March is National Nutrition Awareness month. For many families with infants and young children, wondering if their child is getting the proper nutrition can be a common concern. Early Intervention Services works with families with infants and children up to three years old who have concerns regarding proper nutrition and feeding.
Failure to thrive, or growth faltering, is a term used to describe when a child is growing more slowly for their age. This is common and can often be addressed by working with the child and the family to develop strategies to increase nutritional intake. Our Early Intervention Services regularly works with infants and toddlers and their families regarding feeding.
Communities served
Early Intervention Services is a Partners in Child Development program and serves the Greater Lawrence communities (Andover, Lawrence, Methuen, and North Andover) and the Greater Lowell communities (Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Lowell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, and Westford). Our services are provided at a child’s home or in a child’s natural environment such as a childcare with no direct cost to a family.
Infants
For an infant, breast milk and/or formula is the sole source of nutrition. It is very common for an infant not to be gaining weight for a wide variety of reasons. We understand this is concerning and regularly help resolve such concerns. Our lactation consultants and nurses work with parents and caregivers of infants to observe feedings and to assist in strategies to help an infant with breast feeding and/or bottle feeding. Sometimes small adjustments such as the position of the mother’s breast, the baby’s position, angle of their mouth to latch, or use of a nipple guard can make all the difference.
Changing bottles can also help resolve the matter and increase an infant’s intake.
Rest assured, if you have concerns about an infant’s weight gain, our Early Intervention Services specialists are highly skilled in listening to your concerns and providing in person strategies and suggestions to help your infant thrive and to give you confidence and peace of mind that your infant is getting the nutrition they need to grow.
Reach out for a no-cost evaluation today.
Formulas
There are so many baby formulas on the market and our Early Intervention nurses confirm that each infant absorbs the nutrients in formulas differently. So for some families, not gaining weight may be due to the formula.
Formula is expensive so we understand that buying and trying formulas can be both stressful and costly. As our Early Intervention Services nurses work with an infant and their family, we often communicate with the doctor’s office or pediatrician to discuss alternative formulas in an effort to secure free samples for the family. We have found this especially helpful to manage costs and to help identify alternative formulas to help an infant thrive.
Recently, we were helping a family with twins who were not gaining weight. The family tried five different formulas before finding a goat milk formula that has resulted in the twins gaining weight and thriving!
If you are using formula and your infant is not gaining weight, it may be the formula. Our experienced specialists are happy to connect with you to assess if an alternative formula may help your infant get the nutrition they need to grow.
Getting started is as easy as 1-2-3.
Shifting to Solid Foods – An Important Nutritional Milestone
A child’s first birthday is an important milestone to shift their nutritional intake to be primarily from solid foods. Generally, by this time a child should be eating the same foods as prepared for the rest of the family and we help families with this transition to reduce meal time stress and to avoid having to prepare multiple meals.
Most children at this age will do well with small pieces of meat and bite-sized steamed vegetables as examples. Offering meat to a young child sometimes raises concerns from the parents or caregivers. We have provided in person support and guidance to help parents and caregivers offer meat for the first few times to build their confidence that the bites are of good size and they gain confidence in their child chewing the food before swallowing.
Too much milk
We sometimes discover in an initial meeting that the child is not eating meals as they are full from milk. We help families make this shift so nutritional intake shifts to solid foods and less from milk. We recommend offering food to the child first at mealtime with a smaller amount of milk to encourage the child eating solid foods for the majority of their nutritional intake. This helps with that transition as otherwise they are drinking too much milk and are too full to eat.
Increasing Calorie Intake
Failure to thrive at this stage in a child’s development may indicate they need to have more calories added to their meals. Nurse Andrea Bernier has worked with many families to add butter, olive oil, heavy cream or high calorie vegetables to their meals such as avocado or sweet potato. As Andrea reinforces, “I always start with understanding what the family has tried as we look to identify the reason that the child is not gaining weight.” She adds, “Honestly, it can be difficult to know what a proper serving for a toddler is as a family shifts to table foods. Sometimes it can be as simple as adding more high caloric foods to the meal or increasing the serving size. Our team first seeks to understand what is happening today and what has been tried, to develop strategies to work with the family.”
Textures and Spice
Textures may be a reason that you find your child will refuse certain foods. Andrea Bernier, works regularly with families to resolve feeding concerns, starting with infants up to toddlers. Her decades of experience have helped many families develop strategies to get toddlers to try and enjoy table food as they make that important transition to get the nutrition they need to develop and grow. Her experience has shown that there are generally two types of eaters: those who like some spice and those who like some texture or crunch.
If you find you have a ‘picky eater’, think about what they will eat. Do they like the crunch of crackers or the texture of granola? Do they gravitate to some spice such as taco meat or a spicy chicken tender? These hints may help you develop strategies to add some additional flavor by adding spices that you cook with or mix in some crunch to add to yogurt or applesauce if wet or mushy textures are an issue. Wet and mushy foods are common textures that toddlers will reject, so if this is happening at your home, you are not alone. Try adding crunch to see if the change in texture helps.
Early Intervention Services is here to help with common nutritional concerns
At Early Intervention Services, we are dedicated and committed to working with families, meeting them where they are, and providing ideas and strategies that can be easily integrated into one’s daily routines.
As a parent or caregiver who has concerns about a child who is not gaining weight or only eating the same food every day or refusing to eat, Our Early Intervention Services specialists are here to help you.
We encourage you to reach out to us for a no cost evaluation. In addition to our Early Intervention Services, we have a wealth of resources in the communities we serve to offer additional expertise and support if needed.
Proper nutrition is essential for growth and development, especially in the early years when the brain is rapidly developing.
Know that you are not alone when it comes to feeding concerns. We have worked with hundreds of families and welcome the opportunity to meet you and assist so your child thrives.
Learn more about Feeding and Our Approach and Specialists
