2006)

DS has been eating avocado roll for a looong time. He had some salmon nigiri the other day, and I'm fine with letting him venture into other fishy areas too. I'm prego, so he can eat the "safe" fish I eat.

We're avoiding shellfish for a while longer.


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

DD's father has an anaphylactic allergy to fish/shellfish so I don't know that I will ever give her fish. My other kids ate sushi around 1 1/2 -2. One of them does have food allergies, but not to fish.


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## Shanana (May 11, 2005)

My main concern would be with the contaminants in the fish. There is lots of into out there about which types of fish have the least contaminants, and whether you should get farmed or wild, etc. There is also info on location -- e.g., salmon caught in one part of the world are more contaminated than those caught in another part. If the sushi place can tell you where they got their fish, and if it is farmed or wild, you can make a good decision about probable level of contamination. I'm fairly certain that things like mercury, heavy metals, etc., affect children at much smaller levels than adults. I mean, obviously we don't want it at all, but I am more concerned about exposing young children to it than I am about exposing myself to it.

That said, we eat sushi occasionally, but I haven't given any to dd yet. Again, due to the contaminant concern (I have not bothered to ask where they get their fish because we eat it so rarely).


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zanzylum* 
Please be VERY cautious about feeding a child younger than three any shellfish whatsoever - It is one of the allergens that needs to be held off the longest, even longer than peanuts. This is especially important if you have allergies in the family or of your child has shown food senstivity to other foods. I got this advice from my dad, an old school medical doctor with classical training who raised his children to be as omnivorous and eclectic in their food tastes as possible (I mean, he took us to Sushi as kids in the early 80s... before it b/c common here in the states at all...) What this means for us as a family is that we avoid eating out at Thai and Vietnamese resturants b/c of "Fish sauce" (shrimp based) and shrimp paste. Sad very sad, but till she's three, a truth. I think that sushi grade fin fish would be OK for a young toddler (over 1 year).

I disagree. It is very common in the diet in much of the world. Dd has had shellfish since around 18 months or so.

-Angela


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## UmmBnB (Mar 28, 2005)

My kids have both been eating sushi since they started eating solid food (ds = 14m, dd = 5m)....although ds has since cast it aside along with 99.9% of all foods on the planet.







:


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## weliveintheforest (Sep 3, 2005)

My dd LOVES sushi and has been eating the non-raw fish stuff for a long time and just recently started trying sashimi and likes it - she is 21 months.


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## Literate (Jan 4, 2006)

I was surprised how heatedly people discussed this same topic a few months ago.


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## KnitLady (Jul 6, 2006)

Thanks for all the responses!









Literate: I had no idea it was possibly a heated topic.

zanzylum: I agree with you about the shellfish issue. My pediatrician said to wait until he is at least two for shellfish. However, crab isn't considered a shellfish. I don't know if it's a common allergen or not though. I think I'm going to ask my pediatrician about all this.

I am glad to hear about all the little ones loving sushi! My ds had a fit at lunch because he wanted my sushi so badly!


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## Ducky5306 (Jul 2, 2006)

I haven't given any to my DS yet but i would around 2 y/o i guess.. (he is almost 14 months)

also i prefer homemade sushi

and yes there is "cooked sushi" I *Think* sushi refers to the *rice*

i've had cooked sushi (as in shrimp, crab)


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## lalaland42 (Mar 12, 2006)

DD started eating sushi at around 12 months. She ripped off a piece of seaweed from what I was eating and ate it so I got her an avocado hand roll. Her current faves though are the seaweed salad and pickled ginger. She has had some of the fish but she eats that very rarely, by her own choice. Even if you don't give your child seafood, avocado rolls are good. Oh, and DD loves wasabi.


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## ewe+lamb (Jul 20, 2004)

We make our own sushi stuff, and maki are great fun to make with the kids, we buy the fish from a really good fish shop and when we tell them its to eat raw they give us the freshest - in fact now that they know us fairly well they give us some lovely fish, ds LOVES raw tuna sashimi style and avocado rolls, dd LOVES avocado and prawn rolls Cali style - the prawns are cooked. We're going to have some on Saturday night - can't wait - it's almost addictive!!


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## RomanGoddess (Mar 16, 2006)

My approach is that, leaving aside choking hazards, my toddler can eat whatever I can eat. Basta.


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## AnyMama (May 25, 2007)

my daughter was always the youngest person in the sushi place, I know she started before she was 1. But I only give her the cooked stuff. The real Japanese sushi chefs love it becuase they've never seen an American child eating sushi so young.


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## KnitLady (Jul 6, 2006)

Updating this for anyone who does a search later. I decided to call my pedi and she said to wait until age 2 for raw fish and crab. The concern with raw fish was safety and the concern with crab was allergies

I know everyone does things differently and all pediatricians might not agree, but I thought I'd throw this out there.







:


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## mchalehm (Feb 5, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ewe+lamb* 
We make our own sushi stuff, and maki are great fun to make with the kids, we buy the fish from a really good fish shop and when we tell them its to eat raw they give us the freshest - in fact now that they know us fairly well they give us some lovely fish, ds LOVES raw tuna sashimi style and avocado rolls, dd LOVES avocado and prawn rolls Cali style - the prawns are cooked. We're going to have some on Saturday night - can't wait - it's almost addictive!!

This thread is making me hungry.

My daughter isn't up to sushi yet for mechanical reasons (she's only 10 mo and doesn't do so well with the rice texture) but I will definitely be letting her test out most of the sushi things that we order when she is able to chew it safely. My husband is not too adventurous so we always get California rolls plus something else for me to branch out. I've never had a variety of sushi I didn't like, and aside from the shellfish thing, I'm comfortable with the idea of giving it to my daughter. It's definitely one of the most healthful foods that I actually crave!


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## AEZMama (Jul 24, 2005)

DS loves sushi! If you're worried about it, you can ask the sushi chef to make a kid friendly roll w/out the nori, and maybe start out with something like avacado roll or california.

I might have to take ds for some tomorrow!


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## rmzbm (Jul 8, 2005)

When? NEVER! OMG, I'm going to hurl...


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## L&IsMama (Jan 24, 2006)

^

My ds2, 2.5, eats it just fine. Has since about , umm, I think 18 months or so.


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## redhen (Mar 30, 2005)

I seem to be one of the rare few who lets my 2.5 year old eat any of it. She first had veggie rolls when she was around 14 months (?) and loved it, I probably started letting her have cooked stuff around 18 months, and she's had (AND LOVED) raw fish since shortly after.


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