Nutrition For Children From 1 To 3 Years Old
By Fred Herman
Children from 1 to 3 years old need to be supplemented with adequate nutrients to maintain their growth rate. As a parent, there's a lot you can do to help your child maintain a balanced diet full of calories, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals.
Nutritional Requirements For Children
1/ Energy:
In order to have enough energy and nutrition in the body to help children develop comprehensively, a large part of the child's energy is consumed by playing and exercising a lot. So the energy requirement at this age is 100-110Kcal / kg body weight, if the child weighs about 9-13 kg, the energy needed is 900-1300 kcal. Energy for children's meals includes powders such as flour, porridge, protein, fat, and milk... The ratio of energy-generating ingredients should be Protein: Fat: Powdered sugar = 15:20:65.
2/ Protein:
Protein is really necessary for children to develop their bodies, we should give priority to animal protein in children's meals because it has high economic value, enough amino acids, and is rich in trace elements such as iron. , zinc, and vitamins. : meat, milk. , eggs, fish, shrimp…. The amount of animal protein in the child's diet is recommended by nutritionists to reach 50-60%. In children's meals, you should combine animal protein with vegetable protein (beans, sesame, peanuts ...) to create a balance to help children absorb nutrients well and use protein better. If the child's protein requirement is 35-44g/day. A lack of protein in children's diets will make them malnourished, slow to grow, and less intelligent, but if you give them too much protein, it will be a burden on the liver and kidneys. In addition, the process of digestion by protein produces many toxins.
3/ Fat:
Fat provides a high source of energy for a child's body, helps children increase their appetite, and helps children better absorb nutrients. Therefore, you should use fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, K, and E. In each child's diet, you should add 1-2 teaspoons of fat or oil. Lard, chicken fat has essential unsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid, and arachidonic acid because they are essential for the development of children, especially brain development. Should add fat or oil to stir-fry, fry, and store together with baby food (20-40g fat/day).
4. Minerals:
Minerals play a very important role in bone formation, blood formation in children, and physiological functions of the body. Calcium along with phosphorus should be given adequate attention for children, about 500 - 600 mg/day. Calcium is abundant in milk and in mollusks (shrimp, crab...). Phosphorus is found in many foods and grains. The best ratio between calcium/phosphorus = 1 / 1.5-1 / 1.8. The metabolism of calcium and phosphorus in the child's body is regulated by vitamin D, vitamin D is found in egg yolks, meat, and liver, and under the effect of sunlight, vitamin D stored under the skin will be converted. turned into vitamins. D... work. So, in addition to giving your child a full meal of nutrients, every day you need to expose your child to the sun for 15-20 minutes before 8 am.
Iron is involved in the baby's blood formation. Children need 7-8 mg/day of food per day. Good sources of iron are found in animal foods such as organs: heart, liver, oval, in plants, legumes, or dark green vegetables. Iron in animal foods is better absorbed by children than in plant foods. Vitamin C present in vegetables will help the child's body absorb and use iron more efficiently.
Zinc is a micronutrient that greatly affects the growth and digestion of children. Children with zinc deficiency will often be stunted, or suffer from respiratory infections, vomiting, sleep disturbances, etc. Zinc needs are about 8-10mg/day. Zinc is abundant in animal foods such as seafood, snails, shellfish, fish meat, etc.
5. Vitamins:
For children aged 1 to 3, you need to pay attention to vitamins A, D, and C, they are really necessary for the development of children such as bone development, teeth, blood formation, and increased resistance to muscles. corn. human body. As a child's vitamin A requirement is 400-450 mcg/day, Vitamin D 400UI/day, Vitamin C: 30mg/day, Vitamin A in eggs and liver. . . or yellow, red, orange vegetables are both a source of carotene (pro-vitamin A) as well as a source of vitamin C. To ensure the child's need for essential vitamins, you should feed them. vegetables and fruits. regularly.
Menu For Children From 1-3 Years Old
In general, to provide adequate nutrients for the development of children, you need to diversify the menu in the child's daily diet.
However, the age of 1 to 3 is the premise to form eating habits for children. So, for your baby to have healthy eating habits, you need to know how to choose foods as well as how to prepare them. Specifically, in terms of food, the focus should be on:
1/ Milk and dairy products:
To help children develop a healthy body, and grow in height as well as keep their teeth healthy, now you need to add calcium-rich foods to your child's menu, especially milk, and milk. foods. dairy products such as cheese and yogurt…
You should also supplement your child with whole milk, and after 2 years, use skims milk. Note, you should only give your child 3 times a day, you should not abuse your child to eat too much, because milk easily makes children feel full and lazy to eat.
2/ Kinds of cereal:
Starch (rice, cereals) will of course be a source of high energy and nutrition for children's physical development. However, when you choose rice or cereal, you should also pay much attention to how your child's diet can provide adequate energy with a reasonable amount of food instead of eating too much.
3/ Vegetables and fruits:
In fact, many children have fallen into anorexia when they see green vegetables, they are afraid. Meanwhile, you need to know that vegetables play a very important role in the nutrition of children. So right from a young age, you should train them to form a habit of eating vegetables and fruits. To ensure that each main meal of the child needs enough green vegetables, the snack only needs ½ of the menu to be fruit. You should also diversify fruits and vegetables to create a different taste, helping children have an interest in eating. In particular, your vegetables and fruits need to be carefully selected, and carefully to ensure safety, to avoid residual toxic chemicals.
Points to note:
- Children's food, you need to pay attention to be processed from soft to hard, from little to a lot to let children get used to it. When children have molars, you need to create conditions for children to practice their teeth and chewing muscles. Do not put all children's food in the blender to grind, but should mince and grind from very small to medium. Cook from very soft to medium soft, and to firm to create a delicious flavor and help develop gums, chewing muscles, and digestive muscles.
- After weaning the child, you need to have a separate diet for the child, pay attention not to force the child to eat together too soon as it will affect the child's digestion, especially the amount of the food.
- It is often necessary to change the way food is prepared to give children a sense of appetite.
- Limiting children to eat sweets (sugar, confectionery). Sweet sugar makes children feel full, so they don't want to eat other foods, on the other hand, it remains in the mouth and turns into acids that are harmful to teeth. Children should only eat cakes and sweets after meals.
- Need for children to drink enough water: 100ml / kg/day, water will help children better digest and absorb nutrients, water also plays a role in transporting and eliminating wastes and toxins from the process. metabolism. out of the body.
