Lisa Eckley reassured parents not to hit the panic button when it comes to feeding their toddlers.
“A lot of parents get stressed about how much food their toddler should eat,” Eckley, food service director at Pottsville Area School District, said. She led a special program at the Pottsville Free Public Library on Wednesday as part of the Family Place Parent-Child Workshop.
Lindsay Row, Pottsville, admitted her daughter, Madeleine Row, 2, falls into that picky eater category.
She brought Madeleine, along with her 8-month-old daughter, Evelyn Row, to the event.
“When we came in to sign up for the regular story time, we found out about this, so we came here to check it out,” said Row, who recently moved into the area from Arizona. The family was originally from Bloomsburg, she said.
“We’re at home a lot and this is good socialization for them,” she said. “Madeleine loves the library, and we get new books for the week while we’re here.”
Vanessa Logan encouraged her 3-year-old daughter, Addison Klingbeil, to play with Row’s girls, as they sat nearby. Logan, Pottsville, said she had attended the library program before and that’s where she met another mother, Crystal Venturino, and her 6-month-old son, Watson Miles, also of Pottsville.
“I found the experience to be educational,” Logan said. “For my daughter, with her speech and developmental delays, this was a way for her to get out among other children.”
Venturino said she was happy to expose Watson to what the library has to offer and boost his socialization.
“This is a way to normalize the library for our children and hope that they get that love for books,” Venturino said.
On Wednesday, Vanessa and Addison joined other families who were building fresh fruit and yogurt parfaits at the workshop. Darren DeArment, youth services librarian at the library, had provided cut-up strawberries, blueberries, honey and yogurt for the healthy, snack-building activity.
Eckley said once children reach the age of 1, their growth slows down and their eating patterns can change. By the age of 3 or 4, their appetite can change again. Eckley said people’s stomachs are the size of their fists, so the stomachs of toddlers are very tiny. Snacks are important for them.
As a general guideline, each day a child between the ages of 1 and 3 needs about 40 calories for every inch of height. For example, a toddler who measures 32 inches should be taking in an average of about 1,300 calories a day, but the amount varies with each child’s build and activity level.
“If you force kids to eat, it will led to obesity,” she said. “Children only usually eat when they’re hungry.”
She also warned against giving food as a reward.
She said parents and caregivers need to introduce a new food 10 times before a child may eat it, and at least 10 times before a child shows an absolute aversion to that particular food.
Eckley offered families several hand-outs, sharing information on “Healthy Tips for Picky Eaters;” appropriate serving sizes; and nutritional guidelines for servings of grain, fruit and vegetables, milk, meat and fat.
DeArment said the Family Place Parent-Child Workshop program runs at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesdays in May, and is for children ages 1 to 3. The workshop features local experts on nutrition, speech, physical activity and behavior, who provide information for parents and caregivers. The presenter for the next, and final week of the program this year is Kim Good from Child Development Inc. who will discuss behavior on May 25. The Pottsville library has offered the workshop program for seven years, DeArment said.
According to its website, “Family Place Libraries is a network of children’s librarians nationwide who believe that literacy begins at birth, and that libraries can help build healthy communities by nourishing healthy families. The Family Place Libraries network currently includes more than 400 sites in 27 states and continues to grow.”
For more information, visit http://www.familyplacelibraries.org/.