Child Nutrition

Child nutrition refers to ensuring the children have the proper foods for their age and that they do have food to eat. In some schools there is a school breakfast program, which is funded by either the government or by private businesses to provide free or low cost breakfasts to children of needy families. Many areas also offer a school lunch program, which is funded in the same way. In both of these programs, there is a nominal fee that families can pay if they can afford to do so. In this way children who do not receive the proper nutrition at home will not be singled out in the school.

Pediatricians provide advice on child nutrition to parents of infants in giving them advice about what ages the children should be when they introduce them to certain foods. For example, breast milk provides babies with the best nutrition and even if babies are bottle-fed they should not be introduced to cow’s milk until they are at least a year old. When they are old enough to start eating baby food, they should have foods from the four main food groups to provide them with the proper nutrients, vitamins and minerals.

There is also a program about nutrition taught in health classes in elementary schools called My Pyramid designed to help children make healthy choices in food. Parents have become more aware of the dangers of making sure their children do not eat too much junk food and are starting to provide them with healthy snacks instead of chocolate bars, chips and soda pop. Instead more and more children have fruits and vegetables as snacks for school recess and after school.