Nutrition can be an anxious subject for some parents. You may worry about whether your child is eating enough good food. You may wonder about whether he is overeating or becoming unhealthy. The following guidelines and tools may help you understand how to best help your child.
Appetite
Children go through growth and activity spurts, so sometimes they are really hungry and sometimes they eat like birds. As long as you offer nutritious food, you can trust your child's appetite to get the balance right. Forcing children to eat (even strongly encouraging them to eat more) can often backfire. It also helps to remember that sweets, chips and biscuits can interfere with their natural appetite for nutritious food. Let their appetite be the guide.
Five basic nutritional needs
If you have the following five areas covered, you can't really go wrong. The key is that you decide what to offer your children, and they decide how much of that they will eat. (This technique is called division of responsibility.)
- Protein builds bodies and keeps children strong and healthy. Try peas and beans (any kind, including frozen baby peas and canned baked beans), eggs, fish, chicken, meat, milk, yoghurt and cheese.
- Vegetables and fruit contain nutrients and fibre important for a healthy body inside and out. The more colourful, the better. Offer vegies like broccoli, green beans, carrots, sweet potato, tomatoes, spinach, and cucumber (with skin). Also try colourful fruits such as peaches, apricots, pears and apples. (Wash fruit and leave the skin on.)
- Starchy carbohydrates provide energy.The more fibre they contain, the slower they burn. Try fibre-enriched bread, wholegrain rice, couscous, pasta, corn bread, pancakes and low-sugar cereal.
- Good fats with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids build brain and nerve cells. These good fats are found in fish (tinned or fresh), avocado, and vegetable oils such as those made from olives or canola (but try to avoid deep frying in these delicate unsaturated oils).
- Tap water is the cheapest and best source of fluids. It is also fortified with fluoride for strong teeth. (If you do give juice, always mix it half and half with water.)
Foods to avoid
It's fine to offer dessert at the end of a meal, and sliced fruit is the healthiest option. If you want to serve something special, go for vanilla ice-cream or banana bread. Save the seriously sweet stuff, like chocolate, for special occasions like birthdays.
- A child's system can't handle foods high in salt, sugar or caffeine (found in cola drinks). Soft drinks and fruit juice are expensive, high in sugar and bad for teeth. If you want to offer juice, mix it half and half with water.
- Fast-fix foods. These foods are low in fibre and nutrients and high in sugar and/or fat. They include hot chips, potato chips, doughnuts, biscuits and cookies, cakes, chocolate and sugary sweets. The fat in most of these foods is the less-healthy type, including trans fat. Just say 'no' and, instead, let your child get hooked on good snacks, like grated or thinly sliced carrot and sweet baby peas served frozen in a cup.
They want to do what you want to do
Children watch what you are eating. So you can help them adopt good eating habits by eating well yourself. Now is a good time to try giving up at least one or two items of junk food. If you can keep packaged biscuits and chips out of your house, it could make a very big difference for your child.
Sometimes children need to be offered a new food 6-10 times before they taste it and, eventually, eat it. It helps if they see you eating it too! If you still have no luck, try again in 3-6 months.
Worried - too much or not enough?
Knowing the way your tummy 'talks to' your brain can help you deal with concerns about undereating or overeating.
- Delayed reaction. Our brains only realise we are full about 20 minutes after the food hits our stomachs.
- Tummy clock. Feeling hungry is partly determined by your child's ‘stomach clock’ – how much he ate yesterday at the same time. Big meals at regular times actually encourage a big appetite next dinnertime, so you can use that to your advantage either way. You can encourage children who undereat at mealtimes to eat more by limiting ‘grazing’ (or random snacking). On the other hand, regular healthy snacks can be a great way to reduce overeating at mealtimes.
Overeating?
If you are concerned that your child has a tendency to overeat, you can try slowing it down.
- Offer half a normal portion of food and then, if he finishes it, offer the second half of his meal 10 minutes later (sometimes this will give his brain a chance to catch up with his stomach).
- Offer the most nutritious stuff (lean protein and vegetables) first (this is called ‘food sequencing’). He doesn't need to eat everything on his plate but only offer him a normal portion of starchy carbohydrates (like pasta, bread or potatoes) after he has finished the more nutritious foods. (Given the choice, children tend to go for the bread and pasta first, which can fill them up before they get to the more nutritious foods.)
Undereating?You may feel your child is consistently not eating enough at mealtimes. If he tends to sit happily for about five minutes and then starts fidgeting and loses his appetite, there are some strategies you can try.
- Use food sequencing to get the good stuff into him first (during that precious window of opportunity).
- Let him wolf down the food as fast as he wants (to let his stomach outrun his brain so he'll fill up a bit more). His stomach clock can help too. If you can make mealtimes the same every day, he is more likely to be hungry at that time of day.
Seven tips for happy mealtimes
- Be relaxed about it, even if your child is not eating.
- Mix it up a bit. Sitting at the same table for every meal can be hard going. Try a picnic in the backyard or take dinner down to the beach or park occasionally.
- Try not to give in to whingeing for alternatives to the meal you have prepared.
- Offer nothing until the next scheduled mealtime or regular snack time (they’ll get the hang of it).
- Schedule snacking to leave a good space before mealtimes (at least ½-1 hour).
- At dinner, try offering the protein and the colourful vegies first, when they are most hungry.
- Be calm, firm and consistent.
Exercise for children
Walking, running, jumping, throwing, climbing and playing gives your child strong bones and muscles; a healthy heart, lungs and arteries; and improved coordination, balance, posture and flexibility. It also increases overall metabolism all day long. This reduces the risk of getting overweight or obese, and of developing heart disease, cancer and diabetes down the track. Playgrounds are a great place to burn off some steam and play with others.
A special note about television
Being overweight is unhealthy and uncomfortable – and very unpleasant for a young child. Eating salty chips while watching TV is a recipe for child obesity. Try limiting TV time to 30 minutes, followed by an outdoor activity (like a walk to the park). Keep snacks healthy – a banana, a handful of healthy crackers, thinly sliced carrot or celery sticks are all good options.
Thousands of car dealers around the country will host free child safety seat inspections at their dealerships in September as part of Child Passenger Safety month. It's the fifth consecutive year that the National Automobile Dealers Association has sponsored the inspection campaign known as "Boost for Safety" with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
