GO TO -----> TODDLERS SCHOOLAGE
Infants
Introducing solid foods
by Sue Gilbert, MS
Up until six months, a baby depends entirely on breast milk or formula
to meet his or her nutritional needs. Any solids introduced prior to
that are mostly for the 'practice.'
The transition to solids is a very gradual and sporadic affair.
There will be days that your baby may refuse solids and rely totally on
formula, and other days where he goes great gusto with the solids and
cuts back on the formula.
It is usually recommended that you start your baby on two meals a
day of an iron-fortified cereal before adding other foods. Continue to
offer fruits and/or vegetables at both meals as a source of vitamins A
and C. Perhaps by seven months you can add a lunch of fruits and
vegetables along with breast milk or formula. Protein foods are the last
foods that need to be added since he will be getting plenty from the
formula. You can add meats or other protein foods somewhere between
eight and ten months.
Keep an eye on when your baby may like a little more texture and
consistency in his diet. When that happens, offer chunkier, thicker
foods and perhaps some finger foods.
By eight to ten months your baby may be eating two to three meals a
day at the table, as well as continuing to nurse or drink formula.
Snacks will be important for a long time and are a good chance to
practice with finger foods like peeled soft fruit bits or mild soft
cheese, and breads and crackers.
By one year the transition many babies are very comfortable with
table foods. However, each baby operates on its own schedule, some
going full steam ahead, while others hang on to breast or bottle for a
bit longer. You need to 'listen' to your baby and support and encourage
his own natural development as much as possible.
A general guide to follow:
4 to 6 months:
Breastfeed or four to seven formula feeds, iron fortified (rice) cereal two times a day
6 to 8 months:
Breastfeed or three to five formula feeds, iron fortified cereal (1/2
cup day) in one or two meals, fruits and veggies two times a day,
four ounces (non-allergenic) juice from a cup.
8 to 10 months:
Breastfeed or three to four formula feeds, 1/2 cup iron fortified
cereal, juice from a cup, fruits and veggies two times day, protein
foods like meat or egg yolk one or two times daily
10 to 12 months:
Breastfeed or three to four formula feeds, iron fortified infant
cereal, breads, rice, noodles, unsweetened cereals, juice, all fresh
fruits, peeled and seeded, vegetables, raw or soft cooked depending on
chewing ability, tender pieces of meat, fish or poultry, nut butters,
yogurt, cooked dried beans. all served over three meals a day and two
or three snacks.
You are just beginning this long journey to the table, but it is fun and entertaining, and can be challenging at times.
Toddlers
Nutritional guidelines for toddlers
by Sue Gilbert, MS
We'll start with some guidelines to show you how much of the
critical nutrients your toddler needs. and how that translates into
food intake, then we'll move onto the more important issue of how to
get them to eat that food. The following is a summary of the daily
requirements for a one- to three-year-old:
What to eat:
- Protein: A minimum of 16 grams a day. !6 ounces of milk plus one ounce of meat is ample protein for a toddler.
- Fat:
At least 30 percent of a toddler's calories should come from fat. Too
little can result in "failure to thrive" where children do not get
enough food to supply their energy and growth needs.
- Calories: 40 calories/day/inch of height = 1000 to 1300 calories/day.
Calorie distribution is apt to look like this:
16 g Protein = 64 calories
44 g Fat = 396 calories
210 g Carbohydrate = 840 calories
Total = 1300 calories
- Sodium: 325 to 1000 mg.
- Vitamin C: 40 mg.
- Vitamin A: 400 ug RE
- Calcium:
800 mg. If a child drinks the recommended 2 cups of milk a day he still
needs 200 more milligrams of calcium. Offer yogurt, cheese. tofu, and
leafy greens.
- Iron: 10 mg.
- Zinc: 10 mg. A mild zinc
deficiency is more common than realized in toddlers. Symptoms are poor
appetite, suboptimal growth and reduced sense of taste and smell The
best sources are meat, eggs and seafood.
- Folate: 50 ug
by Sue Gilbert, MS
The quality of school lunch programs can vary greatly depending on
where your live and who is in charge. Many schools have very innovative
directors who manage to do a lot with a little in terms of a budget, in
coming up with highly nutritious, yet delicious and kid-pleasing menus.
Other schools merely get by on the minimum, meeting the standards that
have been spelled out by the regulations.
Unless you have the time, knowledge, motivation and energy to try
to make changes in your local school lunch programs, the best thing
that you can do is to pack a lunch for your boys. Better yet, let them
make their own lunches based on items you all agree are okay. Lunches
can often be packed the night before to make things more efficient in
the morning.
...
Kids may eat vast amounts at one meal, and pick at the next. They may
eat like there's no tomorrow one day, and when tomorrow comes, they eat
next to nothing. Kids, if they have been encouraged to remain in touch
with their body's cues to hunger and satiety, will eat the amount they
need. Growth and activity will dictate most of that.
Boys going through a growth spurt will eat lots, but cut back when
the spurt is over. Therefore, don't get caught up in how many calories
they need at lunch, because that will vary from day to day, week to
week. What is important, is to know what a good lunch should and should
not include.
A lunch to get kids through a busy afternoon should contain: An
excellent source of protein, such as low fat turkey breast, hard boiled
egg, low fat cheese, tofu, or peanut butter. Protein has the effect of
not only supporting tissue growth and maintenance, it also helps keep
them alert. A meal of all carbohydrates can induce drowsiness, which
just compounds the effects of naturally lower biorhythms that occur in
mid-afternoon. It should contain a source of complex carbohydrates for
time released energy, and a source of fat for staying power. It should
also have a cup of calcium rich milk or fortified soy milk. The fat
content of the lunch should not be so low that hunger will set in long
before dinner, but it should be low enough to be healthy. Although the
jury is still out on the optimum fat content for kid's diets, I suggest
that you try to aim for a diet that contains 20 to 25 percent fat.
Thirty percent fat is a generous allotment and is the maximum amount
suggested.
The following may be a useful guideline to follow when packing lunch:
- 1 cup milk, or one container of yogurt (or the money to purchase)
- Generous amounts of complex carbohydrates (e.g. sandwich bread, bagel, crackers, graham crackers, fruit)
- Moderate
serving of high quality protein (e.g. tuna salad, low fat cheese,
sliced sandwich meats or leftover meat from dinners, peanut butter)
- A small amount of fat for a long lasting source of
energy (e.g. peanut butter, nuts, avocado, or homemade healthy treats
that contain fat such as a muffin)
- A bonus to get them to eat at lunch is a piece of fruit or some fresh veggies.
Translating this into examples would look like this:
- Bagel with peanut butter, milk money, apple
- Tuna salad on whole wheat, baby carrot sticks, homemade cookies, milk money
- Hard boiled egg, muffin, banana, milk money
- Tortilla rolled up with low fat turkey breast low fat cheese, and lettuce, bag of nuts and raisins, milk money
Remember that a school lunch is often eaten in haste, in an
atmosphere of noise and chaos. It is not a place that is conducive to
slow, relaxed enjoyment of food. Therefore, I suggest you do your best
to be sure they eat the most important items, the protein and the
carbohydrate, and feel thankful if some fruits and vegetables are eaten
too. Save the calm setting of dinner to try and catch up on the days
necessary servings of fruits and vegetables that were not fulfilled in
breakfast, snacks, or lunch.
Be realistic in the size of the lunch you fix, kids just don't have
much time to eat. Especially for your six year old son, it is important
to also include a mid-morning snack. Littler children cannot often go a
whole morning without getting hungry. Put in an extra fig bar or bag of
graham crackers for morning recess for him.
Lunch should definitely not include much, if any, sugary foods.
When kids are short on time, they may go for sugary foods first, leave
the sandwich, and then suffer a major let down a couple of hours later
when the sugar boost has worn off. If you do include treats, try to
make them treats that carry some nutrition, such as homemade quick
breads or muffins like banana or pumpkin bread, or oatmeal cookies with
raisins. Other foods to avoid are those that are highly processed,
without much nutritional value such as bags of potato chips, highly
refined crackers or cracker type foods (stick to whole wheat crackers),
candy, cookies, 'fruit' type treats such as gummy bears, etc.,
non-juice drinks like Kool-Aid or sodas, or iced tea.
Followup Comment:
This is a followup to a previous response on the nutritional
content of school lunches. ...A nutritionist
who works with the school lunch program ... had some insights that
I think you will find helpful.
She said: All lunches have to meet the dietary guidelines and
provide one third of estimated calorie needs (which is where the 800
plus calories comes from) and meals must average 30 plus or less of
calories from fat over the week's menus. Most food service managers
have modified recipes for kids' favorite foods to make them lower in
fat, while still looking and tasting like the "high test" items. Many
parents don't appreciate the calorie needs of active, growing children
as they are tuned more into their own energy requirements which are
significantly less!
The rule of thumb for kids' calories is 1000 plus 100 for each year of age. That is just ballpark, with adjustments necessary for activity levels, etc.
