What do you feed your child?
For proper growth and development, children need to be fed well since the nutrients and energy from food are responsible for fueling all growth processes in humans.
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In the event where mothers, families and caregivers fail to mix the best foods for their children, malnutrition could be the result. This has very telling effects on the children as they remain childlike even if they grow to become adults.
The long and short of it is that if you either underfeed or overfeed your child, they may grow to be very prone to certain lifestyle diseases as adults.
The only way out is that we all have to make it a point to get the best food for our children so that they will grow into responsible and healthy adults.
This write-up will explor
From birth to six months of age, babies are to be fed on breast milk only. This is the best food for them. There are enough nutrients and energy in breast milk to nourish a baby. All they need for their growth, health and well-being can be found in breast milk.
A child below the age of six months who is being breastfed must not even be given water to drink; the breast milk is adequate.
Sometimes it is very difficult for mothers and observers at home to understand the fact that babies do not have to be given water. They strongly feel that these babies might be feeling thirsty.
Science has provided enough evidence or reasons for all to believe that when babies under five years of age are breastfed they will not feel thirsty again. Just do the right thing.
School-age children should be given fruits instead of fruit drinks, soda, soft drinks and other sugar-loaded drinks. Fresh fruits are healthier than the juices and other drinks loaded with sugar. Giving them the sugar-loaded drinks only makes them fat and obese children. Consequently, they grow to become fat and obese adults as well.
Again, do not use oil to make food attractive for these children. A little oil in their stew is just enough to make the food balanced for them; you can use coloured vegetables to make the food attractive instead.
Treating your children to "nice" foods like ice cream, pizza, fried potatoes chips, among others, all the time will not help them. These days, children are also developing the high blood cholesterol.
Giving them the best of our local foods can actually make them grow into healthier adults. Let them have complete meals like banku with okro soup and fish rather than the chips and others.
They will also learn to eat home-made food which will help them when they grow into adults.
Children might have to eat more than three times a day in order to meet their nutrient and energy needs. This would also be necessary because they may not be able to eat large meals at a sitting.
For those who have great appetite and, therefore, can eat so well at each table, eating several times a day may not be necessary. Parents should also ensure that they do not allow their children to eat much food just because they are children.
Discipline them to eat food at table. Also, help them cherish meal times as this will be beneficial to them if they grow.
By Wise Chukwudi Letsa / The Mirror / Ghana
The writer of this article is a dietician at The Trust Hospital, Osu-Accra. He is also the Author of “Your Diet & Your Health Magazine”. Contact us for copies; Tel: 0244090262, Email: [email protected]