EARLY CHILDHOOD

• 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