Nutrition Tips Archives - Page 4 of 27

November 3, 2022May 16, 2023

In Nutrition Tipsby auntuser

Vitamin A foods and how you can add them to your everyday diet

Last week we talked about why your child needs Vitamin A. Kindly read that post before you continue. This will help you better understand why Vitamin A is a big deal to your child’s health.

Vitamin A helps your child have good eyesight, a strong immune system, and proper growth and development. it’s found in the following local foods such as;

Fruits
Pawpaw, guava, and mango

Vegetables
Pumpkin, Carrots, Broccoli, orange flesh sweet potato, red and yellow bell peppers, dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, nakati

Animal sources
Meats( especially liver) dairy and their products (cheese, yogurt, butter), eggs, fish especially oily fish

Fortified foods
Cereals, flour and cooking oil.

Aunt porridge has pumpkin and silverfish which are rich in vitamin A.

The question now would be, how to incorporate them into your diet?

You can add a teaspoon of mukene to any sauce made at home.
Mashing pumpkin into sauce adds extra vitamin A .👌
Giving your child a boiled egg 🥚 (the whole egg and not just the egg yolk).
Adding either pawpaw, mango, carrot, or guava to your choice of juice.

Contact our nutritionist for expert advice on vitamin and nutrient deficiencies.

Dietician /Nutritionist Aunt Porridge || +256 787 070 057

Why your child needs Vitamin A daily?

Vitamin A is a fat–soluble vitamin meaning it’s best absorbed in the body in the presence of fat or oil. Vitamin A has other names like “Retinol or retinoic acid”.

Being deficient in Vitamin A has fatal consequences like;

Significant morbidity (how many times one falls sick) and mortality( those who die from a particular disease) from childhood infections.
The world’s leading preventable cause of childhood blindness.
The body experiences a low ability to fight infections.
Increased risk for childhood respiratory diseases.
Decreased growth rate and slow bone development.

From the above consequences of vitamin A deficiency; one needs a daily dose of it from foods.
If you noticed at 6 months your child is supplemented with a drop of vitamin A in their mouth. Sadly this is not enough and more is got from the foods your child eats. Let’s prevent deaths and sicknesses caused by nutrient deficiencies.

Contact our nutritionist for expert advice on vitamin and nutrient deficiencies.

Dietician /Nutritionist Aunt Porridge || +256 787 070 057

Why your toddler’s Appetite is low?

Your child used to enjoy meal time, but now is getting upset at the site of food. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get any food down their throat.
Sometimes low appetite may signify a deeper issue other than just refusing food. Low appetite may be a temporary indicator of an underlying issue like illness, congestion or constipation.

If the above is not the case, then let’s understand their Developmental milestones.

When your baby started walking or running, they prefered doing that to sitting down and eating. Especially children 2-3years, they like to use meal time to assert their independence. Because of this milestone, they like taking charge and the feeling of control is exactly the tune they want to dance to. Forcing them to eat is only making it worse and reducing their acceptance towards food.

When to worry about the low appetite

abdominal pain with eating
weight loss or poor weight gain
decrease in energy
vomiting, shortness of breath, cough, facial swelling or rash after eating which may indicate a good allergy.

Seek for Expert advice from a dietician or medical Personel

Dietician /Nutritionist Aunt Porridge || +256 787 070 057

How much should my Baby eat 6-24 months?

A good rule of thumb when you’re figuring out just how much to give your Baby during each meal: Start small and work your way up once he or she gets the hang of eating.

You can use the following baby feeding general guidelines.

For 6-8months
Start with 2-3heaped tablespoons per feed. Gradually increase the spoons to one third of a NICE cup(about 5-6tablespoons).

9-11months
From the previous months increase to at least one-third of “TUMPECO”. A TUMPECO is 500ml. (about 8-11tablespoons)

12-24months
You can now increase at least half a TUMPECO (250ml).

Children have small stomachs so they get satisfied quickly and hungry quickly. This is why they need to eat small frequent meals rather than 3 main meals alone.