When do you start training your children to eat spicy food? I totally love spicy food but haven't been able to 'enjoy' it much when i go out 'cos we always have to buy food which the kids can eat... Anyway, how do you mummies 'train' your kids to eat spicy food? Do you introduce it to them? Or do they request to try?

My friend is a Malay-Singaporean who married a German man and they have been living abroad for years. Despite this, her children have no problems eating spicy food because she said she had "trained" them well since young. She started introducing them to spicy food when they turned 5 years old. According to her, she started them off with the chilli sauces she found in German supermarkets because those are considerably milder than the ones in Asia despite being labelled "extra spicy". As they grew older and became tolerant to the spice levels, she gradually introduced things like sambal in her family meals. Her sambal was initially mild (she added tomatoes to cut the spiciness) and as they grew older, she realised that she could use her original recipe without any complaints. I suppose introducing children to spicy food at a gradual manner is the best way :)

I haven’t tried to my baby though and I’m the only person in the house who’s fond of spicy food and luckily, I’m not the one who cooks all the time – therefore no chance for my daughter to get introduced to it yet by my mom who stays with her while I’m away for work. And when I say spicy I mean 'hot'. From this link I’ve came across (http://www.livescience.com/36487-babies-spicy-food-introducing-solids-spices.html) Dr. Anca Safta a pediatric gastroenterologist, sites that the only caution is to introduce one new spice every four to five days, to see if there's an adverse reaction. Watch out if your baby has irritable bowel syndrome, her gut might have bad reactions toward spicy foods. When introduced early and in frequently, children get more used to it and chances are they can more tolerate different degree of spiciness.

If you've been eating spicy food while you were breastfeeding, then there's a good chance your kids are already used to the taste and introducing it shouldn't be too difficult. As with all foods, you should do it gradually and wait a few days to see the results before trying again. It might also be a good idea to start with general spices like cumin, cinnamon etc before moving on to the chilli family. My 14 month old son often insists on sitting on my lap and eating my meals off my plate, which are often quite spicy. I'm surprised at how well he takes it with usually no side effects later. My doctor has told me that babies digestive capacity for spices is quite strong, and once they are used to solids and can chew properly it's fine to introduce spicy food.

You can begin with trying out mild spices like; cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, asafoetida, turmeric. And later graduate to cumin, garlic, coriander, clove, chilly etc. While they are small, say, one-year-old, one has to start introducing them to mild spices. Once, they develop a taste of them eating them regularly, introduce them to other spices as well. Make their favourite dish and introduce the spices slowly and steadily. It is such a gradual process that you wouldn't even come to know how they developed the taste of spices. http://www.fieldsofflavor.com/taste-bud-development-in-infants/

This article recommends introducing after your child turns 1: http://www.babycenter.com/408_when-can-my-baby-eat-spicy-foods_1368539.bc But earlier than that, you can try milder spices like a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg!