You probably already know that our kids are growing up in a pretty tough world, and part of the challenge is being certain what to feed your young ones.

Since the mid-1990s, food allergies have gone from a relative rarity to becoming increasingly commonplace.

What is responsible? Well, it just so happens that in 1996 GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) were introduced into our food supply. In 2000, 1% of the corn planted in the US had been genetically engineered; today it’s 90% – and 93% of all soy. These show up as ingredients in an enormous number of foods and sodas, under one name or another (think high fructose corn syrup or dextrose, for instance).

Does this mean GMOs are to blame? There is research indicates that this may be the case, but it’s not conclusive (details in the video below).

Of course, GMOs aren’t the only thing that has changed in our diets over the last 15-20 years. Many of our food choices these days are pretty questionable.

In fact, lots of our food practices are downright backward!

For instance, one nutrient widely known for its health benefits in adults has been all but eradicated from children’s diets, even though it is tremendously for helping kids to build healthy immune systems.

Watch the video below to learn which foods are best to avoid during your child’s first year of life – and what foods your kids should be getting more of.

What do you think – are GMOs to blame for the increase in food allergies?

Or could these allergies be part of a broad shift in our culture towards less healthy lifestyles?

And perhaps most importantly, what steps can you take to keep yourself and your family eating right? Leave us a comment with your thoughts!

As parents begin to introduce foods to their babies, many of them are giving signals to their baby without even realizing it.  Babies look at the human face for longer periods of time in comparison to other objects. The human face is the primary means for learning at this young age. When we sit down face to face to feed our babies we have extended eye contact and our hands are free from holding baby, so it is a common setting to begin signing with our babies.

Because eating is a novel experience or one that baby looks forward to, it may be an appropriate time to introduce some signs for foods.

Without even realizing it we tend to convey our own thoughts and feelings about the food we’re feeding our babies through facial expressions and other nonverbal cues. Just think about the face you make when something is bitter. How about when something is sweet? And something sour? Have you ever been witness to a baby tasting a lemon slice for the first time? That is something to see! Now, not every food we consume causes us to react with such distinct faces, but those extreme cases surely make an impression.

Have you ever seen the proverbial rubbing of the belly to indicate that something is yummy? Parents might even smack their lips to express food is tasty. I happen to love that the sign for YUMMY is the rubbing of the belly. This is one of those iconic signs, the sign makes sense in relation to the word.

Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli is part of the Sign4Baby Signing Story Time series “All About Food” and I invite you to watch, laugh and giggle with your little one, all while learning a few new food signs!

What food does your child find especially YUMMY?

What does mother goose have to do with getting kids to eat right?

Researcher Konrad Lorentz showed that by replacing a mother goose with something else as the first thing a baby goose encountered, he could alter the behavior of the baby goose to view that thing (even a toy train!!) as ‘mama’.

This phenomenon is referred to as “imprinting,” and it works just as well for “what’s for dinner?” as it does for “who’s mama?”

But there’s a catch – it only works for a short while.

If you want your children to make healthy food choices almost instinctually, you have just a couple of years to give your kids the right message about what to eat to keep them healthy.

Watch this video where I discuss the impact of ‘food imprinting’ and getting kids to fall in love with real food

Make sure that your kids smell the aromas of the foods you want them to learn to like early in life. AND you want them to see you eating healthy food as well.

We’d love to hear from you in the comments below! Tell me what you can do to put this in to practice in your family.

Or do you have some habits that you use in your family that already have them loving nutritious food?

Talk with you soon!

- Dr. Alan Greene

Many parents still hear the advice that it’s better to wait to introduce fish to babies until their first birthdays, or even their second. I disagree! And a growing body of evidence suggests that starting fish between 6 and 12 months results in fewer allergies – both in the short run and by the time they become teens.

Giving babies and toddlers fish a couple of times a week, or even a couple of times a month, may be one of the best tips for preventing allergies.

And perhaps today’s babies and toddlers eating less fish is even one of the reasons allergies have been going up in kids overall, potentially from a decrease of omega-3 fats in the diet. This includes food allergies, pet allergies, and pollen allergies.

Babies’ regularly eating fish before the first birthday could also result in less eczema at age 4. Who doesn’t want better skin?

Another study last year found a window from 6-12 months (earlier or later wasn’t as good), where if babies were introduced to eating fish, they were less likely to have asthma or wheezing symptoms later in preschool. Who doesn’t want to breathe easier?

The longest study I’ve seen yet followed thousands of children from their first birthdays all the way until they were 12 years old. It will appear in the June 2013 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Those kids who were already enjoying fish at least twice a month by the first birthday were less likely to have allergies every year thereafter.

My favorite fish for kids is wild (or sockeye, or Alaska, or Pacific) salmon, fresh or even canned, twice a week. You can prepare the pouched or canned salmon as if it were tuna. But check out the NRDC pocket seafood guide for lots of great suggestions. And here are some some DrGreene.com recipes.

• Scrumptious Coconut-Crusted Salmon Recipe
• Quick and Easy Roasted Salmon with Pesto Recipe
• Quick and Easy Chipotle Lime Salmon Recipe
• Broiled Wild Salmon Recipe
• Orange Glazed Salmon Kabobs with Yogurt Garlic Dip

Bon appetit!

Bonus tip: Reduced tobacco exposure and increased eating of oily fish during pregnancy and early childhood are all linked to fewer allergies.

Jarvinen KM and Sicherer SH. Prediction, Prevention, and the “Hygiene Hypothesis”: Fish Consumption during the First Year of Life and Development of Allergic Diseases during Childhood. Pediatrics. Nov 2007; 120:S109.

Kiefte-de Jong JC, de Vries JH, Franco OH, Jaddoe VW, Hofman A, Raat H, de Jongste JC and Moll HA. Fish Consumption in Infancy and Asthma-like Symptoms at Preschool Age. Pediatrics. Dec 2012; 130(6):1060-8.

Magnusson J, Kull I, Rosenlund H, Hakansson N, Wolk A, Melen E, Wickman M, and Bergstrom A. Fish Cosumption in Infancy and Development of Allergic Disease up to Age 12Y. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Jun 2013. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.045377

Oien T, Storro O, and Johnsen R. Do Early Intake of Fish and Fish Oil Protect Against Eczema and Doctor-Diagnosed Asthma at 2 Years of Age? A Doctor Cohort Study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Feb 2010; 64(2):124-9.

I have four children who are close together in age. As each child came along, I realized how different and unique their personalities were.  Even as newborns, each child had their own needs; it was just a matter of figuring out what those needs were on our part!  For example, my eldest thrived on a strict routine and any deviation from the schedule would result in a miserable few days afterward, whereas my third could take any changes in stride.

For my family to function well, we quickly realized that we needed to be very scheduled with our kids. From the time my eldest was 3 months old, we would strictly schedule all naps and bedtimes. We continued this with our subsequent children, even though I nursed each of them on demand for up to 18 months.

With our oldest, I kept a spiral notebook full of her daily schedule – wake up, breastfeed, diaper, nap, play, breastfeed, diaper, nap, etc. We went through the entire notebook! In those hazy, sleep deprived days when my husband would ask “didn’t you just nurse her?” I could hand him the notebook. And chances are, yes I just nursed her because that is what newborns love to do! Not too much else going on for them…

Of course, that was way back in the pre-iPhone days. TheiPhonemom.com has reviewed several apps that help you keep track of your baby’s schedule.  Most recently, we reviewed Baby Feed Tracker Plus. With the press of a button you can record breastfeeding, bottle feed, diaper change, nap and expression (breast milk). Each mode also has an option to include notes.  There are many apps in the iTunes app store to help you keep track of your little one’s daily activities.  Make sure you choose one that has been updated recently (shows more app support from developers), has the features you would like, and receives good feedback.

A note about feeding reminders with any of these apps: babies, particularly newborns, don’t know they are supposed to be on the schedule provided by the app (i.e. nurse/bottle feed every 3 hours).  I spent many days over the years nursing little ones every hour on the hour.  This is totally normal for infants!  Don’t be afraid to listen to your baby and not the clock when it comes to feeding little ones.

Last Thanksgiving I announced a bold campaign, spearheaded by an amazing band of volunteers, to upgrade babies’ first foods to real foods – and babies’ first grains to whole grains – and to do this in 2011.

It’s November, and we still have a ways to go, but we also have an exciting reason to celebrate!

Over 10,000 physicians, mostly pediatricians, took part in a July/August 2011 survey by Medscape.com that demonstrated an historic shift in their feeding recommendations this year. The first question in the survey was “What do you recommend for baby’s first food (check all that apply)?” The options were white rice cereal, whole grain cereal, a vegetable, a fruit, egg yolk, meat, or other. Of those who answered as of August 31, the number one choice was white rice cereal – garnering nearly twice as many votes as the next most common.

But after reading an article about WhiteOut Now, our public service campaign the survey results were strikingly different.

Responding to,” What will you recommend for baby’s first food (check all that apply)” only 3% even included white rice cereal among their recommended choices. Physicians were also asked, “Do you think white rice cereal is the best choice for baby’s first food?” About 3% of those who responded had “No opinion” and an overwhelming 93% responded, “No.”

As of now over 12,000 physicians have taken part in the survey, and the change continues to spread. To me this major reversal suggests that the old white rice cereal recommendations were based on well-meaning habit rather than on science or even on careful consideration. When asked to reconsider, an overwhelming majority of physicians were quickly able to see advantages of abandoning the old recommendation.

Evidence is mounting that changing early feeding habits is critical to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic. This stunning survey suggests that first feedings are poised to change. A reason to be thankful indeed!

Yes, you read it right! In this video, Shane Valentine, author of The Baby Cuisine Cookbook, admits that baby food is a made up term and passionately explains how processed food companies have created one of the most successful marketing campaigns of all time.

There is a saying amongst lactation professionals, which I learned from I was studying to become a Certified Lactation Counselor: “Flex the hips to open the lips.”  The context was learning about baby’s motor skill and problems that arise from lack of baby skill, such as a baby who does not latch on well, poor milk transfer from mom to baby, poor weight gain in baby, and mother’s engorgement.  Some of the interventions for babies with poor skill are sensory: provide skin-to-skin contact, provide sensory input to the baby’s mouth by stroking their cheeks and tongue, and applying pressure against the feet.  Tickling a baby’s feet is often recommended and many moms try this, but what they don’t realize is that tickling/touching is different than applying pressure.  Pressure is the application of continuous force, applied uniformly over a surface, by one body onto another body.  Hence, applying pressure on the feet, such that the hips become flexed slightly.

Since that class, I have also learned about a new technique for breastfeeding intervention, called Biological Nurturing (BN), which is a breastfeeding in the laid-back position.  The researcher who coined the term BN, Suzanne Colson, PhD, emphasises utilizing primitive reflexes, such as stroking the top of baby’s foot to help them crawl to the breast, as is the case when mom is leaning back and baby is on top.  Regarding the feet, Dr. Colson states that there is a  “strong foot-to-mouth connection” and when the baby’s feet and body are poorly applied to mom’s body, feeding problems are likely to occur.  Although she is primarily interested in the reflexes on the top portion of the foot, remembering what I had learned in my CLC training, that got me thinking about feet and eating in general.  When I went back to my notes, I noticed that I scribbled that the instructor also mentioned that pressure against feet was good for toddlers too.

Since I had a two year old at the time, I was intrigued by this foot-eating connection.  I noticed that when he was in his high chair (which was a high chair that attaches to a regular chair) he would always lift his feet and keep his feet resting on the underside edge of the tray.  Imagine sitting at a bar, chatting with friends, and your feet are dangling.  It’s not very comfortable.

We bought this type of highchair because I wanted something that could be brought close to the table and was not a separate entity so that our child could feel more included at meals.  I knew that there were more expensive chairs, such as the Stokke Tripp Trapp and others, that provide adjustable configurations from baby to teenager and even adult.  But as an employee of Stokke aptly stated “comfort and ergonomic benefits are not well understood by Americans who have a preconceived notion of high chairs as a single use item vs a chair that grows with the child.”  So true.  And I was also insistent that chair was able to get to the table, but oblivious to the feet-comfort connection.

So I was delighted when we inherited a discontinued high chair by KidKraft, a model that looks very similar to the Stokke Tripp Trapp.  Stokke paved the way for the adjustable ergonomic high chair in 1972, designed by Peter Opsvik (The Tripp Trapp was previously knows as the Kinderzeat), but it has not really caught on until now, especially here in America.

Then we had baby #2.  And although I wanted a new chair, we used the same add-on highchair that we already owned.  But when he was nearing one, he kept struggling to find a place to rest his feet, and he also kept climbing into big brother’s chair.  I have spoken to some Stokke owners about what to do for baby #2.  Some told me that they buy another chair, and build a collection for each child, and some told me that big brother or big sister gives the new baby their chair.  Well that does not solve the problem of dangling feet.

So I was pleased when Stokke provided me with a chair to write this article.  Reading about the history of Stokke, I was not at all surprised to learn that it is a Norwegian company and their slogan is “In the best interest of the child,” since Norway is well-known to have the best maternity and paternity leave in the world.  I also found a class project by a group of Cornell University students (suported by Stokke), in which the students discussed various forms of children’s seating: low chairs with children’s feet touching the floor but separated from the table, high chairs and boosters which raise the child but may not provide lower leg support, and the Stokke Kinderzeat, which provides both.  The students designed a research study:

“to test the claim that the KinderZeat’s footrest provides the “basic stability upon which movement is based” and is essential in “alleviating strain and reducing ‘fidgeting”. To do this we devised a series of tasks to be performed by young preschool children while sitting in the KinderZeat with the footrest, or without the footrest, a condition equivalent to the child sitting in either and adult chair with or without a booster. Tasks were devised to test the various reach capabilities and also the task persistence of young children sitting in these test conditions.”

The results showed that children aged 3-4 were able to reach further when seated in the Kinderzeat, had more stability, and less fidgeting.  The students stated:

”When children sat in the chair with no footrest, they seemed to move more because they had less support for their body, resulting in fidgeting as they tried to get comfortable while performing the task. The body stabilization results between the two conditions also showed a statistically significant difference. Children moved more in the no footrest condition because they were trying to stabilize their lower bodies by wrapping their feet around the chair legs or trying to use the small cross bar beneath the seat, whereas in the condition with the footrest they had a place to rest their feet. “

Although this is a not a peer-reviewed research study, and the students (as am I) may be slightly biased due to the support we received from Stokke, based on what we know about infants and breastfeeding, and what I have seen in my own children, I have become a firm believer that children need a proper footrest when they eat or perform activities at the table until their feet can reach the floor.  I am happy that there are a few other companies that have followed Stokke’s lead in creating ergonomically designed chairs for children.  It is both the application of pressure and the fact that their hips are properly flexed that likely leads to better ergonomics, comfort, behavior, and eating.

Now that you have read my previous posts, you are familiar with the benefits of introducing solids with whole-foods.  Many first time parents are terrified of choking and err on the side of caution for many months, only giving their child thoroughly pulverized mush of this and mush of that.  I hope this video will encourage you to learn more about your child and his/her capabilities. Please use your own judgment when feeding your child.

To learn more about feeding infants, please check out my favorite links:
http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/blw/engels.html
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babyledweaning.htm
http://baby-led-solids.blogspot.com/p/guidelines-for-implement…
http://www.tribalbaby.org/babyLedEating.html
http://www.rapleyweaning.com/assets/blw_guidelines.pdf
http://www.rapleyweaning.com/assets/blw_guidelines.pdf

Here is a list of foods in order of introduction for my second son.  This is not an all-inclusive list.  There are only so many foods you can introduce during this short time span.  Make the most of it!

First week (5 months): Avocado, scooped out and mashed Butternut quash, roasted and mashed Banana, raw, mashed Grass-fed ground organic beef (stir fried, and processed with breast milk in mini processor)

Foods added in the second week All foods listed above, plus: Homemade rice cereal (Cooked brown rice in food mill and processed with breast milk) Homemade oatmeal cereal (same procedure as brown rice) Flattened pieces of cooked buckwheat Quinoa Organic winter squash, small pieces Steamed organic broccoli and olive oil, mashed with my fingers, fed small pieces by finger

Foods added in the third week All foods listed above, plus: Roasted Asparagus with olive oil, small pieces of the tips Baked potato Lamb shishkabob, small “strings” of meat Spelt “bread” (Baker’s brand, made from just cooked whole spelt) and coconut oil spread on it Baked barley with celery and carrots, mashed small pieces with fingers Peas, defrosted and and mashed

Foods added in the fourth week (6 months) All foods listed above, plus: Ground up meat/carrots/tomato sauce, with thyme and garlic Plain organic yogurt Egg-free whole wheat challah Organic apple sauce Organic steamed cauliflower Chickpeas, cooked and individually flattened/mashed with fingers

Foods added in the seventh month All foods listed above, plus: Beef stew with lots of veggies- peppers, onion, celery, carrots, processed in mini-processor Mashed sweet potato and lime juice Grass-fed organic lamb meatballs cut into small pieces Pieces of roasted dark meat chicken cooked with herbs Mango Chunk light tuna, plain, tiny pieces Egg yolk Kidney beans (Eden organic canned), individually flattened/mashed with fingers Flounder, baked with pepper, wine, and parsley Ricotta cheese Brussel sprouts, roasted with olive oil and thyme, gently processed in electric processor with some brown rice, carrots, and celery Indian chili (chopped meat, onions, tomatoes, dill, cumin, lots of garlic) Whole wheat noodles and spinach Wheat germ (in yogurt)

Foods added after eight months All foods listed above, plus: Cheese Cottage cheese Cucumber Kale chips Flax seeds Pumpkin seeds Sunflower seeds Hemp milk smoothie Whole wheat pancakes made with molasses EVERYTHING ELSE WE USUALLY EAT, TOO MANY TO LIST!