Offer Healthy Choices

The most important thing to remember when considering nutrition for your child is that children eat food not calories. Many parents make their job harder than it should be by forcing their child to eat either the “right” foods or the “right” amount. A parent’s job is simply to provide appropriate balanced nutrition. Healthy children eat when they are hungry and they will usually eat the right amounts for their nutritional needs.

My Child Won't Eat 3 Vegetables a Day!

The requirements for your child are listed on the opposite side of this sheet in daily amounts. Since no child eats healthy consistently day in and day out, remember that it is just a guide.  The good news is that our bodies are designed to accumulate nutrients over a span of one to two weeks not in just one day. This means that some days your child will eat a few servings of vegetables and other days more servings of vegetables. So don’t get focused on a daily amount your child HAS TO EAT but get a sense of what a balanced diet consists of so that you can offer appropriate amounts and healthy types of foods. Remember that there is not ONE particular vegetable or fruit that contains all the necessary nutrients for your child. So, varying the types of fruits or vegetables is the key to a balanced diet and good nutrition.

Most children at this age are very “picky.” The most important part of your job as a parent is to provide those foods that will help your child meet his required nutrients. Use his hunger as a motivator to eat healthy. Don’t start playing games by manipulating your child to eat everything on his plate and don’t allow him to manipulate you by not eating the foods you encourage him to eat. Your job is to offer the food, not push it. His job is to eat it when he is hungry. Don’t get in to battles over food and don’t give in to your fear of depriving your child of calories or nutrition by making a second dinner meal especially for your child. Over time, your child when hungry will eat the appropriate foods. Watch out for difficult times like in the car or while preparing dinner. Have a healthy backup or offer last night’s dinner again at those hungry times.

Luckily at this age there is a Food Guide Pyramid for this age. We do not have to focus on the specifics of how many calories or what amounts of vitamins or minerals your child is getting each day. The Food Guide Pyramid is just that a guide to nutrition. If your child will eat a balanced diet based on the servings recommended by the pyramid, he will receive all the nutrients he requires except for Vitamin D.  All children are recommend to take 400 I.U. of Vitamin D every day as a supplement to healthy eating.

Click here for The New Food Pyramid

The average toddler usually requires 40 calories a day per inch of height. This is about 1000-1300 calories per day. Certain vitamins and minerals are required for healthy growth. The child at this age requires about 16 grams of protein a day. One cup of whole milk provides 8 grams.

Tips

• Do not overload a plate with food this may overwhelm your child
• Do not make a big issue of food choices. Let your child choose from what is on the table.
• It is OK to give the same food each day. Try to offer a new food beside it.
• Some children require a new food to be offered 10 times before taking it.
• At the table talk about the day and enjoy each other. Do not spend mealtime fighting over food.
• Watch out for foods that may cause choking. (Hot dogs, grapes, peanuts, popcorn, seeds)

For more information the American Academy of Pediatrics has published an excellent resource available at most bookstores called Guide to Your Child's Nutrition edited by Drs. William Dietz and Loraine Stern. Click to order at www.aap.org.