nutrition books

[smiller]

Can anyone recommend a good book for understanding toddler nutrition? I have the "mommy made food" book which has several chapters on feeding infants and a ton of great recipes for infants and toddlers. What I'm looking for is more of a review of research or guidebook for parents to teach good eating habits.

Any suggestions?

[egoldber]

I would highly recommend "Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense" by Ellyn Satter. She is a pediatric dietitian and has written a number of books. She also produces a series of training videos meant for training pediatric dietitians. I discovered her through a class I took throgh my local hospital health system on how to introduce solids. The book is written for feeding infants through pre-schoolers, so there is plenty of info about toddlers.

I have found her advice invaluable and really wish I had had her book BEFORE having my baby. She presents some of the most balanced, research-based (rather than ideologically based) child feeding information that I have seen. "Child of Mine" is not a "cookbook" but, as you say, a book about how to teach good eating habits. I have found it very helpful, since I have eating issues from my childhood that I would like to NOT pass on to my child!!

HTH,

[Shirale]

Hi,
Does the book you recomment also gice advice on what to feed (and how much to feed) infants in terms of solid food? I recently gave my dd cereal and then discvered that I am not quite sure how much, when, how often...etc! I will ask my Ped but I love books...thanks!

[egoldber]

She gives suggested guidelines on the types of foods to offer and at what stage to offer new foods (progressing from cereals to semi-soft to table foods). BUT she doesn't really suggest quantities, since all the research indicates to let your child be the guide on how much food they eat. This makes more sense in the context of the book and its philosophies.

Her over-riding philosophy is that you and your child are in an "eating partnership" (my words, not hers). Your job is to decide what to offer and when. Their job is to decide how much (and whether or not at all!). It is radically different from what I was raised with.

You may want to check your local library. I know mine carries it.

HTH,

[LailaCa]

Dr. Spock's book also has info regarding feeding of the baby/toddler. You can find his book, at times, on Ebay. Of course it is at all the bookstores as well.

[Samantha]

I'm a huge fan of The Family Nutrition Book by William & Martha Sears. It has info on nutrition from birth through adolescence (and beyond!). They give great info on introducing new foods, as well as nutrition and how to expand your kids horizons if you have picky eater.
I love the whole Sears Parenting series.

Samantha

[AugBaby]

I completely agree about the Sears' nutrition book. The Baby Book was really helpful up through beginning solids. Now that our daughter is 10 months, I've started looking for more in-depth information. The nutrition book, mentioned in the above post, covers all aspects of nutrition and fostering healthy eating habits that I could think of. He also quotes research quite a bit. Enjoy!

[smiller]

I purchased Child of Mine. It's exactly what I was looking for, so I thank you for that suggestion. I found it has thorough scientific research on nutrition and developing healthy eating habits. Combined with the recipes in "Mommy Made and Daddy Too : Home Cooking for a Healthy Baby & Toddler," I think we have all the information we need.

Good luck to the others who were seeking recommendations.