Feeding difficulties include a range of scenarios where infants are not willing to feed in order to meet their nutritional needs.
Feeding behaviours respond well to a framework of structure, nurture & boundaries, including feeding difficulties, toddler refusal and ARFID.
Cow’s Milk Allergy affects 1 in 20 infants in their first year of life. It is a spectrum condition, with a wide range of presentations, sometimes difficult to distinguish from other common problems in infancy.
Constipation describes from the slow movement of poo through the bowel, which is affected by body movement, food, fibre and fluid intake, breath, stress & anxiety, repeated illness and the quality of the gut microbiota.
Most young people comfort eat at some point, we all do, because food feels nice and when we eat, neurochemicals like dopamine are released into the bloodstream, making us feel good. It’s absolutely normal to comfort eat from time to time.
Dieting or not sharing foods with other family members, can feel difficult and upsetting at a deep and unconscious level.
Carine uses this framework in all the work she does with infants, children, teens and families. She acts as nutrition educator, guide and supporter, providing resources and strategic tools.
A diverse diet is the single most valuable way of meeting a child’s nutritional needs. The first nutritional need for a child to thrive well is energy.
Every nutritional assessment covers current dietary intake, growth, digestion, elimination, microbiota health, energy balance, key nutrients and provides a holistic overview of an infant, child or teen’s nutritional health.
The nutritional assessment serves as an entry point for evidenced-based dietary treatment for diet-related conditions and behaviour change. All dietary advice promotes immediate and long-term health and wellbeing.
Tailored guidance, individualised advice and selected resources are provided, based on the information obtained during the nutritional assessment. Carine uses a wide range of tools and strategies and provides follow-up review of any immediate interventions.
The nutritional assessment is a guided discussion about what, when and how food and fluids are consumed, providing a good estimate of energy, protein, and nutrient intake of the diet as a whole. Key nutrients such as calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamins and trace elements are assessed, alongside the balance of food groups from animals and plants and habitual intakes of essential fats, sugars and fibres. Diet-related conditions, behaviours and age-related growth needs are taken into account for each child. Body measurements may be taken, BMI calculated and centile growth chart compared. I like to understand the early feeding history for infants and young children, and the lived experience of older children and young people. Bowel habits and the quality of the gut microbiota are assessed as an essential part of understanding digestive wellness, nutrient absorption and elimination. The gut microbiota is now understood to be a key feature of whole-body wellness and is highly responsive to dietary intake.
All first appointments focus on detailed nutritional assessment specific to the age and presenting problem of each child. This appointment includes a 15 minute telephone review to consider your next steps. Carine will book this with you at your appointment, it is not intended as a separate or new consultation.
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