Nutrition for children and babies: An expert guide for parents

In this informative guide, revered consultant paediatrician and neonatologist Dr Badr Chaban shares his specialist insight on the key factors involved in effectively providing children and babies with their nutritional requirements, including the importance of routines and when to seek medical advice about your child’s development and growth. The leading specialist also shares his expert guidance on weaning for babies ready to implement solid foods into their diet.

What are the essential nutritional requirements for children at different stages of development?

Nutritional requirements for children depend on their age. At a very early (neonatal) age when a baby has just been born, mother’s milk should be given wherever possible. This gives the baby all that they need and this can be supplemented with the right formula if required to help the baby to grow appropriately. Growth in this first three months is quite essential as it occurs very quickly, particularly brain development. In the first three months, a baby’s weight usually doubles from their birth weight and so they require a large quantity of calories and nutrition at that time. Babies are usually able to extract those calories from the milk that their mother provides, either breast milk which is the preferable option, or formula which is sometimes required as a supplement.

Later on in life when we start introducing solids, its essential that we make sure that the child receives a lot of vegetables at an early stage of the weaning process. This allows them to develop the ability to accept the taste of vegetables before we start introducing fruits, which are usually sweet and have a dominant taste.

It is vital to bear in mind that babies need a balanced diet. General, babies get about fifty per cent of their feed from carbohydrate, thirty-five per cent from protein and fifteen per cent from fat. Having a balanced diet is really essential for a baby’s growth and therefore it’s key to encourage them to eat healthy food and discourage them from taking too many sweets and fizzy drinks. This nutrition is very important for brain development and so having this right from early on will help the child develop profoundly.

How does nutrition impact a child's growth and development?

Growth and development are interlinked. It’s not necessary for your baby to grow too fast because that’s not necessarily the right thing but equally, you don’t want your baby to grow too slowly. We appreciate that some babies will be small throughout pregnancy and will continue to be small and have a low weight in their first and second year if they were small inside the womb. This is completely natural and it’s impossible to force the elevation of the baby’s growth. Rather, you need to provide the child with the nutritional requirements and they will grow at the pace that is suitable for them.

It is important to make sure that the child’s growth trend is not declining. If this does occur in a significant way, we need to address this issue and find out the cause behind it. Sometimes, the cause may be recurrent viral illnesses or some type of underlying problem. Additionally, perhaps one of the most common causes is that we try to enforce the habit of feeding on children and this can actually create an aversion towards food. It’s natural for children to sometimes be oppositional so you need to provide food at a specific time and establish a routine. Equally, it’s important that when children ask for food, you don’t provide too much of it or give it all of the time. The reason for this is that children need to feel hungry and appreciate the importance of food and this is not possible if snacks and food are available to them all of the time. In this case, children may lose an appreciation for food, believing it’s accessible all of the time in any quantity they want and that therefore, it’s not important. It’s important that you keep your child aware of the fact that without food, they will get hungry and therefore, food is important.

Development is totally interlinked with nutrition and the type of nutrition we take in. It is essential not only to give the right amount of calories, but also to achieve a good balance of the right foods, including protein, fat and carbohydrate throughout early childhood and teenage years.

What are the potential consequences of inadequate nutrition?

We need to be aware that as I mentioned before, some children are naturally small for genetic reasons or various factors relevant to pregnancy. It’s essential that we avoid enforced feeding as that is usually the cause of inadequate nutrition. Therefore, we have to pay attention to the details so we can provide the right amount of food, at the right time with the right balance. If the child develops some difficult habits regarding accepting food, we should look into this in detail and begin working on the process of them understanding the importance of food in their life.

In the western world, it’s unusual to find inadequate nutrition in children. However, there are children who refuse to eat and those who have underlying causes which don’t allow them to take in enough nutrition. This is rare and may relate to repeated infections, underlying heart problems or a genetic disorder. It’s important that we address these issues should they apply and that we look in to the causes behind poor growth, which can be related to inadequate nutrition.

What are the recommended guidelines for introducing solid foods to infants?

I have my own approach for introducing solid foods which I have created over the last few years through my personal practice and reading a lot of evidence. Babies are typically ready for solid food at about six months, although we may consider this at an earlier age in certain babies. You can find specific details on my approach to introducing solid foods by reading my weaning guide for parents.

What areas for concern regarding children’s nutrition should parents be aware of?

If your child is tired and isn’t performing at the activity level that is expected at their age, you should seek advice to rule out any issues relating to nutrition. Additionally, if your child’s rate of growth is not satisfactory in terms of height percentile or head size, or their weight is dropping from the expected percentile, it’s important to seek medical advice to look at the underlying cause of these problems.

As I have previously discussed, most cases of nutrition problems are related to habitual issues where the child develops a lack of interest in food. However, there can be a related underlying medical condition, such as respiratory, heart or genetic problems. If you see your child is not growing well in spite of you trying your best to give them a balanced diet with an established routine and you see that their growth is halted, you need to seek medical advice to explore the underlying causes, particularly if this occurs suddenly.

If you are concerned about your child’s development or problems with nutrition, you can schedule a consultation with Dr Chaban by visiting his Top Doctors profile.