Article: Debbie Hedges from Your Baby magazine
Image: Baba & Kleuter

If your toddler knows precisely where to get his fast food fix, it’s pretty hard to break the habit. Luckily it’s not too late to keep your younger one ignorant of these pleasures. But you also have to be realistic about what’s out there.

Living in a “bad” food-free world is probably a bit unrealistic. All you can do is save it for certain occasions, like the cup cakes at birthday parties. If eaten occasionally, these will neither ruin the nutritional balance of your baby’s diet nor increase their appeal by making it the ‘forbidden fruit’.

Mothers also need to be aware that certain foods introduced during infancy can cause food problems – from triggering allergies to fostering a fondness for fat and sugar – and getting your child into healthy eating can involve an entire lifestyle change.

Foods to keep away from your toddler
Sugar, dyes and additives
There is very little scientific support for the relationship between refined sugar and food additives and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), at least for most children. In one large UK study, researchers gave children who’d been diagnosed with ADD, either a diet with refined sugar and additives, or one that was completely free of such substances. The two diets were prepared to look and taste identical. On average, the children on the artificial diet behaved pretty much the same as those on the all-natural, no-sugar diet. But there were a few kids – roughly one in 100 – who were clearly out of control on the artificial diet.

You know your child. If he zooms around the room every time he has a coke or one of those delicious bright blue kiddies’ milkshakes, the additives and dyes in these drinks may be to blame.

It is thought that certain additives affect certain children. But research has still not provided clear-cut answers. Dietician Natasha Fouché says rearing your toddler on a diet that’s free of anything artificial is a good way to go, provided you can ensure his diet still includes sufficient amounts of foods from all food groups. “And provided you remain realistic about what your child may eat outside of your home and away from your watchful eye – with friends, at a party, or at school.”

Other foods to avoid
Refined sugar (cakes, cookies, white bread) Depletes the body of vital nutrients and the body has to produce more insulin to cope with it

Salt (chips, crisps) Associated with high blood pressure

Hydrogenated fat (margarine, sausage rolls, processed meats, convenience meals) Interferes with the metabolism of some essential fatty acids and can cause high cholesterol in toddlers

Caffeine Addictive. Large doses can cause excessive excretion of calcium and magnesium – vital elements for the formation of strong bones.

Allergens in a nutshell
Children with food allergies have immune systems that react to otherwise harmless substances in the foods (like peanuts, fish or eggs). The eight most common allergy-causing foods are peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, pecans), milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy.