Friday, August 1, 2008

Calcium again !

I am still continuing with my quest for calclum rich food.

My 2 1/2 year old is still not drinking formula. While other Malaysian kids go to kindergarten with a tummy full of probably 6 to 8 oz of formula milk, mine goes to school with an empty tummy. Purely because she wouldn't eat anything within the hour when she woke up in the morning, and because she has objected to formula milk since she stopped taking in breast milk. Hence the daily bento boxes for her snacks in school. check out my other blogs for posts on toddlers bento.

She was a breastfed baby and when my milk production index has gone down, she has not had her daily intake of calcium.

I do all I can to sneak calcium rich food into her diet. Refer to my posts below on recipes on calcium rich food.

Anyhow, just the other day, I was shopping with a girlfriend. As usual, I peered into those teeny weeny label indexing the food content, looking for anything above 0 to 5 % DV. My girlfriend had asked, what is it about the %DV?

I figured if she doesn't know, a lot of others out there may not know either.

So here I am listing down the yardstick for gauging the calcium content.

Percentage for DV

The percentage (%) DV for calcium on those labels stuck to the back of the food package, indexing the mineral content, is based on the adult daily requirements of 1000mg a day.

Take a pack of milk, for eg. If a pack of milk says it is 30% DV for calcium, you are looking at 300mg of calcium.

A toddler's calcium need is 500mg per day, so that is about 60% of a toddler's calcium needs for the day.

You need to know what is your kid's calcium need.

Kids who are 4 to 8 years old need abou 800mg per day. So Kimberly, being 7 1/2 year old, would need more calcium than Ashley, who is 2 1/2 year old.

A teenager would need about 1300mg a day. So that pack of milk that you are looking at would only b about 20% to 25%of a teen's calcium requirement.

Because Ashley doesn't take milk, I add a lot of cheese to their pizza and pasta sauce, and I sneaked in milk into their milo, poached fish in milk, and do a lot of milk based sauce for their food.

Scroll down the posts for more ideas.

I hope this will help other moms whose kids are not taking formula like mine. I know how stressful and worrisome it is when your infant rejects the bottle or any form of milk.

Have a great weekend, all !

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will she eat yogurt? I offer it (with granola or chopped fresh fruit or just plain) to my kids as a snack or if they are hungry for something else after what I have offered for breakfast. They won't eat the plain non-flavored ones (which is the best for them, without any added sugars), but I guess the fruit flavored ones are next best. Also, I like to offer smoothies (put some fruit juice, frozen fruit and milk or yogurt and blend) ... my boys love it. Just a few suggestions for sneaking in more calcium.
-v

allthingspurple said...

Hi V,
unfortunately she doesn't take yogurts, but she does take smoothies. I offer her fruit based ones sometimes. It is rather high in its sugar content, but like you said, it's the next best thing. Thanks for your kind suggestions. It is rather worisome when a toddler rejects milks.

mommy of 3 angels said...

thank god my girls are milk guzzlers!! elli especially as she is allergic to lots of food.

try to hide the milk...cheese...calium everywhere now gotta be magician too!!

TriStupe said...

if i were you, sugar content food is the last thing i will be worried about if calcium is all you need her to take.

consult the doctor about calcimax? it's the supplement for older women...once a week only, but a bit pricey...

allthingspurple said...

True, Mommy of 3 angels. Not easy to hide calcium too.

Stupe, as mentioned, calcium with sugar is the next best thing to calcium without. so no choice lor. I tried all kind of calcium supplement, but cant hide the taste when ground into her food either.

Unknown said...

Hi supermom!
My 2 years old also still not taking formula, maybe just one or two sips in a day.
I do give her parmesan cheese with soup, pasta, even rice, or make grilled cheese sandwich,
And she drinks yogurt and soya milk daily.
I do hope it will be enough for her.

allthingspurple said...

Ha ha. Hi, 8 arm blur sotong ! I never knew that Maya didn't take to formula either. She sure doesn't look like a string bean, though, unlike my Ashley. If that's anything to go by, I figured her calcium intake are probably sufficient.