As parents, we are responsible for our child’s development. Whether we feed them junk food or organic food, whether we feed them 3 big meals or 5 smaller portioned meals per day — the decisions are ours to make for quite a few years of their lives.
So, it is on us to set out to give the best to our kids to make sure they have the right nutrients to not fall behind on their development.
Of course, parents cannot always be faulted for not giving their kids enough nutrients especially when kids reach an age where they are more expressive about their dietary likes and dislikes.
You can try and try to integrate peas in their fried rice or hide tomato slices in their sandwiches, but if they refuse to eat it, you will catch them picking out the foods they do not like.
We explored how different nutrients have relationships with each other in this article, so how do we ensure our children are meeting their nutritional needs when some of them may be fussy eaters?
Here are some tips to improve nutrient absorption and intake of your child.
Improving Your Child’s Nutrient Absorption
1. Putting it all together in one meal creatively
You want your child to eat their leafy greens but as soon as they see it, they push it aside on their plate and it goes to waste. So how do you get them to eat it without actually showing it to them?
Come up with creative meals – like making cute bento sets or blending it into sauces to put into their meals so that they cannot avoid it.
2. Take their likes and dislikes seriously
Children, just like adults, like to be heard when they speak. When they communicate their likes and dislikes to you, it is best to keep an open mind and attempt to compromise with them.
There are thousands of varieties of food out there with hundreds of cuisines to choose from. If your child is not a fan of receiving their vitamin c and iron in the form of Brussel sprouts and fish, for example, then choose foods that they do enjoy eating instead.
3. Include prebiotics in their diet
When introducing prebiotics to children, it can be done so in two ways: in foods or supplement form. Prebiotics are non-digestible fibers (carbohydrates) that are found in many plant-foods which also provide very good nutrition to your child. A win-win, really.
So when you increase your child’s intake of prebiotic foods in their daily diet, you also contribute to more health benefits from the other nutrition that they provide1.
Foods that are rich in prebiotics include garlic, onions, asparagus and cow’s milk. These are easily added to a child’s meal to make it more balanced overall in terms of nutritional intake.
4. Ensure they always have a healthy gut
We mentioned adding prebiotics, and that can certainly help with this because prebiotics can help to promote the growth of healthy gut bacteria.
With all of that healthy gut bacteria in the body, it leads to having a healthy gut.
Not to mention, it can also contribute to improved calcium absorption, a decrease in allergy risk, improved immune system defense, and other positive effects on metabolism2.
Aiding with your child’s digestion
Dumex Mamil® D-GestPro+™ can aid with your child’s digestion while also meeting their other nutritional needs. With its prebiotics content, you can boost your child’s nutrient absorption.
Dumex Mamil® has a Unique Prebiotics Mixture GOS/lcFOS (9:1) for creating a good intestinal environment in your child’s gut. It also supports good nutrient absorption for your child’s overall growth and health34.
It is engineered with D-GestPro+™, which is a combination of Unique Prebiotics Mixture GOS/lcFOS (9:1), Protein, Calcium and Vitamin D sourced from cow’s milk as well as a 96mg DHA* content.
For more information on Dumex Mamil® D-GestPro+™, visit their website here.
*Mamil Step 3 DHA content, based on 3 servings/day
References
1 Markowiak, P., & Śliżewska, K. (2017). Effects of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics on Human Health. Nutrients, 9(9), 1021. doi:10.3390/nu9091021
2 Silk, D., et.al. “Clinical trial: the effects of a trans-galactooligosaccharide prebiotic on faecal microbiota and symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome” Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics 2009 29:508–518. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2036.2008.03911.x
3 Slavin J. Fiber and prebiotics: mechanisms and health benefits. Nutrients. 2013;5(4):1417-35.
4 Coudray C, Demigné C, Rayssiguier Y. Effects of Dietary Fibers on Magnesium Absorption in Animals and Humans. J Nutr. 2003;133(1):1-4
