Question: Is there any Halachic restriction to feed young children dairy foods immediately after eating meat?
Discussion: After eating meat, an adult is required to wait before eating dairy foods. According to the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah Siman 89 se’if 1) one must wait six hours; according to the Remo (ibid) it is sufficient to wait one hour.
When discussing children, two different issues must be addressed: sofinon and chinuch.
• Sofinon is the prohibition to feed a child a food that is forbidden to eat, or place the child in any situation that it is forbidden for the child to be in, for example to expose a minor who is a Kohen to a situation of tumas meis. Sofinon applies irrespective of the child’s age, and regarding Biblical prohibitions the issur of sofinon is also min hatorah; whereas regarding Rabbinic prohibitions the issur of sofinon is d’rabonon.
• Chinuch is the obligation incumbent on parents to educate their children to perform mitvos and refrain from aveiros. Chinuch is age appropriate, and applies according to the child’s age and understanding.
Let us now return to hamtono after eating meat: we have established that the issur of sofinon is irrespective of the child’s age and presumably should therefore apply with hamtono. Chinuch should presumably also apply, but only to children old enough to be subject to chinuch (as discussed).
So, what is the justification of feeding young children, even under the age of chinuch dairy foods after having eaten meat?
1. The first possible lenient approach that we should consider is that of choleh: The Remo tells us in Orach Chayim (Siman 328 se’if 17) that the needs of a young child are classified as the needs of a choleh. This means that if a young child is in a situation of discomfort, although for an adult such discomfort would not be classified as choli and thus would not warrant overriding even a Rabbinic prohibition, since young children have a more delicate and fragile constitution, their needs are more significant and thus it is permitted to apply the leniencies of a choleh.
In our situation, if a young child needs to eat dairy foods, it may be possible to apply the leniency of the Remo and consider the needs of the child to the needs of a choleh and thus override the Rabbinic obligation to wait before eating dairy.
However, this potential leniency needs to be very carefully applied, because not every situation of discomfort or ailment of a young child is severe enough to affect his wellbeing to the extent that we can apply the leniency of the Remo. It is doubtful if withholding dairy foods from a young child for several hours will affect the child’s health in any way, and generally speaking it appears that the leniency of the Remo will not apply in this situation.
2. The next option we have to feed young children dairy after eating meat is to rely on the opinions of the Rashbo and Ran who both maintain that when dealing with a Rabbinic prohibition sofinon will not apply in a situation of a necessity for the child. A classic example would be a medicine that consists of (or contains) a Rabbinic prohibition. Since the medicine is being administered for the wellbeing of the young child, it may be administered despite containing a Rabbinic prohibition.
Returning to eating dairy after meaty foods, if eating the dairy foods is beneficial to the child (e.g. because of the nutritional benefits) we can apply the leniency of the Rashbo and Ran and feed the child dairy immediately after eating meat.