EARLY CHILDHOOD

Cards (42)

  • Infant: 0 to 1 year old
  • Early Childhood - Defined as the period between 1 to 6 years old
  • Toddler period - 1 to 3 years old
  • Pre-school period - 4 to 6 years old
  • Toddler period increase in gross and fine motor skills increase in independence; exploration of the environment; language skills
  • Pre-school period - increasing Autonomy; experiencing broader social circumstances; increasing language skills; and expanding ability to control behavior
  • Weight and Height - steady, slow growth rate, with more or less equal yearly gains of as much as 2 to 3 kg. Height 2-3 inches per year
  • Early childhood through the teen years is the main bone-building phase of your child's life. This is when your child's body adds the most calcium to their bones to help them become denser and stronger
  • Brain Growth
    • Rapid in the first 3-4 years after birth
    • Brain reaches 75% of its adult size by age 2 and 90% at age 4-6 years
  • MYELINATION 
    • Myelin forms around the axons in what is often called the myelin sheath; Myelin enables nerve cells to transmit information faster and allows for more complex brain processes.
    • The myelination process is vitally important to healthy central nervous system functioning.
  • Changes in Gastrointestinal Tract
    • Increased stomach capacity - 1/2 of adult stomach capacity
    • Taste buds sensitive to hot and cold foods as well as strong flavors
    • Twenty baby teeth come out by age 2 1/2 to 3
  • Developmental Milestones
    • Progression of fine motor coordination
    • Increased curiosity and interest in environment
    • Aroused by visual, audio and sensory stimuli; shows preference for certain colors
  • Development of Feeding Skills
    • 12 to 18 months: able to move the tongue from side to side (or laterally) and learn to chew food with rotary, rather than just up and down, movements
    • 12 months: refined pincer grasp that enables them to pick up small objects, such as cooked peas and carrots, and put them into their mouths.
    • 18 to 24 months: able to use the tongue to clean the lips and have well-developed rotary chewing movements.
  • Energy - Increase in calories - due to the greater energy needed for basal metabolism, increased activity, increased growth of muscle and adipose tissue
    • 1350 kcal (males) and 1260 (females) for 3-5 years old
  • Protein - Protein allowance of 1.25 to 2.0 grams/kg DBW is recommended to provide for increase in skeletal and muscle tissue and for protection against infection
    • 22 g (males) 21 g (females) 3-5 years old
  • Calcium and phosphorus - needed for bone mineralization
    • 200 mg and 90 mg (both) 0-5 years old
  • Tooth formation increases the need for fluorine
  • Vitamin C is needed for the formation of collagen
  • Collagen is a protein that provides structure to much of your body, including bones, skin, tendons, and ligaments
  • Fluids - 60% of the child’s body weight is water. A normal healthy child needs a minimum of 4 to 7 glasses or 1000-1500 ml per day
  • PSC's Food Preferences;
    • Preference for energy dense foods; rejects sour and bitter tastes.
    • Mildly flavored foods rather than strongly flavored foods (except for highly sweet foods)
    • Plain foods are preferred over mixed dishes
    • Foods that are softly textured
    • Soft and moist foods
  • Food Jags
    • eating too little and a very limited number of foods
    • This should not be a problem if the accepted foods are nutritious
    • Jags do not last long so do not make an issue out of it. It will pass
  • Dawdling
    • The child plays with the food during mealtimes
    • Reasons: the child is not hungry, too large portions, the child is not feeling well or needs attention; asserting independence
    • Strategy: you offer the food after mealtime
  • Gagging
    • (child feels like vomiting)
    • Kinakain yung food pero binababad sa mouth para di na susubuan.
    • Reasons: the child is not hungry, too large portions, child dislikes the food/flavor, needs attention; asserting independence
  • Food Dislikes; Variable Appetite; Capricious Behavior
    • the child may not like the taste of the food; the child may want to attract attention.
    • Combine foods with other well-liked foods or prepare that food in other ways.
  • Eating too much
    • may be due to appetite, heredity, temperament, mother’s insistence of a ‘clean plate’
    • May lead to overweight and obesity in the long term.
    • Restrain the child from eating too much rich foods like cakes, pastries, candies.
    • Management: small frequent feeding of nutritious foods; avoid large portion sizes
  • Feeding Tips
    1. Offer a variety of nutritious foods
    2. Give child-sized servings
    3. Involved your child
    4. Provide an enjoyable atmosphere
    5. Always encourage
    6. Set a good example
  • Peer influence - with growth, a child’s world expands, and social contacts become more important
  • Media messages - food is marketed to children using different techniques such as advertising, in- school marketing, sales promotion, Internet
  • Illness or disease - children who are ill usually have reduced appetite and limited food intake
  • Weight for age - index used in growth monitoring for assessing children who may be underweight. All children under two years
  • Height for age - index used for assessing stunting (chronic malnutrition in children)
  • Weight for height - Index used for assessing wasting (acute malnutrition)
  • Wasting is defined as a low weight for the height of the child compared to the standard child of the same height. Wasted children are vulnerable to infection and stand a greater chance of dying
    • Diarrhea - stools contain more water than normal and are not well formed
    Dysentery - diarrhea where the stools contain blood
  • Constipation - difficulty of emptying the bowel due to poor muscle contraction in the GI tract and/ or lack of fluids to facilitate excretion
    • Management: High fiber and adequate fluid intake
    • Exercise and physical activity to promote bowel movement.
  • Importance of fiber
    • Soluble fiber allows more water to remain in your stool, making waste softer, larger, and thus, easier to pass through your intestines
    • Insoluble fiber adds bulk to your fecal material, which hastens its passage through your gut and prevents that constipated feeling
  • Food Allergy - adverse body reaction after intake of certain foods; allergies to eggs, milk, and seafood may decrease protein intake
  • Lactose Intolerance - deficiency in lactase; milk is substituted with fermented milk, soy, or other lactose free products
  • Dental Carries -  dentin and the enamel is infected by cariogenic microorganisms