Newtrition Clinic

Welcome: Parents Queries 

 

Q: My child is of two years old but he refuses take any solid foods, and very fussy, he is active and healthy. But his intake of food is so less it bothers me. Please advise me what to feed and how to make my child eat solid food items.

 

A: This is the quite common problem faced many young mothers, to make the child to eat food mothers try virtually everything like cajoling, coaxing or distracting them by showing T.V and cartoons etc. The refusal eat food may due to less appetite, this may be because the child must have taken milk or other liquids  before so he feels full, or he tries to draw attention. When the child is growing up sometimes he merely wants to exercise his individuality.  The common food refusal is also observed during the situations like birth of a sibling, after admission in school, when both parents work, when parents quarrel. So please look any one of these situations are there at home and correct them. Follow this suggestion  while feeding the child first and foremost do not force a child to eat, do not show concern in front of the child, do not discuss unpleasant things during mealtimes, appreciate when the child eats well, please check the amount of milk given to the child, most of the time the child prefers to drink milk over eating, so if you are giving excess intake of milk reduce the quantity of it during meal time. And do not feed the child with any snack/milk at least 2 hrs before the meal.

 

Q: How to eat a healthy balanced meal?

 

A: To get a healthy diet we need to eat many different types of food each day including different type of grains, beans, pulses, fruit and vegetables, roots, nuts and animal products. It is not healthy to eat the same food with the same ingredients every day. Like most of them prefer to eat only rice in their meals, instead of eating only rice and rice products like like idly and dosa etc for all three meals it is better to include variety of other grains like wheat, ragi, jowar in the form of roti, upma, porridge etc, similarly using all varieties of vegetables and fruits in the meal, especially using more of seasonal fruits and vegetables, including seasonal foods provides the required nutrients at affordable price. As Indians consume non vegetarian less frequently and in lesser quantities including milk and milk products regularly in everyday diet is very important to meet the requirements of many nutrients, to enhance the absorption of other nutrients.

The amount we eat depends on our age, sex and time of life. However, the most important aspect of healthy eating is balance.

Healthy food is fresh and natural and a balanced diet should be full of flavour and colour, the more colorful the meal is the better it is for health, like including tomato, green leaves, pumpkin etc provides  different nutrients and phytochemicals. By taking care to choose foods that are in season and locally available, eating can be enjoyable, healthy and affordable

 

 

• Feeding a child is not a child's play

• Clean plate club

• Nutritious School lunch boxes