Kid’s food and dairy
Image by kaiscapes
Surfing Goat Dairy, Malama Maui tour, Maui Visitors Bureau. Photography by Peter Liu (@PeterLiu47)
Article by Alice Crawley
It’s really noticeable how many of my contemporaries are starting families and parenthood brings with it a lot of happiness, but many of them feel uncertain about things like ‘what food should I be giving my child’, ‘what are the principles of sound kid’s nutrition’ and ‘when should one start to wean’ and so on.
Although I don’t (yet) know a lot about changing diapers and getting them to sleep through the night, I am an expert when it comes to food and nutrition and I observe that mothers with newborns receive all kinds of advice regarding breast feeding and this is good, because breast feeding is good, but what happens once they stop, since it seems to me that breast feeding isn’t really an option anymore once Suzy hits 5?
And so we need to start talking about the role of cow’s milk and calcium.
Dairy is traditionally viewed to be a great ‘whole food’ providing a balance of carbs, protein, fat and energy, but it is ofen linked to the increase in childhood eczema, glue ear and asthma in dairy-intolerant kids. This can cause alarm among parents who are concerned about their children’s nutrition and dietary needs.
So, how do we make sure that our kids are getting sufficient calcium when they don’t get any dairy? Isn’t it the only kind of food containing sufficient calcium?
Well, not in my kitchen… For calcium to have its full impact you need lots of magnesium too and there is actually very little magnesium in cow’s milk.
Cabbage, seeds & nuts, Brussels sprouts and green leafy vegetables all contain calcuim and magnesium in the right proportions.
When it comes to digesting, goat’s milk is definitely better than cow’s milk and and people tell me that donkey’s milk closely represents our own human version, but I haven’t been brave enough to try that yet.
It is easy to balance your kids’ nutrition if you stick to a varied eating regime with lots of fresh ingredients.
The recommended calcium intake for a small child is 350-450 mg every day.
Here are some suggested foods which contain adequate amounts of calcium.
Canned sardines 400 mg
Canned pink salmon (with bones) 200 mg
Tofu 150 mg
Sunflower seeds 20 mg
Pumpkin seeds 15 mg
Almonds 50 mg
Broccoli 75 mg
Do take note that there is one exception to the rule when it comes to dairy: yoghurt. It’s tolerated more due to lots of the proteins being pre-digested by bacteria in the yoghurt-making process.
