I went to a kids party today and had my usual guilt-intensive session of watching Leo eat a whole plate of disgraceful fatty junk (frankfurts, sausage rolls and chips), followed by lollies and cake, all topped off with more lollies to take home. Geez Louise!
One of the other parents standing near me said that she had heard a nutritionist on the radio say that it might be best to let kids gorge on the lolly bag all in one go - this way they may not absorb all the sugar whereas if you mete it out over a number of days, they will definitely take it all on. Interesting theory although this is surely an example of nutrition Chinese whispers (like the one where if a kid eats some kiwi fruit, banana and strawberries that has all the vitamins they need for the day).
So I tried to get at any research/sciency info that can tell you how much sugar a body can absorb in a sitting - although obviously the first answer would be that it depends on a range of factors like the person's size and metabolism. Maybe I didn't search well (I tried quite a few phrases and terms) but I really just came up with a lot of nutrition related posts and discussion threads where people mentioned 'research' but didn't reference anything I could chase up. There was some stuff that explained that the fibre content of food affects how much sugar will be absorbed but that's not really relevant when you're talking lollies.
Bottom line - I think that the technique that we've been using might be better at helping Leo not to absorb the sugar. Put the lolly bag on a high shelf where only his dad can see them. They magically disappear by the end of the week and Leo forgets about them. Now there is just the question about how to keep Gaz's sugar intake down...
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Are those Frenchies better at food than us?
This week I strangely came across two bits of info which led me to wonder, what is the deal with the French? The first was this hugely interesting article by Karen Le Billon, who blogs at French Kids Eat Everything. She is an American lady who lived in France and has observed this amazing phenomenon which leads to French school kids eating carrot salad and radishes and cherry clafoutis - I wish!
Here is the post where she ponders on why France has the lowest child obesity rates in the developed world. She notes that the French don't know more about nutrition than Americans but that they do tend to take a totally different approach to food (less anxious). For example, the French are more likely to associate food with pleasure than Americans who associate food with health. The French spend twice as much time eating than Americans but their kids are three times less likely to be fat!
Admittedly, it's a bit hard to find a take home message from the article but it seems that one of the things that is entrenched in French culture, and importantly French schools, is that kids should try everything. They don't have to like it, they just have to try it. There is even a tasting curriculum in schools which culminates in a certificate at Grade 4.
Leo, our 4-year-old, is absolutely hopeless at trying anything that he is not sure about and it often drives me nuts. So I have totally done something that I swore I never would (again) and started one of those sticker charts. Every time he tries a new food, he gets a star sticker and when he gets 10 stickers he can have a Lego minifigure (bribery anyone?)
I used to look at people who did this stuff and think I would never be so lame but it totally works and Leo has already tried a mushroom, a strawberry and a prune.
The other Frenchy fact for the week is that they have the lowest rate of breastfeeding in the developed world. I've got no idea why that is so it must be a blog for another day!
Here is the post where she ponders on why France has the lowest child obesity rates in the developed world. She notes that the French don't know more about nutrition than Americans but that they do tend to take a totally different approach to food (less anxious). For example, the French are more likely to associate food with pleasure than Americans who associate food with health. The French spend twice as much time eating than Americans but their kids are three times less likely to be fat!
Admittedly, it's a bit hard to find a take home message from the article but it seems that one of the things that is entrenched in French culture, and importantly French schools, is that kids should try everything. They don't have to like it, they just have to try it. There is even a tasting curriculum in schools which culminates in a certificate at Grade 4.
Leo, our 4-year-old, is absolutely hopeless at trying anything that he is not sure about and it often drives me nuts. So I have totally done something that I swore I never would (again) and started one of those sticker charts. Every time he tries a new food, he gets a star sticker and when he gets 10 stickers he can have a Lego minifigure (bribery anyone?)
I used to look at people who did this stuff and think I would never be so lame but it totally works and Leo has already tried a mushroom, a strawberry and a prune.
The other Frenchy fact for the week is that they have the lowest rate of breastfeeding in the developed world. I've got no idea why that is so it must be a blog for another day!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
What's the point of weighing young kids?
I've been pondering the value of weighing young kids (babies and toddlers) for a while now and the issue was raised again in the Age this week (I couldn't find the link but oddly the enough they ran a similar article in January) which argued for school children to be routinely weighed. It seems there may be some justification for this age gruop in terms of getting better data Australia wide, and potentially for older kids where you really want to address obesity issues but I'm not convinced of the value at the individual level for really young kids and especially for babies. This is the cohort that is currently routinely weighed and the data used to plot them on a percentile chart. However, babies come in all shapes and sizes and there is not much that parents can do about it.
My thoughts were initially provoked by a routine check at the maternal and child health nurse which found that our 8 month old had dropped from the 75th percentile in weight to the 25th. This worried the nurse which ultimately worried me. It took me a long time to work through the fact that he had been sick and vomiting for a couple of weeks but ultimately that he is happy and progressing well in all other ways.
This made me wonder what value the weighing process had added? It made me worry and it triggered a discussion about how he was doing fine. But if he hadn't been doing fine (i.e. if he'd been lethargic or unresponsive or inactive) wouldn't that have been the discussion anyway regardless of his weight? If you've got a seriously underweight baby, wouldn't you have noticed that too?
The other thing that made me think it was pointless was that the nurse had basically no advice on what to do in response - i.e. how to bulk up a baby - or whether this is a possible thing to do. She suggested giving him custard and maybe more meat but it turns out he isn't keen on either of these things. So even if weighing babies identifies a 'problem' there is nothing that can really be done for it.
While I know that it is unlikely that maternal child health nurses will stop weighing little kids at their regular checks, I think it is important that we parents don't buy into it too much. Some babies and toddlers will be in the lower percentiles and some will be in the higher percentiles and that's ok. If you're doing all the regular things (breastfeeding or bottle feeding, starting your baby on mashy solids) and your baby is doing all the regular things (being responsive and active and happy at least some of the time), then there is really nothing to worry about...although we all undoubtedly find things to worry about regardless.
My thoughts were initially provoked by a routine check at the maternal and child health nurse which found that our 8 month old had dropped from the 75th percentile in weight to the 25th. This worried the nurse which ultimately worried me. It took me a long time to work through the fact that he had been sick and vomiting for a couple of weeks but ultimately that he is happy and progressing well in all other ways.
This made me wonder what value the weighing process had added? It made me worry and it triggered a discussion about how he was doing fine. But if he hadn't been doing fine (i.e. if he'd been lethargic or unresponsive or inactive) wouldn't that have been the discussion anyway regardless of his weight? If you've got a seriously underweight baby, wouldn't you have noticed that too?
The other thing that made me think it was pointless was that the nurse had basically no advice on what to do in response - i.e. how to bulk up a baby - or whether this is a possible thing to do. She suggested giving him custard and maybe more meat but it turns out he isn't keen on either of these things. So even if weighing babies identifies a 'problem' there is nothing that can really be done for it.
While I know that it is unlikely that maternal child health nurses will stop weighing little kids at their regular checks, I think it is important that we parents don't buy into it too much. Some babies and toddlers will be in the lower percentiles and some will be in the higher percentiles and that's ok. If you're doing all the regular things (breastfeeding or bottle feeding, starting your baby on mashy solids) and your baby is doing all the regular things (being responsive and active and happy at least some of the time), then there is really nothing to worry about...although we all undoubtedly find things to worry about regardless.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Babyfeeding - the post game summary
Baby number two is now seven months and it seemed about time to stop expressing milk. Well, that's not strictly true - in my head I'd imagined that I'd probably keep milk-making for a good year or so in line with all sorts of health recommendations. In reality, now that I'm back at work a couple of days a week, the logistics got a bit tricky and I was finding that I really needed the hour or so of time spent pumping to do all the other things that life requires (washing, cooking, entertaining small people, even occasionally exercising or god forbid spending some time with Mr Williams).
So now that it's all over I've found myself reflecting on (and discussing with other interested people) how you feed babies in the first few months and I've noticed some things.
Firstly, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't with breastfeeding. Feeding babies is pretty hard no matter how you go about it. If it's all happening naturally, you're pretty much glued to the baby and if it wakes in the night, it's you who is going to sort it out. If you express, you're stuck using time to make the milk and then put it into the baby, and you need to have access to power source in a private space a lot of the time. And if you're using formula or mix feeding you have to deal with all the guilt and judgement (as I've written about before), not to mention the time-consuming cleaning and sterilising involved.
So secondly, the grass will always seem greener on the other side. Because there is a downside no matter how you feed, there is a terrible tendency to assume that if things were going differently, things would be easier. If you're breastfeeding, you probably wish someone else could do the overnight feed at least sometimes. If you're bottle feeding, you probably wish someone would pay the exorbitant cost of formula at least sometimes. On the upside, that means there are good aspects no matter what you're doing (breastfeeding can be cheap and bottle feeding can give you some sleep).
Thirdly, there is nothing worse that you can do than judge someone for their choices around feeding (or any aspect of parenting really). Absolutely everyone has a story about the aunt/colleague/frenemy who said "you just didn't put him on the breast enough when he was born" or "that's an expensive way to feed a baby" or "she looks like she's been grazing on the green pastures". Even when it's a throw away line to you, those comments stay with people for a really, really long time and can really effect someone's state of mind.
Finally, it's not all bad!! While I've may have highlighted the negatives, the first few weeks and months can actually be an awesome time. The baby is little and will stare into your eyes while the milk goes in, you get cuddles all the time, their heads smell good apparently (I've never got into baby-sniffing but some people swear by it), and they can pull some really funny faces. So it's really just a matter of holding onto this stuff at 3am when the baby pukes all over you and himself and the floor...
Anyways, I hope that my feeding experiences may someday help others as they navigate some of the harder moments. I haven't written about the practicalities of stopping feeding (which is surprisingly hard to get detailed info on beyond, drop one feed a week) so please feel free to get in touch if you ever want to discuss. Best of luck to anyone currently in the process of feeding a small baby!
So now that it's all over I've found myself reflecting on (and discussing with other interested people) how you feed babies in the first few months and I've noticed some things.
Firstly, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't with breastfeeding. Feeding babies is pretty hard no matter how you go about it. If it's all happening naturally, you're pretty much glued to the baby and if it wakes in the night, it's you who is going to sort it out. If you express, you're stuck using time to make the milk and then put it into the baby, and you need to have access to power source in a private space a lot of the time. And if you're using formula or mix feeding you have to deal with all the guilt and judgement (as I've written about before), not to mention the time-consuming cleaning and sterilising involved.
So secondly, the grass will always seem greener on the other side. Because there is a downside no matter how you feed, there is a terrible tendency to assume that if things were going differently, things would be easier. If you're breastfeeding, you probably wish someone else could do the overnight feed at least sometimes. If you're bottle feeding, you probably wish someone would pay the exorbitant cost of formula at least sometimes. On the upside, that means there are good aspects no matter what you're doing (breastfeeding can be cheap and bottle feeding can give you some sleep).
Thirdly, there is nothing worse that you can do than judge someone for their choices around feeding (or any aspect of parenting really). Absolutely everyone has a story about the aunt/colleague/frenemy who said "you just didn't put him on the breast enough when he was born" or "that's an expensive way to feed a baby" or "she looks like she's been grazing on the green pastures". Even when it's a throw away line to you, those comments stay with people for a really, really long time and can really effect someone's state of mind.
Finally, it's not all bad!! While I've may have highlighted the negatives, the first few weeks and months can actually be an awesome time. The baby is little and will stare into your eyes while the milk goes in, you get cuddles all the time, their heads smell good apparently (I've never got into baby-sniffing but some people swear by it), and they can pull some really funny faces. So it's really just a matter of holding onto this stuff at 3am when the baby pukes all over you and himself and the floor...
Anyways, I hope that my feeding experiences may someday help others as they navigate some of the harder moments. I haven't written about the practicalities of stopping feeding (which is surprisingly hard to get detailed info on beyond, drop one feed a week) so please feel free to get in touch if you ever want to discuss. Best of luck to anyone currently in the process of feeding a small baby!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Breastfeeding - not as cheap or easy as it sounds!
I read about some research that was published in the American Sociological Review this week that showed that women who breastfeed ultimately earn less than women who formula feed. Basically they have shown that the longer you breastfeed, the more severe and prolonged the losses in your earnings. I've never seen any discussion of the downsides of managing breastfeeding before and it's an interesting issue that certainly isn't mentioned in the early days when you may be considering whether you will ever offer your baby a bottle.
The research is no surprise to me as I have been grappling with how I am going to manage to get back to work in three weeks time while I am still expressing for my six-month-old bub. I actually work for an excellent employer in terms of family friendliness (a State Government department). There is a lactation room and I am sure my bosses would be totally understanding if I wanted to take breaks to express milk while I'm in the office. The fact is that I just don't want to do this. There seem to be so many logistical issues around bringing the pumping gear in, storing and transporting the milk, arranging my work around half hour breaks, wearing clothes that I can get in and out of easily etc etc.
What this shows though is that even in the best of circumstances where I have a supportive employer, I'm working part-time and I'm a skilled milk expresser, breastfeeding and work still aren't a great match. Worse still, there isn't necessarily anyone to blame or an easy answer to the problem - except perhaps to suck it up and deal with the inconveniences, stop breastfeeding, or not go back to work and deal with that loss of earnings (not really an option unless we want to somehow rid ourselves of the mortgage).
While the easiest option is to stop breastfeeding, it's funny how hard and emotional that decision is proving. While I would objectively like to stop and get my body and time back, for some reason I can't stand the thought that I've got milk and it's not going to the baby. So thank you researchers for adding to this complex discussion and best of luck to all of those with these tricky decisions ahead!
The research is no surprise to me as I have been grappling with how I am going to manage to get back to work in three weeks time while I am still expressing for my six-month-old bub. I actually work for an excellent employer in terms of family friendliness (a State Government department). There is a lactation room and I am sure my bosses would be totally understanding if I wanted to take breaks to express milk while I'm in the office. The fact is that I just don't want to do this. There seem to be so many logistical issues around bringing the pumping gear in, storing and transporting the milk, arranging my work around half hour breaks, wearing clothes that I can get in and out of easily etc etc.
What this shows though is that even in the best of circumstances where I have a supportive employer, I'm working part-time and I'm a skilled milk expresser, breastfeeding and work still aren't a great match. Worse still, there isn't necessarily anyone to blame or an easy answer to the problem - except perhaps to suck it up and deal with the inconveniences, stop breastfeeding, or not go back to work and deal with that loss of earnings (not really an option unless we want to somehow rid ourselves of the mortgage).
While the easiest option is to stop breastfeeding, it's funny how hard and emotional that decision is proving. While I would objectively like to stop and get my body and time back, for some reason I can't stand the thought that I've got milk and it's not going to the baby. So thank you researchers for adding to this complex discussion and best of luck to all of those with these tricky decisions ahead!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Those proud moments (and a recipe for Pad See Yiew)
I'm not sure if I've come out and said it before, but our 3 year old is a pretty dud eater - he's fussy, unwilling to try new things and most dinners are a bit of a battle ("I don't need dinner, I'll just have a snack, I'm not hungry"). That said, through a series of well-practised tactics we can generally get him to eat almost anything, it just takes quite a lot of patience and occasional bribery, i.e. if you eat all your brocolli we can watch the rest of Lego Star Wars.
Knowing that this is the situation, I felt quietly smug when Leo's kinder teacher asked him what his favourite dinner is the other day and he said "Tofu, I love tofu". What a hipster kid! I think this comment stemmed from the following recipe which I adapted from Bill Grainger.
Eleanor's Pad See Yiew
Ingredients
200 grams dried rice stick noodles
1 head brocolli, chopped into small florets
200 grams marinated tofu, chopped into cubes
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
60 mls light soy sauce
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Recipe
Cook the rice noodles according to packet instructions boild for around 8 and throw the brocolli in for the last two minutes of cooking time. Drain noodles and brocolli.
Heat oil in a wok over high heat, add garlic and stirfry for about 1 minute until fragrant and softened. Add soy sauce and sugar and cook until bubbling and starting to reduce. Add tofu, brocolli and noodles and stirfry for a further 2 minutes until all are coated in the sauce. Make a hole in the middle and tip in the eggs. Stirfry until egg is cooked. Serves 2-3
Knowing that this is the situation, I felt quietly smug when Leo's kinder teacher asked him what his favourite dinner is the other day and he said "Tofu, I love tofu". What a hipster kid! I think this comment stemmed from the following recipe which I adapted from Bill Grainger.
Eleanor's Pad See Yiew
Ingredients
200 grams dried rice stick noodles
1 head brocolli, chopped into small florets
200 grams marinated tofu, chopped into cubes
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
60 mls light soy sauce
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Recipe
Cook the rice noodles according to packet instructions boild for around 8 and throw the brocolli in for the last two minutes of cooking time. Drain noodles and brocolli.
Heat oil in a wok over high heat, add garlic and stirfry for about 1 minute until fragrant and softened. Add soy sauce and sugar and cook until bubbling and starting to reduce. Add tofu, brocolli and noodles and stirfry for a further 2 minutes until all are coated in the sauce. Make a hole in the middle and tip in the eggs. Stirfry until egg is cooked. Serves 2-3
Monday, April 16, 2012
Why is feeding babies made so hard?
Generally I think that introducing food to babies shouldn't be so tricky but it seems confusing even the second time around. The Age ran an article on their front page this weekend titled "Who knows best in the battle of the breast?". It covers some new research around links between the age of starting solids and allergies.
The first thing that struck me was that this was front page news - really? Is this all you've got (accepting that it was a slow news Sunday). Surely this only interests a teeny tiny portion of the population.
The second thing that struck me is that they'd somehow managed to make the article about breastfeeding - what sensationalist journalism! The research in the article suggests that there may be benefits in introducing a wider range of foods between 4 to 6 months, rather than waiting until after 6 months or longer, to prevent allergies. This really has NOTHING to do with breastfeeding - it's about introducing babies to food. However, they'd managed to get an (almost entirely irrelevant) quote from a lactation lady saying that the introduction of solids might reduce the level of breastfeeding - based on no evidence. The quote was used to suggest that if you feed solids slightly earlier you will deprive babies of breastmilk whereas I think most mothers would totally understand that you still offer plenty of milk when starting solids (give us some credit - the breast is best message is very loud).
The advice around when to start babies on solids seems to change each year from 4-6 months to after 6 months and then back again and really there is no concrete evidence on which to base your decision - which is later acknowledged in the article. While of course I think the media has a role to play in promoting new research in this space, I think there is no reason to add a controversial angle to it and further confuse what should be a relatively straightforward decision.
Most of the sane advice that I have read suggests to start kids on some basic foods (fruit, vegies, baby cereals) when they show interest and have reasonable head control and to seek medical advice if you have a family history of food allergies. Breastmilk or formula should still be a central source of nutrition for the next few months after introducing solids. It should be that simple! Let's not add an element of guilt (am I depriving my baby of precious breastmilk) to this normal developmental stage.
If you want some reliable advice on introducing solids, I think the Victorian Govt's Better Health Channel is a good enough place to start - http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Baby_care_weaning?open
The first thing that struck me was that this was front page news - really? Is this all you've got (accepting that it was a slow news Sunday). Surely this only interests a teeny tiny portion of the population.
The second thing that struck me is that they'd somehow managed to make the article about breastfeeding - what sensationalist journalism! The research in the article suggests that there may be benefits in introducing a wider range of foods between 4 to 6 months, rather than waiting until after 6 months or longer, to prevent allergies. This really has NOTHING to do with breastfeeding - it's about introducing babies to food. However, they'd managed to get an (almost entirely irrelevant) quote from a lactation lady saying that the introduction of solids might reduce the level of breastfeeding - based on no evidence. The quote was used to suggest that if you feed solids slightly earlier you will deprive babies of breastmilk whereas I think most mothers would totally understand that you still offer plenty of milk when starting solids (give us some credit - the breast is best message is very loud).
The advice around when to start babies on solids seems to change each year from 4-6 months to after 6 months and then back again and really there is no concrete evidence on which to base your decision - which is later acknowledged in the article. While of course I think the media has a role to play in promoting new research in this space, I think there is no reason to add a controversial angle to it and further confuse what should be a relatively straightforward decision.
Most of the sane advice that I have read suggests to start kids on some basic foods (fruit, vegies, baby cereals) when they show interest and have reasonable head control and to seek medical advice if you have a family history of food allergies. Breastmilk or formula should still be a central source of nutrition for the next few months after introducing solids. It should be that simple! Let's not add an element of guilt (am I depriving my baby of precious breastmilk) to this normal developmental stage.
If you want some reliable advice on introducing solids, I think the Victorian Govt's Better Health Channel is a good enough place to start - http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Baby_care_weaning?open
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)