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Adding a 1/2-1 serve of protein to your child’s lunchbox, will help meet their daily protein requirements (1.5 serves/day), along with other important a nutrients, such as iron, calcium, zinc, vitamin D.

I know it’s not easy to get these foods in, try and find a couple of items they enjoy and find easy to nibble on at lunchtime with their friends.

1 serve of protein for kids (4-8yrs) =

2 eggs

80gm chicken/turkey

65gm cooked lean beef
lamb, pork

1 cup of legumes

100g fish

1 1/2 tablespoons of seeds

Cheese/yoghurt - add to dairy intake too, but can be a good way to get some protein into children too.

Always think safe food hygiene, use an ice pack to keep these foods cold in those lunchboxes.

I hope all the kids are enjoying being back at school!

As dietitian’s we can totally understand the frustration, when your child is struggling to eat your food or anyone’s food!

We need to take a step back and look at WHY this is happening, in order to help them move through and improve, we need to get to the root cause and address that first. This may be really difficult for some kids and may take some time and lots of help.

Eating is a learned behaviour and we need help our children learn through positive experiences, the they will go back for more. If it’s not a positive experience they will shy away.

Do remember to tune into your kids and help them to tune into their own hunger and satiety cues. Never force them to eat, there is probably something they are struggling with.

Does your child struggle to sit at the table? I hear you in that!

Having a look at their environment and how they are sitting can be a first step to helping improve meal times.

POSTURAL STABILITY is key!

1. Helps focus the brain on eating
2. Opens up the chest to help with breathing
3. Better hand to moth coordination - improving fine motor skills
+ much more!

Helping your child sit comfortably at the table, is the start of improving your mealtimes. Once we have a suitable environment for our child, we can work on foods.

I know it’s tough! Let me know if yiu concerns or questions.

Does your child struggle to sit at the table? I hear you in that!

Having a look at their environment and how they are sitting can be a first step to helping improve meal times.

POSTURAL STABILITY is key!

1. Helps focus the brain on eating
2. Opens up the chest to help with breathing
3. Better hand to moth coordination - improving fine motor skills
+ much more!

Helping your child sit comfortably at the table, is the start of improving your mealtimes. Once we have a suitable environment for our child, we can work on foods.

I know it’s tough! Let me know if yiu concerns or questions.

Hello all, I am so sorry I’ve been very quiet on here for so long! Thank you for following me, continuing to follow me!

We recently uprooted, left Singapore and have moved to Australia. I continue to work with children and their nutrition and gut health.

I am trying to figure out where to go on Instagram. Where the gaps are and what my followers need/would like to hear more about.

I am still registered in the UK and able to work with people, in the UK and Singapore as well as Australia. So if you do have questions or need help please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

I’ve been slow in getting back to messages, I’m catching up this week, so hopefully I’ll get all your questions answered this week.

Please do let me know what you would like to hear more about, I’m brainstorming now!

Always going above and beyond this girl. Your talent, morale and love you give the world, are an inspiration to us all.

The favourite Macaroni Cheese, a few ways....

If you are gluten or dairy free or vegan, you don’t have to rule out this nutritious, tasty, easy meal.

🥕🌽🫑🫒Get those veg in there for some fibre and it’s a done meal.

Enjoy x

For some help with reading food labels in Singapore and much much more on asthma and allergies, check out Facebook and Instagram pages.

Some support and guidance to help you start your baby on their solid food journey! Featuring myself Kathy Lowes-Switzer and the brilliant Lily Loh from Lilo Premium Ikan bilis Powder.

Mothercare x Lilo - Baby Weaning Episode 1 Do you know what is a good age to start baby weaning and what are the 5 signs to look out for baby weaning readiness? ✨ Find out the answers and more on how ...

💊PRENATAL SUPPLEMENTS💊

I am definitley someone who promotes a varied diet, before turning to supplements and during pregnancy my first line is to improve your micronutrient intake with your diet.

However, during pregnancy your requirements are significantly higher for a number of a micronutrients and getting the right amounts, throughout your pregnancy can determine your babies as well as your furture health. Some micronutrients are particularly necessary and have been recommended to all pregnant women.

Different countries do have some differences even in these standard reccomendations.

Supplements need to be tailored to you and your trimester and will depend on a number of different things, such as; your diet, your medical history, past pregnancies and current pregnancy.

Prenatal Dietitians are here to help you get this right for you.

K 🌻

Kathy is very excited to be featured in Sassy mama this month. If you’d like more information on vitamin and mineral supplements or probiotics, have a read!

Supplement Guide: Children’s Vitamins and Probiotics Wondering whether your child needs supplements like vitamins or probiotics? Check out our guide on Children's Supplements in Singapore

Starting foods begins around 6 months of age, the exact timing will depend on the individual baby and their readiness signs; ⁣
- holding their head unsupported ⁣
- Sitting up in high chair and not slumped over ⁣
- lost tongue thrust motion and not pushing the food back out with tongue ⁣
- good hand eye corordination, picking up objects and putting to mouth ⁣
- intetested in your food⁣
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🤱🏻Breastfeeding or bottle feeding exclusively until 6months will provide your baby with all the nutrition they need. ⁣
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Around 6 months - your baby does require more nutrition (particularly iron), start to develop and progress oromotor skills (moving food around, swallow cordination, chewing, even speech) build immunity, mature gut health and build tolerance to allergens. Moving through the textures, flavours and a wide variety of foods will help with all of the above. ⁣
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🥦Start with smooth purée, bitter green vegetables and add in iron contains foods within 2 weeks, meats, legumes, eggs⁣
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🍌Around 7 months add in finger foods, length and width of adult fingers. Soft or meltable textures. Move onto mashable textures. Start to add in allergens, (such as peanut butter, eggs, fish, yoghurt, cheese, sesame) leave 2-3 days between allergenic food introductions. ⁣
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🍜🍠At 8 months - 3 small meals/day, mashable textures and finger foods are included ⁣
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🍚9- 10 months - grainy textures such as rice, quinoa, cous cous and finger foods ⁣
3 meals and add a snack. ⁣
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👨‍👨‍👧‍👧By 12 months- your aim....main food allergens included, flavoursome, varied texture, plenty of variety and importantly family foods. To enjoy as a family.
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Every baby will move on at their own pace, you know your baby better than anyone, listen to their satiety and readiness cues, this will guide you on texture and quantity.
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Any questions please ask..... thank you!

kids_dietitiansg updated their address.

👨‍🍳What shall I give my baby first? ⁣
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🥬🥦Start with purée vegetables, bitter tasting and some iron. ⁣
⁣
😖Why Bitter tasting? Most baby’s are born with a preference for sweet tastes, so if we introduce sweet fruits first, it’s very likely this sweet taste will be favourite, going forward. Bitter tastes take some time to adjust to, but you are setting them up to have a more adventurous palate,⁣
and accepting more foods. ⁣
⁣
🍗Why iron? At around 6months your baby’s iron stores start to drop and their requirements increase, so the breastmilk or formula, no longer provide enough. Your baby needs their iron from their food.⁣
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🥦🍗How best to get iron in? Start off with bitter, iron containing veggies, or even legumes, if you would like and then after a week or so add in some meats and then finally fish to the purées. ⁣
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🥝🍗To help with the absorption of iron, Vitamin C containing foods, can be mixed into your meats, tofu and legumes. Foods such as broccoli, spinach, sqaush, sweet potatoes capsicum and then start to add in some fruit purées, such as; berries, kiwi’s, or a squeeze of lemon juice into the purée. ⁣
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Every baby will progress differently, so take your time with moving forward and listen to their cues. ⁣
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You may choose ‘baby led weaning’, which is fine too, my next post will have a look at the different ways we can wean our baby onto solids, there is no right or wrong way and actually a mix of the two is a nice way forward. Post coming next.....

Starting Solids- this can be an exciting but daunting time. ⁣
⁣
I’ll be on Instagram live with Lilo from Ikanbilis to talk through some common questions. Don’t worry if you miss it, I plan on posting some information on my feed over the next few days, to help you out.
⁣
Please let me know if you have any questions on ‘Weaning your Baby’ I’m⁣
here to help.
⁣
Kathy x

Are you introducing solids to your baby? Do you have questions about allergies, timing, what to give? Come and join us tonight at 9pm on Instagram Live.....

[IG LIVE: LILO X Kids Nutrition Singapore 8 September 9pm tonight! ]

Hello all! will be going Live on IG, featuring Kathy Lowes-Switzer, Consultant Paediatric Dietian from .sg to chat about baby weaning, allergy, tips and more!

1 Lucky active participant will win 1 full set of Lilo worth $113!

Feel free to comment your questions in this thread or join in our Live Chat so we can address your questions!

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🙋🏼‍♀️ I am the first one to put my hand up and say, it can be hard, really hard, to keep your cool at meal times. ⁣
⁣
😁 Aim for positivity and not perfection. ⁣
⁣
🤪If it is chaos and the perfect meal is not eaten or the food made is not finished or not the favourite, it will still feel good, if you have laughed with your children, chatted about the random things they talk about and spent quality time with them.⁣
⁣⁣
😁 Remember they are not always going to like the new meals you make, this is ok 👌 and totally normal! ⁣
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🎼The key is exposure to new meals, foods, textures and colours. This will set them up to be good, adventurous eaters.⁣
⁣
🍆🍅🥬🥥 Try not to let new foods scare you, as much as it scares them. Keep trying, keep going, keep experimenting, keep positive. ⁣
⁣
🧡Remember..... Positive and Happy NOT perfection 💛💛💛💛

⁣
🙋🏼‍♀️ I am the first one to put my hand up and say, it can be hard, really hard, to keep your cool at meal times. ⁣
⁣
😁 Aim for positivity and not perfection. ⁣
⁣
🤪If it is chaos and the perfect meal is not eaten or the food made is not finished or not the favourite, it will still feel good, if you have laughed with your children, chatted about the random things they talk about and spent quality time with them.⁣
⁣⁣
😁 Remember they are not always going to like the new meals you make, this is ok 👌 and totally normal! ⁣
⁣
🎼The key is exposure to new meals, foods, textures and colours. This will set them up to be good, adventurous eaters.⁣
⁣
🍆🍅🥬🥥 Try not to let new foods scare you, as much as it scares them. Keep trying, keep going, keep experimenting, keep positive. ⁣
⁣
🧡Remember..... Positive and Happy NOT perfection 💛💛💛💛

Hands up if your kids like to dip their food into something?

Whether it be snacks, chips, veggie sticks, roast potatoes, sweet potato chips, chicken pieces or fish, kids like to hold their food and have some sauce.

Stuck on ketchup? Here are some ideas, that will not only add some variety to your child's diet, but also some important nutrients and prebiotics too.

Enjoy experimenting with some new flavours and colours, who knows, ketchup may become a thing of the past. If not, no worries, your child may just have some other favourites!

If you need any recipes let me know, send me a message.

Free Sugars?
These are sugars we need to keep to a minimum in our children's diets.

Take away the POSITIVES⁣
What you did you do more or less of, that you would like to incorporate into your life as we star to get back to normal? ⁣
⁣
🍽 more family meals together ⁣
👨‍🍳 more cooking with the kids ⁣
🏃🏽 more exercise ⁣
📚 more reading ⁣
🧘‍♀️ more time to stop and chill out ⁣
🌿 more gardening/creating a herb garden⁣
🚘 less rushing about⁣
⁣
There maybe mixed emotions about things opening up :⁣
🥳Excitement, 😣Worry, 😄 Happiness 😔Relief 😖mixed feelings ⁣
⁣
Take your own time to adjust

Enjoy seeing your friends and where possible family, but try and take the positives away with you going forward, even if it’s just one! ⁣
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😍⁣
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There are mixed emotions:⁣
😁 Excited ⁣
😣 Nervous ⁣
😄 Happy ⁣
😳 Scared

Getting your nutrition right at each stage of pregnancy (pre, pregnant, post), is vital for you and your baby.

Hungrier than ever now the baby is here? YES! When you are breastfeeding, your energy requirements are at their highest.

Add in some extra whole grain snacks, nuts, fruit, yoghurts, eggs, avocado toast, but butters, smoothies, vegetable soups.

Give you and your baby the best start!

‘Store cupboard’ Tuna and Chickpea fish cakes!
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This afternoon I scrabbled around in the cupboard to come up with our dinner and it was a winner!

Ingredients
🐟 1 tin of tuna
🥫 1 tin (400g) of chickpeas
🍠 3-4 sweet potatoes
🥄 tbsp of cornflour
🥚 1 egg
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# #
Method
1. Peel, chop and boil sweet pot
2. Meanwhile drain rinse and blend chickpeas
3. Drain tuna
4. Mix all@of the above together
5. Add beaten egg, lemon juice and cornflour and mix
6. Shape into small balls/patties
7. Fry in large frying pan

🥦🍆serve with veggies, a grain of choice (we chose quinoa ) and squeeze of lemon 🍋🍋

The kids quite like natural yoghurt with a squeeze of lemon to dip them in. 🍋🍶

Ideal for babies (6months +) as a finger food, toddlers, big kids and even adults. We have added the left overs to lunch boxes tomorrow, with some chopped veggie sticks.

ENJOY x

Happy Dietitians week!!
Dietitians understand and unravel the complex, controversial, SCIENCE that is 'Nutrition'.
Dietitians work with healthy and sick individuals, public health initiatives, industry and healthcare professionals, to ensure evidence based nutritional care is delivered and practical advice is given, to improve quality of life!
'Trust a Ditetian to know about nutrition'' BDA

Happy Dietitians Week!
'Dietitians are the only nutrition professionals to be regulated by law, and are governed by an ethical code to ensure that they always work to the highest standard' British Dietetic Association
Dietitians understand and unravel the complex science of nutrition. They help individuals, public health initiatives and other healthcare professionals make practical changes to diet and lifestyle.
Dietitians work with both healthy and sick individuals or groups, to optimise their nutrition and improve their quality of life.

If you have questions about your health and nutrition, see a Registered Dietitian.

ROCKY ROAD for ‘Last Lockdown Friday’🤞celebration!! 🍾

Ingredients
🍪200g digestive biscuits
🧈120g butter
🍫200g dark chocolate
🍯2-3 tbsp golden syrup/honey
🍡100g marshmallows (mini or chopped)
Optional
🥜Handful of chopped mixed nuts
Raisins
Smarties
Maltesers
You name it, you try it!

🧑🏼‍🍳METHOD
➡️lime a brownie/baking tin with baking paper
➡️Crush biscuits in a bag with a rolling pin
➡️ Add biscuits, marshmallows and nuts to a big bowl
➡️melt the butter, choccie, syrup/honey in a saucepan, low heat
➡️Add melted mix to dry mix, stir together (kids love this bit!)
➡️flatten into the baking tin prepared and pop in the fridge for a couple of hrs to set
➡️cut into squares and enjoy!

FOOD ALLERGY TESTING
Are you worried your child has a food allergy?
This may be;
An immediate onset allergy, with symptoms usually appearing after 30minutes (swollen lips, rash, coughing, difficulty breathing)
A delayed food allergy, symptoms can occur hours after the food has been eaten, may be more gut like symptoms ( more frequent/loose stools, constipation, recurrent abdominal pain, recurrent vomiting)
Who should you see? -à Your Paediatrician, who will refer you to a doctor who specialises in allergy or he himself may recommend the validated tests.
The two food allergy tests which are recommended and give an accurate result for IMMEDIATE onset allergies:
1. Skin prick tests – allergens placed on the skin (usually your arm), the skin is pricked and you wait for a wheel to develop, the size is assessed against a control.
2. Specific IgE (Immunoglobulin E) blood tests
Immunoglobulin E, is an antibody found in the bloods in small amounts. It is raised in some people when their body recognizes specific foods as a foreign body or pathogen and raises an immune response, inflammation to this food. The blood test, looks at these IgE antibodies, specific to certain foods (or other allergens)
What if my child has a DELAYED onset allergy and the above tests were negative? 🔆See a Registered Paediatric dietitian
Eliminate the suspected foods with their help ✅IMPORTANTLY- Re-challenge these foods, with your dietitians help
These above are the only ways to diagnose food allergy 💉What about the IgG tests?
Other tests, such as the popular IgG blood test, are NOT recommended.
IgG – is the most common antibody, it protects against pathogens. It should NOT be used as a diagnostic tool. ❌You can get a lot of false positives and with this, a huge number of foods (nutritious foods) can show up positive, and with this they will wrongly be removed a long from your child’s diet. ‼️ ➡️This can not only lead to multiple nutrient deficiencies and poor growth, but food aversion, which can lead to disordered eating into adulthood.
Food allergies are complex, seek help from the right healthcare professionals.