Alissa Tosswill is originally from New Zealand but now lives in London and has developed Eat Play Grow. Eat Play Grow is an early childhood service which aims to empower parents to develop their child through nutrition and healthy eating, movement and play, and massage and touch. Read more about Alissa and Eat Play Grow below.
Why is nutrition and movement important from birth?
Feeding young children a healthy diet can be a challenging experience and it is now thought that children growing up today may be consuming a diet less nutritionally balanced than those raised a generation ago. From children eating more processed foods containing less vitamins and minerals to children bought up in an environment where food is moderated - the foods being consumed and how your child experiences eating in the early years can determine their likes, dislikes and habits towards food and eating later on in life.
The precursors for obesity, heart disease and diabetes can begin in those first few years; in fact they may have already begun in the womb. But why is good nutrition important from birth?
Research is starting to show that this is one of the most vital times for the body to receive the good nutrition. Critical periods of development occur in the early years, for example this is the only time for growth and cell development. Depending on whether the nutrient is physically present can depend on how small or large a cell develops within body tissues or whether a hormone or enzyme is produced. For example bone mineral density is determined by the amount of calcium consumed and neuron connections in the brain by iron intake. Offering a variety of foods everyday should provide your child with a range of nutrients to help with growth and development – but what if they don’t want to eat them?
Well here is the other side to the equation, how active is your child? As our lives are becoming more sedentary young children may not be expending the energy needed to feel hungry to consume a range of good quality foods or on the other hand they may be being over-fed but still under nourished on processed and poorer quality foods. In the early years children are able to self-regulate their appetite; it is the experience of continuing to eat through the self-regulation which reduces this ability. Watch for the signs through a meal: eating really quickly at the start before slowing down, smaller amounts going into mouth, talking and becoming distracted begins until finally pushing food away. Respect your child for this innate ability, how many adults do you know that can still do this? Provide your child with lots of opportunities to move and play to decrease sedentary behaviour and to increase appetite for good quality food. Remember you need to offer the good quality food and never assume that your child won’t like a particular food just because you don’t! So apart from increasing appetite why else is movement important from birth?
Children are born to move and in order to move they may need you to guide them and be provided lots of opportunities to develop a positive emotional response to movement so it becomes part of everyday habit. Playing down on the floor with your baby is the first chance to develop key milestones leading to the fundamental movement skills needed to enjoy and participate in sport and physical activity. Movement and play is our first language so it is important to provide opportunities for your baby to move right from birth. The way we learn, the way our brain develops and how we interact with other people can all be impacted by the time spent playing in the early years. From developing upper-body strength during tummy time (which leads to crawling and developing communication between the left and right side of the brain as well as coordination) to walking and running for health and wellbeing later in life movement development is influenced by how play time is nurtured in the early years.
Experiences in the early years shape our instinctive emotions, our likes and our dislikes that then become our reality for what is perceived normal to us in the future. This includes the way we perceive food and movement so keep it positive and offer lots of variety as boredom is another reason why a child may refuse certain foods or to play certain games!
More about Alissa and Eat Play Grow
Alissa has a double degree in Physical Education and Human Nutrition, a certificate in Pregnancy and Post-Natal Yoga and is an International Association of Infant Massage Instructor – which means she is very passionate about developing healthy lifestyles. In New Zealand Alissa was the Active Movement Advisor (0-5yrs) for Sport Auckland and was part of the development of Wriggle and Rhyme – Active Movement for Early Learning which is delivered in Libraries across New Zealand. Now in London she is teaching Pregnancy and Post-natal Yoga and Infant Massage classes as well as offering private and group consultations. Visit www.eatplaygrow.co.uk for more information.
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