by The first two years of a child’s life are the perfect opportunity for parents and carers to encourage lifelong healthy eating habits. During that time, what and how parents feed their children is crucial.
To prevent picky eating later in childhood, parents should introduce food such as vegetables into their babies’ diets when they are six months old and still breastfeeding.
Fruit juices and sugar-sweetened drinks should be avoided until their babies turn two.
These tips come from the first set of Guidelines for Eating and Feeding in Infants and Young Children Singapore, developed by KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and the College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Singapore to help parents and caregivers with food to maintain healthy. habits in children.
The recommendations come after a KKH study of more than 1,000 caregivers in Singapore found that children’s eating behaviors and caregivers’ feeding practices were suboptimal.
The study found that children were provided with a limited variety of foods, which led to a lack of balance in nutrition.
One in five infants were offered foods from three or fewer food groups in their first year of life. In addition, 10 percent of infants here were given sugar-sweetened beverages.
Providing sugary foods at a very young age can predispose children to obesity because it can lead to the development of a liking for sweet foods that can last throughout childhood and adulthood, said Associate Professor Chua Mei Chien, head and senior consultant of the KKH Neonatal Department, chaired the working group that developed the guidelines.
According to the study, 10 percent of children between the ages of one and two were unable to eat independently using their hands or utensils. However, self-feeding should be encouraged from six months of age.
Around 100 children of carers surveyed were involved with digital devices during mealtimes.
Children exposed to screens tend to eat more unhealthy foods because they don’t pay attention to their own satiety cues when they’re distracted. It also increases the risk of developing behavioral problems such as attention deficit disorders, said Dr Chua.
It also found that around half of children aged six months to one year, and almost a quarter of children aged one to two years, were still providing milk between 12am and 6am, each night or every night.
The guidelines advise parents to feed their babies during the day after they reach the age of six months as eating calories at night increases the child’s obesity risk.
“No one is born a fussy eater or with a sweet tooth. What to feed, when to feed, and when are deliberate choices that parents and caregivers make for young children who will not know any better,” said Dr. Chua.
The guidelines were launched on February 23 at the Asia Pacific Maternal and Child Health Conference and the KKH-led Integrated Research Platform to Promote Maternal and Child Health Outcomes (Ipramo) 2024 at the hospital.
Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary who unveiled the guidelines at the launch said they were designed to be manageable, and would be made available to healthcare professionals, parents and carers of children up to 2 years of age.
Dr Janil emphasized the importance of influencing children’s eating behavior early to reduce the risk of childhood obesity. Simple actions like moderation and choosing portion sizes for children can influence the portion sizes children choose for themselves in the future, he said.
“Habits formed in one’s early years can last a lifetime. In fact, healthy eating habits formed in early childhood may have longer-term effects,” said Dr. Janil.
Key recommendations for babies of different age groups
From the time of birth
- Babies should be breastfed exclusively whenever possible in the first six months of their lives. Introducing complementary foods to infants younger than four months of age may increase their risk of developing food allergies due to their underdeveloped immune systems.
- Parents and carers should avoid fruit juices or sugar-sweetened drinks for infants up to two years of age.
- They should also be attentive and respond to the infant’s hunger and fullness cues so that they do not overfeed or underfeed them.
- Infants and toddlers should not be fed as a means of soothing or lulling them to sleep.
- Parents and caregivers should interact with infants while feeding them. Screens and toys should be avoided during mealtimes, even into the toddler years.
Between six and 12 months old
- Parents and caregivers should gradually introduce foods with a variety of textures into the infant’s diet to supplement breast milk. Green vegetables and other age-appropriate iron-rich food are recommended to prevent iron deficiency.
- Infants in that age group should be provided with a wide range of vegetables, fruit, carbohydrates and proteins without added sugar and salt. It is important to introduce a variety of foods to babies before nine months of age to reduce the likelihood of them becoming fussy eaters.
- Infants should be encouraged to feed themselves and determine the speed and amount of food consumed.
- During that period, there should be a transition from feeding 2012 hours to eating during the day.
Between 12 and 24 months old
- Children should eat with family members during mealtimes to promote social interaction.
- Children should be encouraged to drink liquids from a cup instead of a bottle of milk.
- Their daily routine should consist of three meals and two snacks
- Between 18 and 24 months, parents should trust their child to eat and drink independently, using a fork, spoon and cup.
