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My son is starting to eat finger foods. Which veggies are good for 1-year-olds? He isn’t into mashed carrots or sautéed zucchini.
While we certainly want our kids to eat their vegetables, there are no specific veggies that are absolutely essential for kids. You can offer your child a wide variety of vegetables to see which ones he prefers. But don’t give up after one or two tries with one particular vegetable. It’s normal for a child’s appetite to decrease significantly after his first birthday and for him to be kind of picky. Give your child at least a dozen chances to try any given vegetable over a period of weeks or months before you give up on it.
Above all, convey a positive attitude about veggies to your kid. Sitting your child in front of a bowl of Brussels sprouts and saying, “You are going to sit there and eat every one of those, young man” is no way to convince your child that veggies are his friends. But if you sit down with your child and say, “Wow, I love broccoli! Mmm, this is so good! Are you going to eat yours? Because if you don’t want it, I’m going to eat every bit of yours!” the “Mine!” mentality will kick in before you can say “Asparagus!”
At what age should my kids start swimming lessons?
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children age 4 and older should know how to swim. There is also recent evidence that children as young as 1 year old may benefit from swimming lessons. It’s always important for parents to remain vigilant about pool safety. This includes a 4-foot-high fence enclosing any pool and ensuring that young children are never left without adult supervision near water.
Are organic milk, eggs, and other products worth the money?
I’m going to hedge my bets and say probably not. What is most important, of course, is that children have a diet that includes a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, lean meats, and low- and no-fat dairy products. At this point, no studies have shown any improved health outcomes for children fed an organic food diet versus industrially grown food.
Are multivitamins essential? If so, at what age should children begin a daily regimen?
If your child is getting a varied and well-balanced diet, including the many types of food mentioned above, he may not need vitamin supplementation (with one major exception: vitamin D—with so little time spent in the sun, many of us are vitamin D–deficient, so breastfed babies should get vitamin D supplementation, and kids should drink vitamin D–fortified milk). The problem is that a lot of kids don’t get a varied diet when they’re grabbing a Pop-Tart while running to catch the bus in the morning, eating sloppy Joes in the school cafeteria, and getting home just in time for pizza night. If you have any doubt, a basic daily vitamin supplement won’t hurt. As for brands, the most basic store-brand vitamins are just as potent as the expensive high-end brands.
My son will be 1 in a couple of months, and I think we should wean him from the binky. What’s the best way to do it?
First of all, from a dental-health standpoint, there’s no rush. We don’t really get concerned about binky-sucking affecting how teeth come in until after the second birthday. In general, if you’re trying to get your child to change any habit, the best thing to do is to praise him when he’s not doing it. So if you notice he’s reading a book and not sucking on the binky, tell him, “You are such a big boy, reading a book and no binky!” On the other hand, when he does have the binky in his mouth, don’t mention it. Kids are smart about this. If they see they get more attention for not doing something, they eventually decide the attention is better than the binky.
Dr. Ken Haller is a pediatrician at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center and serves as an associate professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. A graduate of Creighton University School of Medicine, Haller did his residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.
