You want your child to eat healthy foods, but do you know which nutrients are necessary and in what amounts? Here’s a quick overview.

Introduction

Nutrition for kids is based on the same principles as nutrition for adults. Everyone needs the same types of nutrients — such as vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Children, however, need different amounts of specific nutrients at different ages.

So what’s the best formula to fuel your child’s growth and development? Check out these nutrition basics for girls and boys at various ages, based on the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Consider these nutrient-dense foods:

• Protein. Choose seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, beans, peas, soy products, and unsalted nuts and seeds.
• Fruits. Encourage your child to eat a variety of fresh fruits — rather than fruit juice. If your child drinks juice, make sure it’s 100 percent juice without added sugars and limit his or her servings. Look for canned fruit that says it’s light or packed in its own juice, meaning it’s low in added sugar. Keep in mind that one-quarter cup of dried fruit counts as one cup-equivalent of fruit. When consumed in excess, dried fruits can contribute extra calories.
• Vegetables. Aim to provide a variety of vegetables, including dark green, red and orange, beans and peas, starchy and others, each week. When selecting canned or frozen vegetables, look for options lower in sodium.
• Grains. Choose whole grains, such as whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, popcorn, quinoa, or brown or wild rice. Limit refined grains such as white bread, pasta and rice.
• Dairy. Encourage your child to eat and drink fat-free or low-fat dairy products, such as milk, yogurt, cheese or fortified soy beverages.

Aim to limit your child’s calories from:

• Added sugar. Don’t ban sweets. Saying your child can’t have doughnuts or cake ever again can create cravings. When they do have a sweet treat, they tend to overindulge. Limit added sugars. Naturally occurring sugars, such as those in fruit and milk, are not added sugars. Examples of added sugars include brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, honey and others. Check nutrition labels. Choose cereals with minimal added sugars and maximum fibres. Avoid drinks with added sugars such as soda and sports and energy drinks.  

Saturated and trans fats. Healthy fats are unsaturated fats. These can be Monounsaturated – olive oil, avocados, nuts (almonds or pecans), and seeds (pumpkin or sesame) Polyunsaturated – flaxseed, walnuts, or omega-3 fatty acids found in fish such as salmon or sardines.  Unhealthy fats are trans fats. These can be found in: Vegetable shortening,  Margarine, Fried foods, Baked goods, Processed foods made with “partially hydrogenated” vegetable oils, Packaged foods such as crackers, cookies, or snack foods

• Limit saturated fats. Look for ways to replace saturated fats with vegetable and nut oils, which provide essential fatty acids and vitamin E. Limit trans fats by avoiding foods that contain partially hydrogenated oil.
• Sodium. Most children have too much sodium in their daily diets. Encourage snacking on fruits and vegetables instead of chips and cookies. Check nutrition labels and look for product low in sodium.

 Tips to Instantly Improve Your Child’s Nutrition!

Children’s nutrition doesn’t have to be frustrating. Consider these strategies to avoid power struggles and help the picky eater in your family eat a balanced diet.

1. Respect your child’s appetite — or lack of one

If your child isn’t hungry, don’t force a meal or snack. Likewise, don’t bribe or force your child to eat certain foods or clean his or her plate. This might only ignite — or reinforce — a power struggle over food. In addition, your child might come to associate mealtime with anxiety and frustration or become less sensitive to his or her own hunger and fullness cues.

Serve small portions to avoid overwhelming your child and give him or her the opportunity to independently ask for more.

2. Stick to the routine

Serve meals and snacks at about the same times every day. If you child chooses not to eat a meal, a regular snack time will offer an opportunity to eat nutritious food. You can provide milk or 100 percent juice with the food, but offer water between meals and snacks. Allowing your child to fill up on juice, milk or snacks throughout the day might decrease his or her appetite for meals.

3. Be patient with new foods

Young children often touch or smell new foods, and might even put tiny bits in their mouths and then take them back out again. Your child might need repeated exposure to a new food before he or she takes the first bite.

Encourage your child by talking about a food’s color, shape, aroma and texture — not whether it tastes good. Serve new foods along with your child’s favourite foods. Keep serving your child healthy choices until they become familiar and preferred.

4. Don’t comment on your kids’ eating habits.As hard as this may be, try not to comment on what or how much your kids are eating. Be as neutral as possible. Remember, you’ve done your job as a parent by serving balanced meals, and your kids are responsible for eating them. If you play food enforcer—saying things like “eat your vegetables”—your child will only resist.
5. Don’t be a short-order cook

Preparing a separate meal for your child after he or she rejects the original meal might promote picky eating. Encourage your child to stay at the table for the designated mealtime — even if he or she doesn’t eat.

5. Start them young

Food preferences develop early in life. Expose your child to different kinds of food early on and continue as they grow older.

6. Encourage Movement

When your kids are playing, encourage them to make it active play. Even if they aren’t participating in a sport, running around at a playground can provide lots of good exercise. Dancing, rollerblading, biking, jumping rope, and playing tag are all great options.

7. Get them involved

Get your child interested in food by creating a healthy food environment and including them in food choices and preparation. You can ask your child to help with the shopping and meal planning. Children love to cook, so as soon as they are ready you can teach them some simple recipes for healthy meals.

8. Set a good example

Eating healthily yourself will reinforce your child’s healthy eating habits. They learn from you and the best way to teach them is by example.

9. Skip the food reward

When you use food as a reward or to show affection, your child could start using food to cope with their emotions. Instead, give them hugs, praise, attention, or time together.

10. Put limits on screen time

When you put limits on TV, computer, or video game time, your child will tend to find something more active to do. Also, snacking while watching TV leads to mindless eating, and your child will take in more calories than they should.

All kids get fever. Yet, it can be very worrisome for parents. Most fevers go away on its own. Fever can even be a good thing which is helping your child/s body immune system fight all infections. Still, here are some tips for those unsure parents and caregivers about how to take care of a child with fever and when to call a doctor.

What is fever?

Normal body temperature differs from child to child and varies throughout the day. Despite this fact, doctors define fever in children as a temperature of and above 100.4 F. 

Home care for a child with fever: What to do?

• Check on your child’s temperature regularly; during both day and night.
• Maintain a chart of temperature spikes. It helps to know if their illness is getting worse or better.
• Offer plenty of fluids. You can either offer plain water or oral rehydrating solution (ORS). Offer in small quantities, but frequently. 
• Look out for any signs of dehydration such as dry skin or mouth, reduced daily urine output/ wet nappies, sunken eyeballs.
• Don’t force feed. Many children refuse to eat when they are running a fever. This should not cause any problems as long as they are hydrated.
• If the child is still an infant, or you are still nursing, offer extra breastfeeds. It helps replenish their body with water and is soothing for the child.
• Don’t send a child with fever to school, keep them home and under close observations.
• Cool compress on their heads can help them feel better. Cold bath, ice bath, cold showers are not recommended at all.
• You can also cool them off with a tepid water bath.
• Offer lighter clothing and a light blanket. If your child is shivering though, add more layers to make them comfortable. 
• Never self-medicate your child. Some adult fever medicines like aspirin can cause serious life-threatening conditions in children.
• If your child is running a high fever or is in pain, you can offer paracetamol to your child, irrespective of their age. Carefully follow the dosage instruction of your doctor which is based on their age and their current weight. 

When to see a doctor?

• If your child is less than 3 months of age, then any fever with or without any other symptoms mandate a visit to your doctor. 
• If your child is immunocompromised, due to any pre-existing condition and has a fever, you should immediately seek help from a doctor.
• For all other children, see a doctor if:
  • Temperature higher than 102
  • Fever lasting more than 2 days
  • Fever with other symptoms like stiffness of neck, any rash, light is hurting their eyes, headache, sore throat, ear pain, discharges, pain while peeing, belly ache etc
  • Lasting diarrhea, vomiting and refusal to drink 
  • Blueish discoloration of lips, tongue, nails
  • Inconsolable cry, extremely irritable or fussy
  • More sleepy than usual, is not their usual self
  • Problems with breathing
  • Fever not responding to paracetamol

• A fever of any temperature associated with a seizure (however brief) is a medical emergency. 

As a new parent, the thought of getting your baby vaccinated and hearing his cries gives you a fainting spell.  The pain and fever caused by these injections can be a reason for hesitation to vaccinate your baby. If you are  one such parent, you may consider the ‘painless vaccination’ for your young one. But before you take on the  painless route, you must understand in depths about these vaccines and their efficacy. 

What Is Painless Vaccination? 

There are a number of painless vaccine delivery systems in practice. The painless routes of administration  include oral and nasal. These vaccines are easy to administer and safe and genuinely effective. 

Rotarix and RotaTech against rotavirus and Sabin live OPV (oral polio vaccine) are some of the licensed oral  vaccines in India.  

Our country was listed by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) as the most difficult region in the  world to eliminate wild poliovirus transmission. Oral polio vaccine has been a great success, and it helped  eradicate polio in our country. 

The nasal and oral route make for a painless vaccine administration. Regardless, when there is a discussion on painless vaccination, one always thinks of painless injection, which have been a current trend in many countries. 

What Are “Painless Injections”? 

The only vaccine that is subject to this matter is DTP vaccine which is a combination vaccine that provides  protection against three diseases namely; Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis. Parents should know that the only difference between the two vaccines is in the pertussis component that has been modified. Pertussis vaccine  comes as whole cell vaccine (wP) or acellular vaccine (aP). Hence it is a war between DTwP (whole cell  pertussis) and DTaP (acellular pertussis). Acellular vaccines are considered painless and therefore DTaP vaccine  is deemed painless. But hold on, don’t just rush by the name; painless vaccines are not exactly painless, and  babies may still have pain caused by needle prick of the injection. Hence ‘painless’ is a misnomer. 

Then Why Consider ‘Painless Vaccines’? 

As a parent we always strive to give our baby the best we can. Sometimes this seems to be really tough to  decide. What may help is that most adverse effects caused by the DTP vaccine are attributable to the pertussis  component. Local adverse effects like pain, swelling and redness at the injection site; and systemic such as  fever, fussiness, loss of appetite, vomiting are reported in almost half the vacinees after any or all of the three  primary doses. 

The concerns about these frequent side effects, as well as parental anxiety led to the development of acellular  pertussis (aP) in Japan in 1981 which makes it a fairly recent invention.  

This issue of DTaP causing lesser fever has been extended to causing lesser crying and the lesser crying has  been reversely attributed to less pain and hence the “painless vaccine” concept. Therefore; these vaccines have  now completely replaced the whole cell vaccines in many developed countries. 

Why Do We Need To Vaccinate Our Children Against Pertussis? 

Pertussis is a bacterial infection of the respiratory tract. Pertussis/ whooping cough/ kali khasi/ 100 days cough  are few of the names of this disease. It manifests as harsh, unrelenting cough, which is long-standing and  usually not responsive to antibiotics. It being a highly contagious infection, and infants being at a higher risk of  its debilitating course; most countries include this vaccine in their schedule. 

Are Painless Vaccines Really Effective? 

There is no data on the effectiveness of aP vaccines in India and almost all the recommendations are based on  the performance of these vaccines in industrialized countries. According to those reports, the efficacy and  duration of protection with diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine is similar to that afforded by the whole-cell vaccine. Conversely, another such study, the 2014 report of working group committee on  pertussis vaccine of SAGE and WHO postulated that the available licensed aP vaccine has a lower initial  efficacy, faster waning of immunity and greater risk of transmission of the disease causing agent. However, one  should remember that no vaccine is 100 per cent effective. The efficacy of different wP products varies  substantially in different parts of world. For higher efficacy trials, the efficacy estimates vary from 83% to 98%.  Then again, many countries have now reported an upsurge and frequent breakouts of the disease despite using  the highest quality of aP vaccine with a high coverage (close to 100%) since mid 1990s. World over, the  widespread use of wP vaccines had almost eliminated pertussis from almost all the countries that had employed  them. So, to conclude, the effectiveness of DTaP, whether it is at par with the conventional one or not, is still a  topic of debate. 

Are Painless Vaccines Safe? 

All licensed and recommended vaccines are safe and effective because they are made with high safety  standards. Every batch of vaccines undergoes quality control before availing their use. As our country’s policies  include acellular vaccines in the immunization schedule, you may choose them based on your paediatrician’s  advice. It is important to vaccinate your child for pertussis, but whether your child receives a whole-cell painful  or painless vaccination is a complete matter of personal choice.  

Limitations/Side Effects Of Painless Vaccine In Babies 

Generally, there are no side effects of painless vaccines in babies. The only downside of this vaccination is that  it is expensive. In fact, the price of the painless vaccines is almost double the cost of painful vaccines. 

Immunization Schedule Based On The Choice Of Vaccines 

During the pertussis outbreak in 2009 and 2010, teens who were vaccinated with DTaP in infancy had a higher  risk of contracting pertussis than the teens who received the whole-cell vaccine. Due to the outbreaks of  pertussis reported in some countries despite the use of acellular pertussis vaccine, the Indian Academy of  Paediatrics recommends the whole-cell vaccine for primary immunization in infants, and the acellular vaccines  only for specific cases. 

According to the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, one should vaccinate with DTwP as follows: Primary Immunization: 3 dose primary series at the ages of six weeks, ten weeks, and fourteen weeks. Booster Shots: one and a half years of age and at five years of age. 

Please note that a mild illness is usually not a reason to reschedule a vaccination visit. Note: As per the new guidelines of IAP, the schedule for the painless vaccine and painful vaccine is the same.

Immunity against pertussis following primary or booster DTwP/ DTaP vaccination wanes off over the next 6-12  years. Thus, several developed countries have instituted routine booster immunization of adolescents and adults  with TdaP vaccine. 

Our country urges that for all those children who have received all three primary doses and the two booster  doses of DTwP/ DTaP, Tdap should be administered as a single dose at the age of 10-12 years.  

Catch up vaccination is recommended up to 18years of age.  

Tips To Make Shots Easier On Your Child