Baby Nutrition Care

It is very easy for a toddler to get constipated. This common disorder is popular among toddlers who consume lots of milk, and dairy products while leaving out fruits and high fiber foods. Constipation is generally described as the infrequent passage of stools (bowel movements) or the passage of hard stools. Any definition of constipation depends on how often the toddler normally passes stools and the normal consistency of his or her stools.

How should we help our toddlers to relieve constipation? One of the solutions is to add more fiber foods to your toddler’s diet. Here are some of the high fiber foods recommended for your toddler.

1. Apples – Apples are rich in vitamin C and consists of about 5g of fiber for an unpeeled whole apple. Bear in mind that do not peel the apple for your toddler as this will cause it loses about half of its fiber.
2. Whole Grain Cereal – Whole grain cereal would be a great choice as a breakfast cereal for your toddler. In this case, you should choose whole grain cereal that is calcium fortified and has added fiber.
3. Vegetables – Most vegetables are good sources of fiber. Vegetables like cooked carrots, corn, peas, baked potatoes are high in fiber and are good in helping constipation relief.
4. Oatmeal – Oatmeal is a high fiber food that is good for your toddler. In this case, you should make some oatmeal foods and snacks such as oatmeal cookies and oatmeal bars for them.

In conclusion, you should try to make a good habit for your toddler to take more high fiber foods instead of high fat foods. This will prevent he/she from suffering obesity problem when he/she grows up.

Vegetables are great solid food options for babies.  Pureed or cut up as finger items, they deliver high amounts of nutrition that your baby needs for physical and mental development.  While most babies take to new food extremely well, quite a few will probably refuse to eat them.  It’s hard to figure out why they won’t either – could be the taste, the smell, the texture – there’s really no way of knowing for sure since your baby won’t exactly have a verbal opinion about it.

If you’d like to entice your baby to consume some of those greens and other healthy options, there are a few things you can do to alter the presentation to hopefully find that magic preparation that gets them to change their mind.

1. If your baby won’t eat the pureed vegetables you’ve prepared for their meals, try stirring reasonable amounts of it into some other food items that they like such as pasta, soups or cereals.

2. Instead of preparing your baby’s food with water, try a tastier broth like chicken stock.  It should both smell and taste more appetizing, increasing the likelihood they’ll take to it.

3. If your baby likes muffins or similar soft breads, try using grated vegetables as part of the baking ingredients.

4. Babies love finger foods – it’s plenty of fun, after all, to take food yourself and pop it down your mouth.  You can try slicing your cooked veggies into bite sized pieces and serve them before their actual meals.  Let them play with it a couple of times and see what happens.

5. Top vegetable meals with grated (even melted) cheese.  Babies usually enjoy the taste of cheese (perhaps  a few of your other dressings will work as well) and might be persuaded to eat their veggies that way.

When you find your baby taking well to a particular vegetable preparation, don’t keep serving them the same thing. Babies greatly benefit from experiencing and learning about different tastes and textures so do provide them with variety occasionally.