This post is a guest post by Kayris, a mom to two in Maryland. She writes about raising kids in the big city at The Great Walls of Baltimore. A proud AP mom, she especially uses the principles of Attachment Parenting in the kitchen.

Attachment Parenting is a style of parenting that focuses on creating strong and healthy emotional bonds between child and parent. AP parents believe that using love and respect to guide parenting decisions–from nutrition to discipline to how you teach your child to sleep–forges a strong and secure bond that lasts beyond childhood into adulthood. For more on the eight principles of Attachment Parenting, please visit Attachment Parenting International.

Among the many milestones a baby will reach in his first year, beginning the transition from breast milk or formula to solid food is one of the most fun. What parent doesn’t have a video of a young child sucking in spaghetti one noodle at a time, or a photo of a child wearing (rather than eating) the first birthday cake?

In the wake of the recent childhood obesity epidemic, it’s my opinion that introducing solids to your baby is one of the most important milestones as well. Starting in babyhood, you can stress the importance of respecting your body by practicing good nutrition, and by modeling healthy eating habits, you give your child tools to make healthy food choices as an older child and adult.

Think about all the people in your life and there is bound to be at least one, facing diabetes or another medical crisis, struggling to change a lifetime of bad food habits. It might seem difficult to imagine your baby as an adult, but the attitude you impart to your child NOW will last a lifetime.

As a mom to two, I’ve spent plenty of time wondering if my babies were eating enough, often enough, or a wide enough variety of foods. By making good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle a priority for our family, I now have two children that I consider to be good eaters. Each has their challenges, but here are some of the points that have worked for our AP family.

• Introduce Solids When Your Baby Is Ready–Most doctors will say this happens between four and six months, but let your child lead the way. Don’t let others pressure you into starting solids before your child is ready. My son, now 5 years old, let us know he was ready at 4 months when he would reach for food on our plates. My daughter, now 2, was closer to six months.. She showed no interest before then and it wasn’t until her sleep patterns changed that she was ready.
• Go Slow, And Keep Food Allergies In Mind–If your family has a history of food allergies, ask your pediatrician for specific instructions on when and how to introduce solids. Otherwise, try one new food at a time and wait several days in between new foods so you can be sure there isn’t a problem.
• Make Breast Or Bottle Number One–For the first year, breast milk or formula should supply most of your baby’s calories. Solids are extra. If you are breastfeeding, keep an eye on your supply, as introducing solids can decrease your supply. Read more about maintaining and increasing your supply at Kellymom.com. Personally, I always ended each solid feeding meal with my two children with a short five minute pumping session to keep my milk supply up.
• Never Force A Child To Eat–A baby that is not hungry won’t eat. Try to avoid forcing food on your child, and let his or her natural ability to gauge hunger and satiety develop. This is key to raising an older child that knows when to stop eating! If your baby isn’t interested, put away the food and try again later.
• Have Reasonable Expectations–Some children are better eaters than others. Food preferences are also partially genetic, so don’t be surprised if your baby strongly dislikes something. While some kids need to be offered a food ten times or more before they will accept it, some foods may never be accepted! Think about your own food preferences and you’ll likely find some strong favorites and some strong un-favorites. Neither of my children will eat carrots in any form, no matter how I prepare them; I’ve had to conclude that, for now, it’s a food they don’t like. In addition, pickiness is a natural stage that many children go through. Likes and dislikes will change over the years. Don’t be surprised if your baby happily accepts every food you give him, only to refuse to eat them as a strong willed toddler.
• Respect Your Child’s Individuality–This is especially important if your baby is your second child. Don’t expect or pressure your baby to do things like their older sibling did, or like the child next door. Each child develops at their own pace and in their own way. That goes for eating habits as well.
• Eat As A Family–Get your child used to sitting down with the family to eat at an early age. A study at Columbia University showed that teens who eat dinner with their families six to seven times a week are almost 50 percent more likely to remain substance-free than teens who eat dinner with their families twice a week or less. Teens who eat dinner often with their families are more likely to have better grades, lower stress levels and healthier diets. Family dinners three or more nights per week reduce a child’s likelihood to engage in risky behavior. Start your baby eating with the family now, so it’s an ingrained habit when they are older. In addition, eating as a family is a great way to bond with your children.
• Model Healthy Habits–Long before your baby becomes aware of advertising and is susceptible to tricky marketing aimed at kids, the person with the most influence is YOU. Make sure when your baby sees you eat, it’s wholesome and healthy food. If your diet could use some improvement, this is a great time to do it.

Finally, always remember the AP principle to feed with love and respect.  The healthiest food in the world doesn’t mean as much if the bond between parent and child isn’t there.

Find more information on Attachment Parenting and toddler nutrition here.

Photo source: marekf on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Daylight savings time is here! Summer cannot be that far away, right? Enjoy another set of noteworthy nutrition-related articles from this week.

Calories from sugary drinks add up to more than what’s on the label

Sugary drinks such as regular soda and concentrated fruit juices provide “empty” calories without much nutritional value. We all know that. Well, a new understanding is now emerging which suggests that when you consume a sugary drink, it does nothing to change your appetite and you don’t compensate it by eating less food. In another insightful analysis of several recent studies, Dr Ayala makes a point that soda drinkers end up consuming more calories since these drinks do not satisfy their hunger even if they might temporarily quench their thirst. Turns out, even candy eaters consume less food and calories compared to soda drinkers! It does not mean that you should let your kids eat candies the whole day; it just makes a point that solid foods are more effective at making you feel full. When it comes to snacking,  there is definitely a smarter way.

Taking your toddler grocery shopping? Watch that shopping cart

This report reminds us again of the many dangers of carrying toddlers in a shopping cart while shopping. Head injury is most common with kids falling out of carts head first on the floor, sidewalks or parking lots. Shopping carts in many stores are in very poor shape and, most importantly, several safety features are regularly missing. According to this report, 2 out of 5 carts were found unsafe at Toys ‘R Us and 13 out of 30 at WalMart and, surprisingly, none at Target! Not sure if this is true at other stores of these companies in different parts of the country.

I think these types of risks to small children exist everywhere, not just while shopping. As a parent, it is very challenging to keep a close eye on your little ones, especially when you are in a hurry or distracted. There are several very good suggestions in this report for child safety while shopping. Check it out, and if you have any tips of your own, feel free to share a comment!

Feed with love and respect; respond with sensitivity

I really enjoyed reading this post from a Mom of a 2 year old as she tried to figure out why her toddler threw a fit when offered a fish meal at dinner. Being a vegetarian herself, she was already hesitant to introduce any meat, but the idea of nutritious omega acids was compelling enough for her to try. It didn’t turn out as planned and the child refused to eat anything as long as even a small bit of fish was on his plate. Eventually, she decided not to force her child and wait for another time before trying again.

This is a great example of feeding with love and respect and really “listening” to your child. In her guest post Attachment Parenting and Toddler Nutrition, Annie introduced us to this idea. We have been trying it with our twins for quite sometime now and it seems to be working well since they are beginning to develop a taste for different types of foods. And we don’t have to battle with them at mealtimes. The situation is not perfect by any means, but we are are happy so far.

Does it mean that you should let your child eat whatever he wants whenever he wants? Clearly no, but there is no use getting into a power struggle in the moment. You can correct undesirable habits (candy, junk foods etc) slowly by setting an example yourself and then by positive reinforcement when he makes more desirable choices.

First lady on a mission to promote healthful eating for the masses

In her public appearances, Mrs. Obama is emphasizing the need for fresh, nutritious food “not just for the wealthy, but for the ordinary and struggling families” all across our nation. Her message could not be more timely – the waistline of our nation is getting wider and childhood obesity, especially among the underpreviliged segments of our society, is on the rise. I came across this article in the New York Times, and was immediately impressed by Mrs Obama’s walking-the-talk approach to healthful nutrition. And she is very pragmatic – there is no harm in an occasional indulgence in fast food. It becomes a problem if it happens to be the only source of daily nutrition. Will this attitude reflect into policy? Only time will tell.

1 in 7 teens is vitamin D deficient

A new study by researchers in the Cornell Medical College finds “alramingly” high rates of vitamin D deficiency among teens, particularly among the African-American population. Girls had more than twice the rates of deficiency compared to boys. Overweight teens also had nearly double the rates of their normal weight counterparts. The researchers used a “revised” criteria for vitamin deficiency, which raised the minimum level from 11 to 20 ng/ml in a blood test.

To me, this is not news anymore! We keep hearing of vitamin D deficiency in various reports which raise the alarm bells about the risk of rickets in children and a host of other diseases in adults. I do not understand the purpose behind these reports,  which do not really propose anything new about how to solve this problem. Everyone knows that you need a balanced diet and sun exposure to build the vitamin D reserves. It is also commonly know that most kids today are growing up with not-so-healthy eating habits and child obesity is on the rise. So what should we be doing? Should there be a policy change? Should the pediatricians start recommending a daily dose of nutritional supplements? There is always that magic line in these reports: “more research is needed”! I say, stop this charade and come out with some new ideas!

As for the risk of rickets, I am yet to find any evidence of a rise in the number of reported cases nationwide. From what I understand, bone growth is quite complex and vitamin D is only one piece of the puzzle. Just because we measure low levels of vitamin D in blood tests (compared to pretty arbitrary standard anyway), we should not ring the alarm bells about rickets!

I have nothing against vitamin D. In fact, I have tackled this subject in this post about rising rates of vitamin D deficiency in kids. I am also not against supplements since I have written about reasons when you might consider a daily multivitamin for your kids. What I have a problem with is report after report of “scientific” studies saying the same thing without leading to any substantial progress in finding a solution. I am so much waiting to read a different kind of a report in future.

Enjoy your weekend!

Image source: orangeacid on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

This is a guest post by Melissa who has two children on the autism spectrum. She blogs about life with special needs children on Mutterings Of A Mindless Mommy. Follow her on Twitter @MommyMellie.

Most parents have gone through that picky toddler stage with their child.  However, some kids seem to take the concept to a new level.  Others may still be dealing with a “picky toddler” when their child is seven or eight.  To parents who are dealing with one of these two issues, I say, “Welcome to my world.”

I have two children on the autism spectrum and extreme pickiness, oral defensiveness, decreased oral motor muscle tone and other similar issues have led to some unique (and at times frustrating) food challenges in our household.  When my oldest was two and three years old, well-meaning friends and family would tell me “oh, he’ll eat when he’s hungry.”  What they didn’t know is that no, he wouldn’t eat when he was hungry.  If the food being offered to him was not on his list of approved foods, it wouldn’t even be touched.

At two, my son had three or four foods that he would eat.  That is typical of two year-olds.  At three, he still had three or four foods that he would eat.  At four, he only ate two different foods with any regularity.  Finally, at age five, the list of foods began to expand.  Now he is seven and still only eats a handful of foods on a regular basis.  He won’t eat some food because of its color and other food because of its consistency.  If a food requires much in the way of chewing, he will forego it even if he likes the flavor.  His mouth muscles are weak and so the task of chewing food is tiresome for him.

However, looking back to how he was at four, we are happy with the variety of food that he eats now.  In case you find yourself in a similar situation, I wanted to share with you a few of the techniques that I used over the years to get him to try new foods and eventually move these new foods into the acceptable list.

Smoothies

I am sure that most parents of picky toddlers have tried the smoothie trick at least once.  You can pack many nutrients into one delicious-tasting smoothie.  It isn’t just the fruit or yogurt, but the extras that you can put in there that will make a difference with a super-skinny super-picky eater.

While making a smoothie, you can easily add in flax seeds, protein powder, etc.  We did all of those from time-to-time but the one item that I found the most tolerated, and most helpful, was coconut oil.  Coconut oil contains beneficial fat and protein – two things that were often missing in my son’s diet.  Coconut does have a distinct flavor but it blends in well with a fruit smoothie.

Food Van Goghs

Many children release their inner Van Goghs with a carrot stick and some finger paint.  While a picky toddler might not eat a raw carrot, the picky toddler with autism may not touch it or even allow it within ten feet of him.  Getting this child to actually touch the raw carrot is the first step in getting him to try a little bite.

You can do this at home – simply purchase a veggie tray and some finger paint.  Spread out several pieces of paper and show your child that the vegetables are there for something different.  Pick up a carrot and draw a smiley face.  Use a piece of broccoli to create a pattern.  Encourage your child to join in but never force him.  The purpose of this activity is to grow your child’s tolerance of the vegetable.  In the end, you may find that your child finds a favorite vegetable.  My son likes broccoli now.

Dip Baby Dip
Dips are a wonderful way to introduce new foods into any child’s diet, whether the child is on the autism spectrum or not.  In order for this to be successful, you need to let go of the traditional concept of dip.  Anything is dip.  That cup of organic baby yogurt, that’s dip.  Pulpy orange juice?  Yes, that can be dip too.  If your child is interested in dipping one item into something else, then let her experiment.

In our house, many new foods were discovered this way.  My daughter is now five and still dips her grape tomatoes into yogurt.  It sounds yucky to me but she’s eating fresh tomatoes.

Follow Your Child’s Cues

In my opinion, this is the most important part of overcoming extreme pickiness.  You absolutely need to follow your child’s cues.  Never force her to eat something, never make food an issue of reward and punishment and don’t make dessert contingent on dinner.  If dessert is part of the meal, then everyone should be allowed to eat dessert.

Many times parents have a hard time letting go of the traditional thought that a child who doesn’t eat dinner simply shouldn’t be allowed to eat dessert.  One way to get around this is to make sure that what you are serving for dessert is healthy and nutritious.  If dessert is delicious, homemade zucchini bread then you will know that your child is getting nutritional benefit from the dessert.

The ideas listed here are only a handful of ideas that myself and other parents of children with autism have tried over the years.  A child that has an aversion to smooth textures or cold food is not going to like a smoothie, no matter what you put into it.  You have to experiment to determine what works with your child and what doesn’t.  The key to this process is to have fun and let your child decide the direction your food experiments take.  Good luck!