Children should eat appropriate amounts and variety of foods in order to grow well and be healthy. The best indicator that a child is healthy and has a balanced diet is that the child's weight and height are within normal limits for their age.
For a child's healthy development, nutrition provides the energy required for growth, the protein required for the construction of new tissues, the calcium and calcium needed for strong bones. They need to take vitamins and minerals such as iron, which are necessary for blood formation, fibrous foods that will prevent constipation, and sufficient amounts of liquid. When mothers do not know the daily nutritional needs of their children and think of nutrition as filling the stomach, they generally feed the child with a single type of food or give them those with low nutritional value. causes the need not to be met. As a result, the child's growth and development slows down and stops, and he may even lose the weight he gained. It is known that insufficient and unbalanced nutrition at these ages negatively affects physical development, as well as intelligence development and learning abilities. Children should be fed only with breast milk between 0-6 months. After the 6th month, recommended supplementary foods should be started at age-appropriate times. If possible, breastfeeding should be continued until the age of 2. A child who is one year old should be accustomed to all kinds of food and should be able to sit at the table with the family. During the 6-12 month period, babies should be accustomed to all kinds of tastes and should take solid foods easily. Not giving complementary foods to the child on time during the 6-12 months period makes it difficult for him to take grainy foods that are not milky in later ages. Again, during the same period, constantly giving the child the same taste foods causes him/her to want to eat the same types of foods and to choose food in the future. Babies who go through this period with a conscious approach will have easier feeding in later periods.
Foods should be chosen from 4 basic food groups.
Dairy group (milk, cheese, yoghurt)
Meat group (meat, chicken, eggs, fish, legumes)
Vegetable-fruit group
Grain group (Bread, pasta, rice, bakery products)
For a balanced diet, you should also include these four basic food groups. should be taken proportionally. In a group Eating too little or too much of another will result in the lack of protein, vitamins or minerals required for the body.
Care should be taken to ensure that the nutritional value of the meals is as high as possible.
What you can do to help your child eat more:
The child should be seated at the table comfortably and rested (so that he/she does not get tired while eating)
If possible. All family members should be together at meal times, and there should not be a special meal time for the child.
Especially care should be taken to eat breakfast and dinner together with the father.
A cheerful and happy atmosphere at mealtime
These hours should be created to make the child happy.
Encourage your child to eat and reward him when he eats well. Never argue with the child about food.
The spoon and fork the child will use should be of a size suitable for the child's hand and mouth, and the sitting height should be adjusted according to the table.
In order to prevent the child from being a picky eater, the child should be accustomed to additional foods with different tastes between the ages of 0-1.
br /> He should be expected to eat his own food.
Children will want to eat by themselves, especially as their ability to use their hands develops between the ages of 1-5. These demands of children should be met at the expense of food spilling and contamination of the surroundings. They should not be expected to be as skillful as adults when eating, and a protective apron and cover should be used to prevent spilling on and around themselves.
Do not allow them to have a snack before meal time. Giving the child candies, cake, biscuits, cookies or fruit before meal time prevents the child from taking in the nutrients in the main meals. It would be appropriate to offer such foods to children as a reward immediately after the meal is eaten with appetite.
Involve your child in the selection and preparation of the meal. Sometimes prepare meals as your child desires. Value their opinions.
Make sure that the appearance and taste of the meals are attractive.
Try to feed them small but more frequent meals instead of three main meals.
The child should be encouraged to eat and should be rewarded, even verbally, when he eats well. Never argue with your child about food. Do not be insistent in a way that will overwhelm you. The bad and tense environment generally created between family members at meal times can cause the child to wait these hours with fear and decrease his appetite. The positive habits acquired in children between the ages of 1-5 will last a lifetime. A common mistake in this age group is that children go to bed late and wake up late. Children who wake up late often have breakfast and lunch together, thus causing one meal to be missed. Thanks to insulin, cortisone and growth hormone, which are at their highest levels between 0400 and 0500 hours of the night in the human biorhythm, children who wake up early have a better appetite. For this reason, if the child wakes up late, it causes a decrease in the child's appetite.
The family compares its own child with other children and gives them more food than they need, which either leads to the emergence of an obesity problem or causes the child to be reluctant to eat and not want to eat.
Most children, especially They are very picky about vegetables. For this reason, it would be more appropriate to choose the vegetables he likes in meals. Vegetables that they do not like to eat can be given in other dishes (for example, meatballs with vegetables, rice with vegetables, etc.). Therefore, putting vegetables directly into soups, rice, pasta, pastries and meatballs or serving them as an addition to rice, pasta and meatballs will make eating vegetables easier and more enjoyable. can provide. Eating fruits with their shells helps prevent constipation, which is common in this age group. One of the most common mistakes in child nutrition is feeding the child with water. This form of nutrition, which has no nutritional value, should not be practiced.
Portion amounts in meals should be small and help should be given when the child needs it.
In general, the additional nutrients that the child should take should be given in three meals, and if necessary, fruit and juice should be drunk in the afternoon and milk should be drunk at bedtime. (It is wrong to give candies, cola, cake, biscuits and cookies between meals.)
Breakfast should be an indispensable meal for a healthy diet. You should never skip breakfast, which is the first meal of the day. Breakfast is the perfect source of energy for the body, which needs fuel throughout the day, just like a machine. And it's for everyone It is a valid rule. Breakfast is the first way to start the day fit and form. It is useful to recommend foods that children may like in each food group. For example, instead of insisting that a child who is stubborn about not drinking milk consume milk, offer cheese, yoghurt, cream, pudding, etc. from the same food group. It would be more appropriate to recommend consuming it (cheese the size of a matchbox contains protein and minerals equivalent to two glasses of milk). Similarly, in the meat group, you can add minced meat to the meals, serve meatballs, liver, grilled products, or use one of the dried legumes in the meals. In this way, the child will be provided with the protein, calories and minerals he needs, and the dialogue between the parents and the child will not be damaged. Similar practices can be done in other food groups as well.
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