Keeping Your Kids Hydrated in the Heat

It’s summertime and as the weather heats up, staying hydrated is even more important, especially for our little ones! Dehydration can lead to loss of energy, lethargy, irritability, headaches, difficulty sleeping, constipation, fainting and if severe, can lead to more dire consequences*. Sometimes that cranky toddler is really a thirsty toddler, but with regular opportunities to drink and take in food with high water content, almost all children do just fine. (Use common sense around activity on hot days and sun exposure. Some kids are more sensitive than others, so watch your child and maybe skip that all-day soccer tournament when the temperature is in the 90’s!) Here are some tips to keep your children well hydrated and happy during the summer months. Pushing children to do anything around eating and drinking can backfire, so avoid pressuring them to drink more. Instead, try these ideas:   For the child who enjoys strong or interesting flavors, consider offering tart juices like cranberry or pomegranate, or add lime or lemon juice to water. If they seem to enjoy the carbonation of soda, offer flavored seltzer water or mix sparkling water with juice. Turning up their nose at plain water? Consider adding water flavoring like Mio, Hansen’s Natural Fruit Stix, or watered-down juice or Gatorade. Get shaped ice cube trays and make ice from juice or water for a fun addition to water. Let them pick out a special new cup that they can drink from at home and on the go. Keep an insulated cup in the car during days spent driving around in the heat. Show your child how to use the...

Milk is Food: Improving Appetite for Toddlers with Picky Eating

Lately, we’ve been getting questions from parents whose toddlers are struggling with poor appetite for solid foods but eagerly take a bottle or want to nurse around the clock. Cow’s milk (or a milk alternative) is a recommended part of a toddler’s overall diet, and many toddlers continue taking formula or breast milk into the second year of life. Some children may need a more fortified liquid supplement like Pediasure if growth has been poor. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that low-fat/reduced-fat milk not be started before 2 years of age, and at age two, toddlers need approximately two cups of dairy per day. (And if your child prefers whole fat dairy, serve what he likes. There is no compelling evidence that low fat dairy reduces the risk of being overweight down the road.) A common problem with milk occurs when the amount he consumes or the timing of consumption interferes with appetite for other foods. Not only can nutritional variety suffer, but crucial early experiences eating a variety of foods can be missed. Whatever type of milk we are talking about, it is digested in the same way as food, and contains filling fat and protein. There’s only so much room in that toddler tummy! Let’s be honest. We all prefer the path of least resistance, and children are no different. Drinking most of their calories is just easier for some children. The comfort of being in mom’s arms, the soothing nature of sucking, and the ease of just swallowing- and not having to chew- are all reasons why some toddlers can have trouble transitioning to a more...

Chew on This: Considerations for Development of Oral Skills in Extreme Picky Eaters

When I evaluate a toddler that hasn’t made the transition to table food, one of the first questions I ask is “Did he mouth on toys/hands/lovies as an infant?” If the answer is yes, I always ask how much and how that child compared to other children in the home with regard to mouthing and early acceptance of oral play. However, more often than you would think, I hear from parents that these children with extreme aversion to texture in their food did not mouth at all. They blithely say “We didn’t have to baby-proof!”, unaware that their well-behaved infant’s choice to leave that paperclip on the floor is at least part of why he hasn’t moved on from pureed foods. I recently saw an older toddler who fit this description exactly—to the extreme. When observing her oral motor skills without food, there were no noticeable deficiencies. Lateral tongue movement was present, she could open and close her mouth in mock chewing, was able to blow a kiss, and kept her tongue in her mouth where it is supposed to be. No outward signs that this child had never had one bite of actual food. Not one bite swallowed. Theirs was a successful breast feeding dyad, but that was the only sustenance she got, and not from lack of trying on the parents’ part. So why couldn’t this child learn to eat? Interestingly, the family had many older siblings who had mouthed as infants, accepted spoon feedings of purees without incident, and had no trouble learning to eat the family foods. So it wasn’t what the parents had or...

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