We are excited to announce that Leanne Cooper, leading childhood nutrition expert and author of infant and childhood nutrition books, including ‘What Do I Feed My Baby?’ will be joining our MetroMum Blog team and answering your questions on nutrition.

Leanne’s nutritional support and advice is featured on Huggies websites worldwide, she is on numerous Expert Panels, and consults on nutrition to a number of parenting organisations and magazines. She has been passionately involved in health and education for over 20 years and we are so excited to have her professional advice and to introduce her to you.

Introducing Leanne Cooper

Hope you enjoy reading our blog interview with Leanne

How many children do you have?

Two boys, Samuel is 4 and Zach is 8. Oh and I shouldn’t forget my husband Don, he’s the maddest one of the four of us and we love him for it.

What do you, and your children like to do together?

The boys love music so we are often grooving around the house, I must be getting old because I’m constantly turning the volume down… Aside from that we all love to rip stick and chase the dog about like loonies. Zach in particular is a keen cook which we enjoy doing together and Samuel loves being on the computer with my while I’m Skyping my folks in NZ.

What is your children’s favourite snack ?
 
Apple, chocolate covered goji berries.  Zach, I have to confess loves cake (of literally any kind), Samuel isnt such a keen cake lover, but will never say no to an iceblock.

What is your professional background?
 
I started out with a degree in psychology and education with the sole purpose of wanting to become a childhood psychologist, it was something I had planned to do since I was 13.

 However, after four years of uni I couldn’t get on the plane to the UK fast enough.  Once I thought travel was out of my system (I still love it even today) I headed back to Sydney and after a bit of soul searching decided nutrition was my passion. I lectured in nutrition for years while the business was getting some momentum and also had a small practice.  In those days (BC – before children) Sports Nutrition was my thing, both Don and I have a lot of contact with sports people and teams.  When Zach came along though, kids nutrition just took centre stage.

What made you choose to be a nutritionist?
 
To be honest it was a somewhat of a case of ‘healer heal thy self’. I had been miserably sick since returning from the UK and after attending a Blackmores seminar began to realise I had myself to blame.  I had a shocking diet, working for a chocolate manufacturer didn’t help (though it was fun); still the upside is that I don’t have a puritanical attitude towards healthy eating, I take a realistic approach.  Reflecting back though nutrition was one of my best subjects at school and I really enjoyed cooking and understanding food.  Funny how it is that life can bring you full circle.

What is your life motto?

I don’t really have one, I find they change with the changes in my life, but I love Kerri Pottharst’s one ‘”In order to fly you are going to have to let go of the world you are currently hanging on to….!”

What is Sneakys?

Sneakys is my kids nutrition branch of my business, it was born out of a need to cope with my fussy eater.  In the early days I was making kids muffins that had all sorts of vegies and healthy ingredients that replaced the traditional ‘pound of butter’ and cup of white sugar.  As the other side of my business grew (Cadence Health and Nutrition Courses) I simply ran out of time and stopped baking for everyone except my own gang.  Sneakys now, is about information provision, I write for Huggies Baby Club website, Organic Bubs, and lots of parenting magazines both in Australia and in NZ.  Sneakys has expanded from being largely focused on fussy eating to providing nutrition information for expectant mums, babies starting out on solids, through to children’s nutrition.

How were you inspired to start your business?
 
Sneakys really came from the questions I would be asked on a daily basis by other parent’s.  It occurred to me that there must be a huge gap in useful, parent-friendly information and support in terms of feeding your little ones. I think to the conviction with which other parents spoke about their concerns for their children’s nutrition was also very motivating and inspiring.

What books have you written?
 
My most successful book is What Do I Feed My Baby.  I was amazed at how confusing the messages are to parents about something that seemed so simple, how to start solids.  Initially the book started as a tip sheet, I sent it out to a few friends and before I knew it I had people wanting to know more. So I thought why not get it to thousands of parents and I sent it off to Huggies, with in weeks it was the first of dozens of my tip sheets Huggies website now holds.  Why stop there I thought… I wrote it up as a bit of a manual, our gorgeous family day carer Jenna Bateman spread the word and still people wanted more.  Dough… Why not a book!  I couldn’t find an interested publisher so I simply did it myself, with much help from my graphic design-wiz sister and friends and other family members.

My other two books (Sneakys Recipes for Fussy Foodies and What Do I Feed My Toddler) are currently more manual style, but we are hoping to get our recipes for fussy foodies into print later this year.  

What’s your top tip for tackling fussy eaters?
 
Exposure! Let them touch, grow, sprout, cut, grate, cook foods, fussy eating is all about a natural suspicion and anything you can do to reduce that suspicion will have a positive impact on both the severity and duration of fussy eating. And… Don’t stress it, the more attention you pay to what is NOT being eaten the more it increases.  Focus on the what IS being eaten and stick to the good stuff!

Do you have a question that you would like Leanne to answer? Post them here or email contact@metromum.com.au and Leanne will answer them for you

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