As parents, we try our best to feed our children healthy foods. Now here’s some sensible eating advice for kids.

Even those of us (myself included) who aren’t expert chefs can usually rustle up some veggies and fish, a healthy sandwich and the occasional fruit-loaded smoothie, but while most of us probably struggle to keep our kids away from the biscuit barrel, it is possible to give kids a diet that is ‘too healthy’.

In the 1980s, the phrase ‘muesli belt malnutrition’ was coined to describe the culture of excessive ‘healthy eating’ leading to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

In these days of über-parenting, where biscuits have been replaced with rice crackers and snack packs are likely to be filled with vegetable and salad sticks that take almost as much energy to digest as they actually provide, it’s possible that a similar phenomenon could develop in our children.

A recent survey has shown that some childcare institutions in England provide too many portions of fruit and veg and not enough in the way of carbohydrates.

The report also highlighted the tendency of nurseries and parents to opt for low-fat options as a way of avoiding obesity.

The problem is that children’s dietary requirements are very different from our own: active, growing children have high calorific needs: up to 40% of daily calories for under 3s should come from fats and up to 65% from carbohydrates.

Consequently, a diet that contains too many low-fat, low-carb, high-fibre foods – such as fruit and vegetables – is not optimal for a growing child.

Low-fat dairy products such as skimmed milk are not suitable for children under 5, and semi-skimmed milk is not suitable for children under 2, because the fat content is not sufficient.

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The other day, baby on hip and vacuum cleaner in hand, I found myself fantasising about the day when I can clean the house all by myself, and of making housework easier.

What bliss it would be to breeze happily from room to room with feather duster and well-stocked, Cath Kidston-esque housekeeper’s box, leaving behind me a trail of freshly-washed linen and flowery scents.

Instead, my trail most days is more likely to consist of sticky toys, runny noses and dog hair. Ah well…

One place where I do occasionally take solace – time and children permitting – is at the kitchen sink. Yes, you read it right.

It stems from a piece of Buddhist wisdom about the kitchen sink being a great place to reflect and enjoy the qualities of soothing qualities of warm water, the process of cleansing and the opportunity to stop running and just be in the moment.

Now I no longer dread the idea of washing those pots and pans that don’t fit in the dishwasher. Instead, when time allows, spending ten minutes with my hands in warm soapy water, gently carrying out a simple yet necessary and satisfying task, is something of a pleasure.

It is a time to stand still, focus on the job in hand, and forget about the chaos that is waiting for me in the next room.

So as the Zen masters say: “Wash the dishes when you are washing the dishes.” In other words, live in the moment you are in.

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I always thought that the whole baby first word thing would be this obvious moment where my little lovely would articulate “mummy” or “daddy” in a voice as clear as a bell. Apparently that is not the case – with my child at least.

At 16-months-old, my daughter says a couple of things (I think); Tigger sounds like “tidd-u”, circle sounds like “sick-u”, yay miraculously sounds like “yay” and daddy is “da-da”.

She says “ma-ma” but in relation to pretty much anything, including the window, the computer and her food.

She roars like a lion when she hears the word “lion” but also when just about any other animal enters her field of vision, and she can “sss” like a snake.

Recently she spent the whole day saying what sounded like “stick-um” – Me: “Amelia, don’t touch that”, Amelia in response: “stick-um”; Me: “Amelia, would you like some milk?”, Amelia: “stick-um”; Me: “Amelia, it’s time for lunch”, Amelia: “Stick-um! Stick-um! Stick-um!” ….I have no explanation.

Although my daughter doesn’t say much – well actually, she says a lot but I have no idea what 90 per cent of it means – she certainly understands a great deal.

BabyCenter.com says that between the ages of 19 to 24 months, although a baby will probably only say about 50 to 70 words, he or she may understand as many as 200 words, many of which are nouns.

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Our Mummy Blogger post of the week goes to Nicci for her Bubbaloves blog.

Bubbaloves is a nice refreshing take on the joys of parenting. In the post below, she talks of the pain of ‘Sleepless nights and Restless days‘.

sleepless nights, restless days

I think all mums and dads know the feeling where they really have pleaded for just 5 more minutes in bed, the nights where their gorgeous little man, or beautiful little princess has kept them awake, thinking its playtime at 3 am , or even when little ones so tired but can’t sleep due to pain from teething, colic or nappy rash!?!

What’s a mum to do? With my first born, whenever he woke up he just wouldn’t settle back to sleep, we both worked full time at the time and it was much easier to place him into our bed, where he would drift back to sleep and we could catch a few more hours of much needed rest.

It was a fantastic short term solution, but thinking back it was a massive mistake.

Bradley my son got so used to sharing our bed he would point blank refuse to go into his cot, my second bundle of joy came along when Brad was 1 year old and there was no way i was making the same mistake with her.

From the moment we arrived home i set a routine and stuck to it. Afternoon naps, strict bedtime and HER OWN BED!

My daughter took to her routine with ease and slept through most nights from being newborn, It was the complete opposite to my son.

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If you are a breastfeeding mum and have not come across Kiera O’Mara’s awesome Mamascarf product, definitely don’t stop reading…

Mamascarf is a discreet and supportive breastfeeding scarf that allows mums to breastfeed in public, in style and comfort. Kiera’s story is one that’s all too familiar to mums who breastfeed in public:

I came up with the idea for a breastfeeding scarf whilst I was feeding my baby in a coffee shop. I was getting disapproving stares from the people at the neighbouring table and I felt extremely uncomfortable. I had attempted to cover up with a scarf that kept slipping off or was pulled off by my wriggling baby. In addition to this, my arm was aching as I didn’t have the support of the cushions I would have used at home. It was then that I started to think about designing something that would solve all of these problems providing cover, discretion, some additional support and even somewhere to hide your breastpad!

The number of times that I flashed bits of boob whilst breastfeeding in public are too numerous to count – I tried my very best not to accost people’s vision with nipple and breast flesh but, as with Kiera, a wiggly baby and a disproportioned scarf are not all that conducive to comfort and discretion.

Mamascarf would certainly have made my life a whole bunch easier.

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