Here are your questions on nutrition answered by Leanne Cooper, leading childhood nutrionist and author of “What Do I Feed My Baby”.

I want to know how you can get your year 1 boy to eat something at school – most days the lunch box is full and apart from breakfast @ 7.30am he hasnt had anything since and its 3.30pm…its cut up easy to eat, favourite foods all the well known tactics….I worry that in class it would be hard to concentrate with nothing in his stomach ???

Consider swapping morning tea for lunch. Most often schools make children sit for 10 minutes at morning tea before they can go and play, this may be your best time to get him to eat. Make lunch more snack orientated, it needs to be quick and convenient and still filling. Also ensure with this weather it is cool, so freeze his water bottle and pop it into his lunch box. Avoid poppers as the juice can fill them up quickly and displace the food. You can also ask the teacher about adopting water and fruit in the classroom, depending on where you live this has already been incorporated into some schools, for example in NSW.  Hope that helps, Leanne.

Is it ok to give a 4 month old a little bit of fresh fruit in those tommee tippee mesh things to suck the juice out? Because i gave him some rock melon and he loved it i’m just concerned about the sugar in it (even though its natural)- first time mum

If your bub is on solids there is no problem with using a fresh food feeder, they are a great idea and I recommend them often, you can pop all sorts of things in there for baby to trial and also they are handy for starting finger foods a little later. The sugars in fruit don’t react the same as added sugar (table sugar also known as sucrose).  But just remember that we are born with an innate preference for sweet tastes and babies can get ‘stuck’ on this early on, you have to watch out for the commercial baby foods that are sweetened with apple juice (which also can cause diarrhoea) and custards etc which are very sweet.  Sorry, digressing a little,  so focus on vegies etc and add a little fruit into the mix (so to speak).  If bub isn’t yet on solids, perhaps wait until you make the decision to start (see ”What Do I Feed My Baby”  for signs and signals).  All the best, Leanne

My daugther will be 13 weeks old on Monday. When she has her bottle she contstantly screams, she has reflux. She is on S26AR and drinking 220mls or so 4 times a day. She is a perfect sleeper, she sleeps 4 hours of a morning then 3 hours then 1 hr and then sleeps 11.5hrs to 12 hrs per night. She started sleeping through at 6 weeks of age.  My first daughter had the same problem but the reflux interferred with her sleeping. I didnt give my first born any medicine, but I have caved in second time round and giving my second child 1ml of zantax each feed this was prescribed by her paedritician.  I hate having to give her this as this still isnt working im still giving her milanta after feeds as well but still no luck. I hate giving any types of medicine, and i know that if i go back my paedritician he will put her on losac which i really dont want to do.

High there, you may want to consider swapping to a formula that is partially hydrolysed as this can sit better in baby’s tummy, for example the NAN HA Gold which also has the benefit of a different protein ratio (called optimised protein) so that the clearance of the formula is more similar to breastmilk.

It appears that such formulas are easy for babies to digest.  Also check the teat you are using and ensure it is one of the new ones that mimic breastmilk flow and reduce the amount of air that baby takes in with the formula.  Hope that helps, all the best, Leanne.

Do you have a question that you want Leanne to answer? Post them here or email contact@metromum.com.au

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2 Comments for Ask Leanne! Your Nutritional Questions Answered