Child & Baby Nutrition

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Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Child Nutrition
2. Nutrition for Pre-Pregnancy
3. Nutrition in Pregnancy
4. Nutrition in Infants
5. Nutrition in Childhood
6. Nutritional Concerns
7. Healthy Eating Behaviours
8. Issues in Child Nutrition
9. Childhood Obesity
10. Diet Plans

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Discuss the nature and scope of developing nutrition for children according to their backgrounds and needs.
  • Explain the various nutritional needs of the mother and father before pregnancy.
  • Explain the various nutritional needs of the mother and child during pregnancy.
  • Explain various nutritional needs of infants from birth to age two.
  • Explain various nutritional aspects of growing children addressing various issues and concerns.
  • Identify concerns in the diets of children and adolescents and overcoming them.
  • Lists ways to encourage healthy eating behaviour in children.
  • Explain some of the common issues such as food sensitivities in childhood nutrition.
  • Explain causes and guidelines to overcoming childhood obesity.
  • Develop a list diet outlines for healthy children and special diet plans for children with special nutritional needs.

NUTRITION THROUGH PREGNANCY

If the mother already has a balanced diet meeting the RDIs of all essential nutrients prior to pregnancy, only minimal dietary changes are required to ensure she is getting all the nutrients required to sustain a healthy pregnancy. Particularly, calcium, iron and folate intake should be increased. During the later stages of pregnancy calcium intake becomes more important as the babies soft bones begin to mineralise and its muscles begin to contract as it moves about in the uterus. Iron intake also becomes increasingly important to support the increasing oxygen demand of the growing fetus and the mother, whose body is also growing. Late in pregnancy the woman must get sufficient iron to reduce her risk of post-partum haemorrhage and to combat the heavy blood loss in the days and weeks after delivery. The baby also needs adequate iron stores in their body to last for the first 6 months or so of life. Folate is most important in the first trimester of pregnancy.

One of the most common myths surrounding pregnancy is that a woman must eat for two. While it is true that she is supplying all the growing baby’s nutrients, for the majority of the pregnancy, the growing baby is tiny. Early pregnancy is characterised by development and maturation of tissues, organs and body systems, it is only in the latter stages of pregnancy that significantly growth in length and weight really occur. A 1lb, or 0.5kg fetus certainly does not need the same amount of calories as a fully grown adult!

A pregnant woman of average physical fitness and activity levels will need only a moderate increase in her daily calorie intake. The first trimester should see a woman consuming a similar amount of calories as she was pre-pregnancy. The fetus at this stage is tiny and the mother, although her body is changing will not need much extra calories yet. By the second trimester, after the placenta has formed and the mothers body is changing more rapidly and blood flow and supply is increasing, approximately 300 calories extra per day will be needed to meet energy requirements. For athletic women up to 500 calories extra may be needed. 

While a moderate increase in caloric intake is important, more important is the source of the additional calories. Pregnancy can leave a woman less sensitive to insulin than normal, meaning she is less able to cope with the fluctuations in blood sugar levels brought on by simple sugars. Calories should not be sourced from foods that are not also rich in other essential nutrients. Empty calories from fast foods, sweets and junk food are not recommended, instead, fruits and dairy, which contain sugars (fructose and lactose respectively) that do not cause such dramatic changes in blood sugar as glucose and sucrose, and which also contain a variety of other important nutrients, make excellent calorie sources.