- Children ages 1-2 years require about 950 calories per day, but the median intake for that age is 1,220 calories, nearly 30% more than they need.
- Up to a third of children under 2 eat no fruits or vegetables, according to the survey. And those who do have vegetables, french fries are the most common selection for children 15 months & older.
- More than 60% of 12 month-olds have desert or candy at least once a day! Thirty to 40% of children 15 months & up have a sugary fruit drink each day, & about 10% have soda!!!
I don't know about you but this makes me think twice about what I serve my little one each day. What do you think?
From infancy, I did not encourage the bottle so much, although she was a real "sucker", but I encouraged a sippy cup instead...still fun looking but less habits to break in the future. I also used very little juices because of the sugar content being so high in them. If she had juice, it was a 3:1 ratio of water to juice. (more economical too) I also encouraged bottled water...she loved the squirt bottles. Even though they were a little more expensive, she'd drink the water if she could squirt it but not from a cup. I knew this would benefit her later, so that's what we did. She is now 4 and regularly "asks" me for water, even if I have a soda! You can easily train them if you start oh-so-young. Later it's a little more tricky, but definitely doable.
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