Snacks are a great opportunity to get more nutrients into your child’s diet, especially if it’s tough to get her to eat a full meal sometimes. A pediatric care provider can provide ideas for such snacks as well as follow through that they are being eaten.
These tips can help you to win the nutrition battle with your child.
Focus on Nutritionally Dense Foods
Whole foods are going to have the most nutrition in them. As foods get processed, they lose a bit of their nutrients, especially when those foods are processed and packaged for sale. Added sugar, salt, and fats preserve the food and make it taste appealing, but they also add empty calories and edge out some of the nutritional value.
Try to Prep Snack Foods in Advance
That said, time and energy are not always in your favor. Being a parent to special needs children involves a lot of extra steps and it’s not always easy to offer the healthiest snacks all the time. One solution that helps is to prepare snack foods in advance when you can. Things like homemade applesauce sound intimidating, but you can throw that in a slow cooker for a few hours. If your child is able to eat most foods on her own, it could be helpful to have fruits and vegetables washed and precut in an easy-to-access spot in the fridge.
Eat Snacks Together Whenever Possible
Usually, the best way to help instill healthy habits in your kids, no matter what else is going on with them, is to model the behaviors that you’re aiming to reach. That might mean that you’re eating healthier snacks right along with your kids. Having a smoothie together after school or sharing a midmorning snack of apples and peanut butter can be a great way to bond, too.
Make the Snacks as Appealing as You Can
Keep your child’s preferences and abilities in mind as much as possible when you’re planning snack ideas. If your autistic child dislikes certain textures, including those types of foods as healthier snack options is probably not going to go over well at all. Do what you can to accommodate as many of those needs along with the nutritional needs so that you’re accomplishing as much as possible.
Finding the right combination of snack foods for special needs children may seem like a difficult task, but it really doesn’t have to be. Your child’s doctor may recommend a specific diet that helps her to get all of the nutrients she might be missing in other ways.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Pediatric Care Services in Whitehall PA please contact the caring staff at Extended Family Care Allentown today. Call 610-432-6766
Extended Family Care Allentown is a Trusted Home Care Agency in Allentown, Pennsylvania including Bethlehem, Easton, Emmaus, Macungie, Whitehall, Schnecksville, Catasauqua, Northampton, and Nazareth.
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