Successful Mealtimes with Toddlers .

Toddlers often go through a phase of food refusal. Busy children will often happily drink milk or a smoothie rather than sit down to chew and swallow food. Drinks fill a tummy quickly and leaves more time for the important things, like playing with friends and toys.

Most toddlers have good and bad days. Days when they will eat well, or refuse foods they have previously accepted. Some toddlers are more difficult around food than others and this is a problem that concerns parents when they are trying to follow healthy eating advice.

Toddlers learn by copying adults and other children. Encouraging the family to eat together can be an important way of learning about new foods. Successful management of toddler eating behaviours require a number of skills that parents may need to learn. It is significant that many faddy toddlers eat better in nursery or day care where staff may be more skilled at mealtime management.

Recognizing that a child is satisfied.

Toddlers are saying that they don't want any more food when they;-

• Say no
• Keep their mouth shut when food is offered.
• Turn their head away from the spoon.
• Push away a plate, spoon, or bowl containing food.
• Hold food in their mouth but refuse to swallow.
• Gag or retch .
• Cry Shout or scream

Toddlers showing these behaviors are trying to avoid being fed. One reason for this is that some parents may expect the child to eat more than they need to. Continuing with spoon feeding long after a child has learned to spoon feed themselves can also have this result. In these cases as long as the child is growing well there is no need to be concerned. Children use food as fuel and seldom starve themselves. They seldom eat for comfort as adults may do.

Six to eight drinks per day is usually enough for a toddler. If they have had too many calories from milk or sweetened drinks they may not be hungry. Feeding in bottles should be phased out by 12 months and an average drink alongside a meal should be about 120mls in a cup or beaker.

If you have concerns about your child's eating contact us;-
info@dream-angus.com

Toddler Diarrhoea/Constipation

Toddler Diarrhoea is a common problem. Frequent stools which are too soft to be formed passed several times a day without any fever being present and with no dirty nappies overnight are often diagnosed as Toddler Diarrohea. The child is not vomiting and shows no other symptoms. There may be recognisable food matter, peas carrots or sweetcorn present. The stools often become more loose as the day progresses. The succession of dirty nappies start typically after the child first eats or drinks.
It is thought that this condition is due to gut immaturity and often it improves without any treatment.
Many dietary manipulations have been tried including reducing fibre, increasing fat to prolong transit times, and reducing sugar intake. Reducing fibre will help where the family have adopted healthy eating practices and have a normally high fibre intake. Tolerance of fibre increases as the child ages and arround 4-5 years a higher fibre intake is better tolerated by the child.

Constipation in children is particularly common following infection or after an anal fissure. There may also be a behavioural element to this. The child should be encouraged to eat a higher fibre diet including beans, wholegrain cereals, lentil soup, and baked beans. Encouraging fluids will also help. There is no place for mealtime battles over vegetables and young children should never be given unprocessed bran. With gentle encouragement and reassurance this is a simple issue that is easily resolved.