Be creative in food planning and allow your child to help in the preparation. Make mealtime a happy, social time. Rigid rules and using mealtime as a forum to discuss behavior issues or problems is upsetting. Take advantage of mealtime to discuss happy news, successes and to give compliments to each other. Offer a variety of foods. There are no essential foods, just essential food groups. Studies have shown that by offering a variety of foods, children select a balanced diet. Be a role model when you introduce a new food by showing your enjoymentof the food. Discuss where it came from and tell personal stories about eating or preparing it. Never insist that children eat everything on their plate and never punish a child for not eating. Children's appetites change as they grow, increasing during growth spurts. Let children age three and up serve themselves. You can help in this new adventure by providing spoons and pouring pitchers small enough for them to handle. Expect and accept spills, praising their efforts and successes.

Ask the Doctor

Choking deaths in young children do occur. Infants and young children have fewer teeth to chew with and don't realize when a mouthful is too much! Toddlers, in particular, will stuff their mouths full when learning how to eat finger foods. When choking occurs, the entire airway is blocked! The most dangerous foods are smooth, round, and firm such as hot dogs and grapes. Prepare these and similar foods by cutting them lengthwise. Never give children under four hard candy, peanuts, raw carrots or spoonfuls of peanut butter. Watch your children while they eat.

Prepare Yourself to Handle a Choking Emergency

Call The American Academy of Pediatrics for a brochure on choking prevention and a First Aid Chart at: 1-800-433-9016 or check the yellow pages for your local Department of Health or Red Cross chapter to obtain information or to sign up for a class in CPR today!

Healthy Habits

Many children's foods are high in saturated fat, sugar and salt. Poor diets can cause fatigue, low resistance to illness, poor academic performance obesity and dental problems.

• As you are planning meals and snacks, consider choosing foods that have less sugar and reduce sugar quantity in your recipes.
• Learn to identify sugar in food's ingredients list under other names such as sucrose, maltose, glucose, dextrose, lactose, fructose and corn syrup.
• Help children develop a taste for healthy foods by avoiding foods that are processed or preserved in salt. Avoid salting foods and salty snacks.
• While whole milk should be used for children under two years of age, milk products containing 0-1% milk fat is recommended for children over two years of age.
• Instead of frying, steam, broil or roast foods.

Look in your Yellow pages for your county's University Extension Office. They will be happy to answer your food and nutrition questions.

Talk to Your Children's Caregiver Communicate

Talk to each other openly and honestly, establishing a partnership. The caregiver should note in writing what your infant and child ate and drank. You should work together about introducing new foods to the child. The caregiver and you should share strategies about eating issues and concerns (such as consistency of eating schedules, new foods, weaning from the bottle). The caregiver should be trained in Infant Toddler CPR and First Aid.

The Food Guide Pyramid

The Food Guide Pyramid is an outline of what to eat each day based on the Dietary Guidelines. It's not a rigid prescription, but a general guide that lets you choose a healthful diet that's right for you.

The information was developed by The Family Conservancy from a variety of professional resources. This is not a standardized measurement tool.