Food Habits for children

You will be surprise to know that formation of foods habit gets its foundation in the first year of life & continues to become more established during the pre school years. Just as providing nutritionally balanced food is important there are other factors, which are equally important & which parents should take care .to avoid letting a child develop a negative attitude towards foods or developing poor & unhealthy food habit.

Encourage self-feeding:

Initially it will be a messy, time consuming, & demanding exercises. The children may spill & scattered food, or like to eat with the fingers rather then a food be patience, & allow the child to indulge him. Children must be encouraged to feed themselves. It is advisable to let the baby feed themselves at the start of the meal & after while when the baby tries off playing with the food , take over & help him finish the meal by feeding him.

No force-feeding.

If there is disinterest in food try to discover out the cause instead of forcing the child to eat. The child may not be hungry due to lack of physical activity or it may be too tired to eat. Too much concern & attention from parents can also cause problem. If a child refuse to eat just remove the plate with out fuss & chances are he will be ready to enjoy the next meal. Some time over indulgent parents promise a chocolate a candy bar or some toy etc. if the child finishes its food. It is not advisable to use such bribing tactic as they create problems instead of solving them.

           

Mealtime should not be story-telling times.

Do not distract a child attention from food by telling stories, so that you can feed him. By doing this not only you encouraging an undesirable habit but also discouraging the child from recognizing the foods he is eating it may help if you talk about the food you are feeding & what it does to make their body strong, healthy & beautiful.

         Size of serving

Due to small stomach capacity, a pre school child generally cannot eat a large meal at a time. Therefore in between small snacks are very important. Parents should not satisfy their needs by satisfying their needs by giving them sweets, chocolates, biscuits, cakes, pastries, chips, puffs etc which is not nutritious but has only empty calories which is going to ruin the child’s teeth & also kills the appetite for the next meal. Routine drinking of cold drinks, beverages, milkshakes, slush’s, candy should be discouraged.

Serving of the foods

How you serve the food is very important, as today’s generation children are very particular about the taste, co lour, appearance, smell etc. introduction of new food may create problem with some children; so when ever new food is introduced always introduce it with a food which child is already familiar with. If they like it then its fine but, if they don’t like it don’t make issue of that or don’t discuss with some other mother in front of the child.

Physical activity

In today’s scenario children amongst most affluent class have involved them selves in sedentary activities like indoor games, watching T.V., playing computer games or video games, now new technology has came that is to go online or surf the net. While sitting at home they tend to eat junk food while watching T.V. or playing games like chips, soft drinks, burgers, chocolates, biscuits etc. All this sedentary activity gives invitation to all possible diseases, which becomes major diseases in adulthood. Parents should guide them & should include some disciplined habits by restricting timings of T.V.or playing video games & encourage them to go for out door activity like playing cricket, football, cycling, swimming etc.

Some suggestion:

v     Avoid giving children foods with sugar try to give them with out it. Don’t serve them puddings, cakes, pastries, chocolates etc.

v     Give fresh fruits rather than sweets.

v     Make sure your children take good breakfast not only milk.

v     Always use whole grains rather than refined or processed foods.

v     Serve baked or grilled food rather than fried. (e.g. boiled potatoes can be given instead of  potatoes chips)

v     Serve whole fruit rather than fruit juices.

Thus many food related problems can be solved once parents realize that in this phase of childhood growth, appetite & food habits develops which has to guide in proper way or else chances of very erratic habits develops. Continue letting child what he wants to eat & don’t force feed. Serve healthy meals, which are frequent & nutritious.