How to make baby eat right

A bright smile lights up Mary Wambui’s face as she kicks a ball and frolics around her compound in a city estate, as energetically as her young charges. It is clear that she loves children and time with them provides a welcome break from her busy schedule. However, the 40-year-old mother of three children aged between two and five grapples constantly with the challenge of how to get them to eat enough and healthy food.

Proper feeding of children is a challenge that most parents meet at some point. Chances are that at some point in his or her growth and development, your child will be a picky eater. But if you work now at teaching your children healthy eating habits, you will be reducing spells of picky eating and providing them with a healthy lifestyle for years. Good nutrition does, in addition to other benefits, prevent many diseases.

Here’s what you can do to nature good eating habits

1. Offer a variety of foods. Serving a variety of foods prepared in different ways makes meals and snacks more interesting for children and makes good nutrition sense. Choosing foods from each of the Food Guide Pyramid categories will provide the variety of foods needed for good health.

These food groups are as follows:

■ Group 1 – Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta;

■ Group 2 – Vegetables

■ Group 3 – Fruits

■ Group 4 – Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs and Nuts

■ Group 5 – Milk, Yogurt and Cheese

■ Group 6 – Fats, Oils • Group 7 – Sweets

2. Serve meals that help maintain a healthy body weight. Children need calories from food for growth and normal development. Calorie needs of children differ depending on body size, growth spurts and physical activity level. Serving a variety of foods can help children maintain a healthy body and weight. Serve plenty of fruits, vegetable and grain products, less fat and fewer fatty foods, and serve sugars and sweets in moderation. Regular physical activity is important to maintaining good health. It burns calories, helps with weight control and is important in preventing
some chronic diseases. It’s recommended that children engage in a minimum of 30-45 minutes of physical activity each day.

3. Offer foods low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol.
At about two years of age, children should be fed diets that are low in fat and that provide the calories and nutrients they need for normal growth.

• Lowering the fat content lowers the calories of the meal as well. Grains, vegetables and fruits are the best choices for adding calories while lowering the fat intake in meals. To increase calories without adding fat, young children will probably have to eat smaller meals more frequently than older children or adults.

• Fats in the diet include margarine, vegetable oils, salad dressings, butter, cream and lard. In general, foods that come from animals are higher in fat than foods that come from plants. However, products such as lean meat, non-fat or low-fat milk and chicken-with the skin removed- have less fat than other animal products.

4. Serve plenty of vegetables, fruits and grain products. These are generally low in fat. They are important because they are also good sources of complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber and other substances in food linked to good health.

5. Offer and use sugars in moderation. Sugars and many foods that contain them in large amounts supply calories but may be low in vitamins and minerals.
They should be used in moderation by most healthy people and sparingly by people with low calorie needs. Frequent between-meal snacks of foods such as cakes, chips, crackers and pastries, candies and dried fruits may be more harmful to children’s teeth than sugars eaten with regular meals.

6. Offer and use salt and sodium in moderation. Some people may reduce their chances of getting high blood pressure by eating less salt. Since there is no way to predict who will develop high blood pressure, serving foods lower in sodium and reducing or omitting salt during food preparation may help some children avoid high blood pressure later in life.

7. Promote an alcohol-and drug-free lifestyle. Children and teens should not drink alcoholic beverages. Use of alcoholic beverages involves risks to health and other serious problems.

Tips on how to make it easier for a young child to eat the same meals along with the family:

■ Keep portions small. Cut sandwiches and finger foods into small pieces.

■ Make the environment comfortable. Depending on the child’s age and motor development, smaller utensils, cups and furniture or a booster seat may help make eating easier.

■ Avoid certain foods that could tend to choke small children: round cuts of hot dogs, grapes, carrot chunks or nuts.

■ Include at least one of your child’s favorite foods at the meal, even if it’s the same thing over again. Give your child every opportunity to eat and to enjoy the meal.

■ Offer a variety of textures and colors to help your child enjoy an expanded array of acceptable and nutritious foods.

■ Keep meal time relatively quiet and calm. Advise children to talk softly and be settled at the table. Keep the TV and radio turned off. Try to prevent arguments from happening at meal time.

■ Serve meals and snacks at consistent times. Schedule meals when your child is not likely to be overly tired or excited.

■ Involve your child in meal preparation. Taking part may help increase interest in eating, especially new or unfamiliar foods.

■ In conclusion, if your picky eater continues to cause you concern, seek the assistance of a Nutritionist or Dietician who specializes in working with children to develop strategies to provide for the good nutritional health of your child.

Chances are that at some point in his or her growth and development, your child will be a picky eater. But if you work now at teaching your children healthy eating habits, you will be reducing spells of picky eating and providing them with a healthy lifestyle for years.

END: BL37/16-17