Nutrition

A healthy lifestyle and good nutrition play an important role in your child’s development.

The first few years of your child's dietary experiences are of vital importance to their health, growth and well-being. Modelling and encouraging your child to eat a regular, balanced diet is crucial, as patterns laid down in early life are often carried into adulthood. As parents, we have a significant influence over our child's eating habits from weaning them as babies to packing their first lunchbox for school.

Encouraging Healthy Nutritional Choices

Healthy choices need to be promoted as early as possible to maintain optimum child health. Children develop eating patterns early on so getting it right to begin with is essential. Understandably, it can be frustrating when you know what healthy foods your child should be eating but they refuse them. It all begins at birth!

Below are specific strategies to encourage healthy eating:

Pre-natal to Newborn

Your child’s health begins before birth. Healthy eating during pregnancy and ensuring you get enough folic acid is crucial. Supplementary pregnancy nutrients are widely available. Eliminating alcohol and any intake of nicotine or passive smoke is essential. By doing so you ensure your baby has the necessary for growth whilst still in the womb.

When your baby is born, keeping yourself healthy is crucial, as this affects the quality of breast milk. Breast milk contains many nutrients as well as antibodies that help your baby develop a healthy immune system and fight off infections. Breast milk can reduce infections, eliminate constipation and provides babies with all the essential nutrients they need for the first six months of their lives. Some mothers may choose to bottle feed but the benefits and nutrients in breast milk are recommended by many health professionals. It is advised to breast feed your baby for as long as possible.

Vegetables

Vegetables are an essential part of a healthy diet as provide many essential nutrients such as potassium, folic acid, fiber as well as Vitamin A, E and C. However, they are also the most common food to be avoided by children, especially those who have not had vegetables from a young age.

There are many creative ways to encourage your child to eat vegetables.

Try serving vegetables with a healthy dip, or cut them into special shapes for your child.
Try new vegetables as a family, making this a more interesting experience for your child.
Serve vegetable kebabs and involve your child in making them.
Consider juicing vegetables with fresh fruit. Your child will get a lot of nutrients this way. Make this appealing by serving as a smoothie in your child’s favourite cup with a special straw.
Show your child how much you enjoy vegetables and how great these wonderful foods are. The best way you can get your child to eat vegetables is through being an example yourself.
Take your child to the supermarket or farm shop to buy different vegetables to try. This is also a way to teach your child how vegetables grow and where they come from.
Try to grow vegetables at home. This is an invaluable experience, creating an interest to try what has been grown.
Two recommended stories to read to your child to encourage healthy eating are Oliver's Vegetables and Oliver's Fruit Salad. These are great picture books with wonderful illustrations.

Cooking

Most children enjoy spending time with an adult, so cooking together is an ideal way to promote healthy eating.

Use a child’s cookbook, so your child can select what they would like to make and learn to follow a recipe.
Ensure the recipes in the book are healthy, sensible and suitable for children. Home cooking is healthiest as has no artificial colourings, additives or preservatives.
Discuss and help your child understand which foods are healthy and good for us and what foods are best eaten in smaller quantities or less frequently.
You may decide to cook with your child once a week, or depending on the age of your child, perhaps let them help you on a daily basis.
By cooking with your child, you teach them the importance and need for a healthy and balanced diet.
Cooking together supports your child to develop numeracy skills related to quantities, literacy skills when following a recipe as well as fine motor skills, when preparing and serving foods.

Beverages

Healthy beverages are an important aspect of your child’s diet, particularly for dental health. As with dietary habits, similarily beverage habits develop early on in childhood.

Suggestions to support healthy beverages choices:

Offer your child a glass of milk or water if they are thirsty during the day.
Explain the importance of water, in staying healthy and hydrated, along with the importance of milk, for sufficient calcium for teeth and bone development.
Make heathy beverages appealing by providing your child with a special cup, character straw or water bottle.
Avoid offering carbonated soft drinks and endeavor to keep these beverages for occasions.
As an alternative to carbonated soft drinks, involve your child in preparing fruit smoothies or milkshakes with a range of fresh fruits.
If your child is regularly drinking carbonated drinks and refuses to drink water or milk try to adjust this. This can be achieved by providing a sugar free squash, and then over time, diluting the squash more so your child adapts to drinking water.

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