Support your toddler’s growing body with proper nutrition.
The world of a toddler is growing very quickly. Within a few years, a toddler will learn to walk, read, and begin to form many new beliefs about the world. Proper nutrition can ensure a healthy growing body, and a vigorous mind during these formative years and beyond.
Simple tips for optimum toddler nutrition.
A multivitamin may help. A multivitamin may be the best way to fill nutritional gaps if your toddler is not getting the nutrition he or she needs, perhaps due to picky or inconsistent eating habits. Talk to your pediatrician about giving your child a multivitamin; there are many on the market formulated specifically for toddlers. Remember, a multivitamin is a supplement, not a substitute. Encourage proper eating habits because habits are hard to change later in life.
Fat is good!As an energy-dense component of food, proper fat intake can fuel the rapidly rising activity levels of a toddler. Healthy fats are crucial for the developing nervous system of a toddler; two important Omega-3 fats, DHA and EPA, must be present for proper brain and nervous system development. Fish is the best source of these healthy and required fats, but if your toddler is a picky eater, making sure they get this important fat can be a challenge. Learn more about the best omega-3 supplement for your small child.
Keep an eye on fiber.
We tend to forget that young children need fiber, too. Toddlers require adequate fiber to prevent constipation, yet too much fiber can reduce their capacity to absorb nutrients. Monitor their digestive habits to ensure regular digestive activity. The recommended amount of fiber for a toddler is 14 grams of fiber for every 1000 calories they consume. Proper fiber intake will help keep their digestive tracts healthy during this growth period.
Even if your child is a picky eater, keep his or her options open. While toddlers may seem to have frustrating eating habits, such as eating very little or being ‘too particular’, studies have shown that toddlers have an innate ability to satisfy their nutrient needs. Children often need to see a new food a few times before they will try it. Offer a variety of nutritious foods to your child, and, he/she will most likely make good nutritional choices over the long-term, even if it means that on any given day, their diet seems unpredictable.
Fewer, smaller meals are ideal. Three square meals a day may be fine for adults, but a toddler’s small stomach is better suited for small, snack-like meals every few hours. Even during regular mealtimes, a toddler should keep portions small. Always have a few bites of nutritious fare on-hand to promote healthy eating habits that last a lifetime.
Keep these tips in mind will help promote proper growth and a healthy, happy child.
Doctors, scientists, authors, leading universities, and others are all unanimous in their support for omega-3 fish oil. Here is a sampling of what they have to say:
“…breast-fed babies have more DHA in their brains and retinas than bottle-fed babies. Breast-fed babies also have better visual acuity than bottle-fed babies, and, years later, score higher on standardized tests of reading, visual interpretation, sentence completion, nonverbal skills, and math. The superior performance of breast-fed babies could be due to any number of factors, however, including the fact that women who breast-feed their babies tend to be of a higher socioeconomic class. But careful studies show that DHA plays a key role in cognitive development.”
- Artemis P Simopoulos MD and Jo Robinson, Authors of The Omega Diet
“[Omega-3] DHA plays a particularly crucial role in the brain development of infants and children. Together with other long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, DHA accumulates in the fetal brain late in pregnancy, and continues to accumulate during an infant's first few months of life. Human breast milk contains much more of these critical fats than cows’ milk or formula, so babies who are not breastfed have lower levels of these important nutrients. Researchers have determined that these important fatty acids affect intelligence in infancy and perhaps later in life.”
- Dr. Julian Whitaker, Author of The Memory Solution
“Researchers have found that breast-fed babies have higher intelligence than bottle-fed babies, probably because of the omega-3 found in mother's milk. And it doesn't help just babies. A study showed that older men who ate fish regularly had better working brains than men who didn't eat fish.”
- The Editors of FC&A Medical Publishing, Authors of Eat and Heal
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