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Eating Tips for Children |
Your whole family can eat from the Food Guide Pyramid.
Offer nutritious foods as well-planned, pleasant meals and snacks.
Then sit back and let your child decide how much to eat (or even if he or she wants to eat it at all!).
This is a good division of responsibility that allows children to tune in to their own appetite and takes the pressure off the parents.
Child-Sized Environment
Imagine yourself eating at a giant's table. That's how a child can feel eating at an adult-sized table in an adult-sized chair.
· Provide a booster seat and child-sized utensils. However, fingers are fine until a child can hold utensils easily.
· Give children smaller plates and smaller servings (one tablespoon per year of age is a good serving size guide). Let the child ask for seconds.
Healthy Snacks
Young children have small stomachs and high energy needs, so they need frequent snacks to supplement meals. Plan between-meal snacks as part of the day's total food intake. They should provide good nutrition, not just empty calories.
· Fruits and fruit juices are good snacks. Other good choices are raw vegetable sticks with fat-free dressing, cereal, yogurt, cheese, or soup.
· Serve meals and snacks on a regular schedule. Do not serve snacks so close to a meal that they interfere with the child's appetite.
· Choose desserts that are low in fat and high in nutrients. Fig bars or oatmeal raisin cookies are good choices.
Food Allergies
Less than one percent of adults have true food allergies. Most adverse reactions to foods are due to food intolerances, reactions to food additives, or food poisoning. Most true food allergies are to legumes, nuts, shellfish, eggs, wheat, and milk. An allergic reaction to a food can result in anaphylactic shock.
Consider breast-feeding your child for at least the first six months if either parent has a history of any allergy, including hay fever. Children who are breast-fed develop fewer food allergies than those who are not. By gradually introducing simple solid foods into your child's diet, any allergy will be more easily found. Children often outgrow food allergies by age six. If your child was allergic to a food when younger, try reintroducing it as he or she gets older (unless the reaction was severe).