How to make kids nutrition more vary? And do we need to do it at all? Olena Islamkina, a mother of 4 y.o. daughter, shares her experience.
Does my child eat enough variety? Obviously, no. Am I a good mother, if Zoe eats the same food 3, 4, or 5 days in a row? Sometimes the same meal on breakfast and dinner. Like this bacon, for the last days it was her main food. Before she had eggs period. And before, beef patties, and before, chicken legs.
Why variety is important?
In the famous Carlos González’s book My Child Won’t Eat!: How to Enjoy Mealtimes Without Worry there is an interesting fact. “In the early 1900 vegetables as well as fruits were introduced very late in children’s diet: perhaps at two or three years of age and with great caution”.
The problem begun with industrialization, when mothers were forced to stop breastfeeding earlier to work on manufactures, and kids’ formulas contained not enough vitamins. So parents started to introduce veggies and fruits earlier.
But here were another problem, González writes, vegetables a low in calories and big in volume. And kids’ stomachs are small. Kids food should be nutrition dense – have as many nutrients as possible in a small piece.
What is the most nutritious food?
Mmm… Meat? Red meat is the most nutrition food for children and adult.
For years, it was indecent to even pronounce it. But fat and protein are building blocks for our body.
And meat contains vitamins and nutrients,
- D3
- B12
- Vitamin A (Retinol)
- Creatine
- Carnitine
- Carnosine
- Heme Iron
- Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
- Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA)
- Taurine
- Zink
- Potassium
- Phosphorous
I’m ok eating steak twice a day for a week. Why should Zoe be different?
How kids’ nutrition standards affects mothers?
Pediatrician insist, kids’ nutrition should vary. Kids insist on eating the same chicken drumstick every day. So mothers came up with entertaining food.
If you search kids food ideas on Pinterest, you would find watermelon crabs, Mickey Mouse pancakes, eggs with ears, rocket-molded rice.
It looks kawaii, but I want to see mothers besides those pictures. Do they have time to take a shower? Have they slept for the last 5 years? Do those nice crafted banana-yogurt snakes talk to them?
Is an exhausted mother beneficial for a baby?
When yesterday I said we ran out of bacon, and she wouldn’t have it for breakfast, Zoe was very disappointed, so I ordered overnight delivery.
Happy child. Happy mother, who took a shower. What can be better?
