Pediatric Nutrition Resources

Update:

This page has largely been replaced by our new expanded Food & Nutrition Books page.

Ellyn Satter is my favorite authority on pediatric feeding issues. All of her books emphasize a healthy division of responsibility: you're responsible for what is served and when you serve it, and your kids decide what and how much they eat. In general, childrens' bodies know better than we do how much they need to eat for appropriate growth, and this division of responsibilities helps you avoid mealtime battles, and promotes healthy eating choices. However, while her advice on feeding issues is great, her nutritional advice does leave something to be desired for folks making for progressive diet choices (organic, veggie, etc) for their family. These are some of her books ...

• Child of Mine - Feeding with Love and Good Sense - "A warm, supportive, and entertaining book for parents about basic nutrition for infants and young children, and a solid nutrition reference for professionals. Covers breast feeding, bottle-feeding, learning to eat grownup food, and normal growth from infancy through preschool."
• How to Get Your Kid to Eat ... But Not Too Much - "This is the book about feeding dynamics. Based on a solid understanding of child development and parent-child relationships, firmly builds the bridge between nutrition and feeding. Offers specific advice on feeding children from infancy through adolescence, including feeding the sick child, eating disorders, childhood obesity, and poor growth."
• Your Child's Weight - Helping Without Harming - "This groundbreaking book gives clear evidence that children gain too much weight because of how, not what they are fed. Satter's calming, practical and carefully documented voice empowers readers to feed well, parent well, and let children grow up to get bodies that are right for them. Packed with Satter's ever-popular feeding stories, Your Child's Weight offers clear guidance for professionals as well as parents."

Another good book is Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health: Birth Through Age Six featuring research-based concepts of "metabolic programming" - how what we eat early on can influence influence cellular functions in ways that affect intelligence, personality, immunity, strength, and, of course, growth patterns.