By Jessica Hein

Feeding your child and making sure she gets everything she needs is a BIG task. Sometimes it may seem absolutely overwhelming ... especially if you’re on a strict budget. Food is expensive, but it is possible to make sure your child gets all the nutrients he needs. You may be concerned about your child being anaemic or questioning when she should start drinking cow’s milk or wondering how junk food affects your child. I have looked at a number of sources and tried to gather some important information that may help you make decisions about what to feed your child.

It is very difficult to buy all the various foods growing children seem to need and want on a budget, but there are ways to do this. Always be on the look-out for fruits and vegetables that are on sale at your grocery store—you may be surprised about the various fruits and vegetables you can find on sale. In the winter look for vegetables like carrots, potatoes, yams, frozen peas & corn, cabbage, parsnip, and squash—these vegetables keep longer and are cheaper in the winter.

Try growing your own sprouts (mung, alfalfa, lentil) in the winter or summer; you and your child can take care of the sprouts and watch them grow daily until they are ready to eat. Your child may be so intrigued by food he has grown himself that he just may be willing to try some of those healthy green sprouts! The summer is the time to buy fresh vegetables from your grocery store or farmer’s market—you can buy broccoli and leafy greens locally for much cheaper prices than in the winter. Don’t forget that growing your own garden can be a fun and relaxing activity you can do with your children that will give you all sorts of fresh veggies all summer long.

Dried fruit, such as raisins, and canned fruit in unsweetened juice (eg. pineapple, peaches, pears) are good alternatives to fresh fruit. You can help to supplement fresh fruit by finding fruit juices that do not have sugar added—fruit juice is a great way to get Vitamin C into your kids. You can also look for apples (and other fruits) on sale—even if they are damaged they will be good in cooking.

Kids can grow up healthy with out meat—it will just take some reading and some extra work to make sure they get what they need for a balanced diet. Try buying brown bread instead of white bread, enriched cereals (such as Wheetabix) instead of sugar-coated cereals, brown rice instead of white rice, whole-grain crackers instead of plain soda crackers. Beans (eg. lentils, black beans, kidney beans, baked beans) are a great source of protein, iron and other nutrients—add these to chili, sloppy joes, casseroles, stews, and soups. Remember that meat does not have to be a part of every meal—a well balanced meal can be a bean dish, a vegetable, and a slice of bread.

Is your child anaemic?

• feed children lots of iron-rich foods

• feed children lots of fruits and vegetables

There are lots of iron-rich foods that you can feed your child such as ground beef, beans, frozen peas, whole-wheat bread, and raisins (see the table at the bottom of this section for a more extensive list). Try to feed your child a variety of these foods daily. Because Vitamin C helps the body absorb iron, it is good to feed anaemic children foods that are high in Vitamin C, such as orange juice, potatoes, and green vegetables.

If your child is taking iron supplements, be careful about how many she eats. These vitamins are fun and fruit-flavoured and will provide your child with iron, but will be very harmful if more than the recommended amount for your child’s age is eaten.

Iron-Rich Foods

Breast feeding is recommended by most health professionals—not only will it provide your baby with everything he needs until 4 months, but it is also cost-effective. However, many mothers choose to give their babies formula. It is highly recommended that formula enriched in iron is bought since iron-deficiencies (anaemia) can impact growth and development.

Most nutritionists agree that cow’s milk should not be given to infants until they are between 9 and 12 months. Whole cow’s milk has been associated with intestinal bleeding and Food Allergies

• food allergies may cause a child to have stomach-aches, headaches, wheezing, coughs, or hives.

• food allergies are common in the first few years of life, but most children will outgrow the allergy

Kids Do Love Candy...

Sugary foods, pop, chips, and candy are not high in nutrients or vitamins. They are "empty calories"— a filler that does not provide much of anything in the way of goodness. Not only does candy not have the nutrients children need, but a child who has just eaten a lot of candy may not have room for the good, healthy food she needs for a well-balance diet.

Imagine how you would feel if you drank 8 cups of coffee... this is equal to how your child may feel after drinking only 2 cans of Coke or Pepsi! Caffeine, found in chocolate and pop, stops much-needed iron from being absorbed by the body. It also causes children to be hyperactive, restless, and inattentive. Also, children who drink caffeine in the evening may not be able to fall asleep.

Believe it or not, television does have an impact on your child’s health and what he eats. The average child watches 5000 hours of television before the end of preschool! Commercials for sugar-coated cereals, candy bars, chips, and fast foods are often aimed at children—thus when you bring them to the grocery store they may beg for these treats. Too much candy and fast food adds fat, sugar, and salt to their diets and makes them eat less of the foods they need to be eating. It’s not that children should never eat these foods, but only as treats after dinner and in small amounts.

Final Thoughts...

While it is harder to provide nutritious foods on a limited budget, a little planning and looking for bargains can help. Cooking meals "from scratch" is usually less expensive than buying ready-made foods and often more nutritious. Looking into Breakfast Clubs for Kids that will provide a free nutritious breakfast for your child a few days out of the week can also make life a little easier for you. It is also great fun for children to eat together!

Some communities are organizing community kitchens as a way for women to get together, shop for groceries, cook a meal to enjoy together, as well as preparing enough for each person to take home, and visit at the same time. Perhaps you and some of the other Cybermoms would like to get together to cook a meal (like lasagna) and make enough so that each one has enough to take home. Cooking together is a way to have fun, learn new recipes, and eat great food with great company.

If you have questions or concerns about the foods your child needs, don’t forget that you can go to your family doctor with questions. Your local library most likely has lots of books on child nutrition and the internet has lots of sites with ideas and information on parenting, nutrition and easy recipes (see some of the sites listed below). Remember that the more you read, the more you cook, the more you learn, the easier cooking meals that are inexpensive, nutritious and delicious will become.

Howard, Gillian. Nutritional Requirements of Infants and Young Children: Practical Guidelines . ed. Joyce Thompson. Blackwell Science Lmtd., London: 1998.

Keeling, Marie and Carole Whitener. Nutrition Education for Young Children: Strategies and Activities . Prentice-Hall Inc., New Jersey: 1984.

Noss, Eleanor. Understanding Nutrition . West Publishing Co., Minneapolis: 1993.

Rolfes, Sharon, Linda DeBruyne, and Eleanor Whitney. Life Span Nutrition: Conception Through Life . Wadsworth Publishing, Toronto: 1998.

Yntema, Sharon. Vegetarian Children . Thorsons, London: 1989.