Hello, February! Did you know this month is “I Love To Read Month”? (September is another literacy awareness month, but really—shouldn’t every month promote reading?)
There is a lot of science on the importance of reading to infants, toddlers, and young children. We’ll take you through these benefits. Additionally, read on for general tips on reading to your little ones and some guidelines for picking the most age-appropriate books.
When you read to your newborn, infant, or toddler, you are exposing them to a variety of new words and to increasingly complex language. When they start speaking, they utilize these building blocks. And when they start reading on their own—same thing.
There is a lot of research to back up the benefits of early reading exposure on language and cognitive development. A 2019 study found that when parents read one picture book daily to their infants, the children were exposed to ~78,000 words each year. Researchers also estimated that, in the first five years of life, children from literacy-rich homes hear about 1.4 million more words during storybook reading than children who are never read to.
Babies can pick up on the tone of the book when you read to them. If you’re frowning during a section or reading something with a light-hearted tone or a smile, they are slowly learning to associate certain emotions and reactions with certain situations, building up their emotional intelligence.
And when they’re older and understand the plots of books better, books can help them process their feelings. When they see a character crying, they understand that other people cry, just like them—that such emotions are normal. Parents can encourage these emotional skills by asking their children pointed questions about the characters’ and their own feelings while reading (have you ever felt sad like the girl in the story?).
In their first three months, babies start focusing their eyes on simple patterns, so when you read picture books to newborns, showing them a variety of shapes, letters, and colors, they’re learning those shapes, letters, and colors. And in the next months, they’ll increasingly remember them.
Reading in general promotes knowledge absorption. When you read a book about zoo animals, your child is actually learning about zoo animals. With more general knowledge—whether it’s about animals or another topic—our little ones, by the time they go to school, have more context for the information they encounter there. And with that, they have an easier time learning new topics.
Reading together while snuggling not only promotes a strong bond between you and your child—but it also helps your little one positively associate reading. They also hear the sound of your voice, which is comforting to them.
Infants, and especially toddlers, thrive on routines, so instead of getting stressed at “oh no, I need to add reading aloud as another thing to do with my baby,” add reading to an established routine—to help that routine. For instance, try reading to your little one at bedtime, helping them associate the two.
When you read to them at a young age, they’re learning that reading is an enjoyable, positive experience. With that, when they’re older and more independent, they’ll be more likely to want to read on their own.
You don’t have to wait until your little one is a toddler or even older. You can read to your newborn. This will help you establish the routine and kickstart all the above benefits.
Even after your little one is “old enough” to read on their own—when they’re in grade school, for instance—still read to and with them. The cognitive, emotional, and social benefits persist.
Furthermore, children often enjoy hearing books a bit above their reading level, so read them a chapter book before they’re able to.
You don’t have to read for long. And in fact, toddlers won’t sit through a long story. For older babies with short attention spans, just read for a few minutes each day. And as you read to them, pay attention to their engagement level. Take a break when their eyes wander away, when they yawn, etc. Or let them roam around as you continue to read to them. Often, they’ll come back to you.
Part of what they’re learning is listening, but it takes time for children to develop an understanding of communication, so be patient if they seem to quickly lose interest.
When your baby is a toddler, let them pick the book, hold it, and turn the pages. Ask them questions throughout.
A good question for a young toddler is a basic plot question (why is the rabbit hiding behind the tree?).
A good question for an older toddler is more abstract and connects to their own life (what do you think is going to happen next? how does this make you feel?).
Also, be prepared with toddlers to read the same book over and over again. This age group likes the repetition, which helps them master language skills.
This might mean letting them gnaw on its edges while you read or letting them grab the book.
Most experts agree that children gleam the most benefits from reading physical books.
Pick a comfy chair for your ”reading chair.” Snuggle with your child while reading. Silence your phone and put it away. Turn off the TV. Use an expressive voice when reading and, when they’re older, stop and ask questions throughout the book.
While we at Amara are 100% supportive of buying your child all the books you/they want, books add up $$-wise. So, for budget purposes, remember to patronize your local library. (Libraries also host children’s story times/hours—check those out, too!)
For 0-3 months:
Read them whatever you’re reading. If you’re reading War and Peace and loving it, read it aloud to your baby. At this young age, you’re just trying to expose them to the basics of language and the sound of your voice.
For 3-6 months:
Go with chunky board books that are easy to hold. Or soft books with lots of fabrics and textures. Or a vinyl bath book. Pick books with lots of bold black-and-white images, brightly colored photos, and/or big pictures.
For 6-9 months:
Cardboard books—with short, simple stories and lots of colorful pictures—are your friend at this age.
For 9-18 months:
You can incorporate books with more words at this time—but we still recommend picking books with simple stories. Read books with rhyming or repeating phrases as these often grab a toddler’s attention. This age group also appreciates books with images of familiar objects, especially animals and other babies.
For 18-24 months:
Your baby is ready for longer stories with more complex plots.
For 24-36 months:
Now is the time to introduce books with engaging (and humorous) plots. Nonfiction books can be a big hit with this age group, too.
We at Amara care about early literacy because—as a baby and toddler food company—we care about children’s health and development. That’s why Amara’s baby blends and toddler snacks have no additives, are 100% non-GMO and organic, and are made from only a few—very real, very transparent—ingredients. We want to offer babies the best of nutrition. That way, their little minds are powered to learn words and expressions and pick up all the benefits of early-age reading!
Any reading tips to share with other parents and caregivers?
]]>Welcome to the new year, Amara readers! We are wishing you and your families a happy and healthy 2024.
Speaking of happy and healthy, many of us set fitness and wellness goals this time of year, and for moms it’s no different, whether you’re a first-time parent or have had children before.
Today, we bring you a run-down on postpartum fitness—why it matters; what are some realistic goals; and fun exercises to do solo, with a friend, or with your baby!
First: what are the benefits of exercise after childbirth?
All that said, we at Amara—along with medical experts—don’t recommend running a marathon the day after childbirth. Instead, let’s be realistic and reasonable about postpartum fitness. Some goals and pointers:
If you had an uncomplicated pregnancy and vaginal delivery, it's generally safe to begin light exercise the day (or a few days) after giving birth—or as soon as you feel ready. (Light exercise = walking or kegels; more on that below.) Always consult your healthcare provider first.
If you had a C-section, considerable vaginal tearing and repair, or an otherwise complicated birth, talk to your healthcare provider about when to start exercise. It can take 2-3 weeks for extensive tearing to heal, but your doctor may give you the green light for upper-body exercise and walking as you heal (and to promote healing).
Even with a C-section, many healthcare professionals recommend post-birth walking since that can help with circulation and lower your risk of blood clots.
Aside from walking, though, women who have just had C-sections will likely need to refrain from other (more intense) exercise until about 6 weeks. Your doctor will be able to give you more details.
A few other tips on introducing exercise: consider how you exercised pre-pregnancy and begin your postpartum fitness journey with a less intense version of that. Increase your pace or intensity gradually.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends mixing aerobic activity (walking, for instance) with strength training. For this, you can use your own body weight (doing exercises like yoga and Pilates) or you can use light weights.
When doing strengthening exercises, aim for 3 sets of 5-10 repetitions, slowly building up to 3 sets of 8-15 repetitions. Use lighter weights initially and focus on increasing the number of repetitions per set (this is a more important goal than trying to use heavier weights).
(Hint: light cardio—like walking in place—is a great way to warm up.)
This is especially important if you’re breastfeeding, as breastmilk is ~90% milk and dehydration can impact milk supply. Experts recommend drinking about 128 ounces—or 16 cups—of water per day if you are breastfeeding.
After pregnancy and childbirth, your joints and ligaments are more pliable and thus prone to injury. Movements like mountain climbers, jumping rope, and jumping jacks—and switching between them quickly as HIIT often requires—are best saved for a month (or a few) into your postpartum fitness journey.
This will be more comfortable for you. Some babies also react differently (negatively) to their mom’s milk post-vigorous exercise (working out can temporarily alter the levels of lactic acid in your milk, changing the taste).
Additionally, if you feel nauseous or start vomiting while exercising, or feel light-headed, stop.
Lastly, if your pelvic area feels … “heavy” or under pressure, or like your organs aren’t supported in your pelvic area, stop exercising. These can be symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse—which is quite common, so don’t panic. The muscles and tissues that support your bladder, uterus, and bowel movements take quite a hit during pregnancy, and sometimes they can descend into the vagina when they become weakened or damaged. Your doctor can prescribe physical therapy and other treatments to help.
Speaking of which….
Fun Ways to Stay Active with Your Baby
Many postpartum exercises can be safely performed with your baby in tow or lying next to you, helping you not only feel better but also giving you two bonding time.
These are especially great for new moms and moms who have *just given birth because they will help your urinary, rectal, vaginal, and abdominal muscles rebuild!
Pelvic tilt. Lie on your back with your knees bent. As you flatten your back against the floor, engage (tighten) your abdominal muscles and slowly bend your pelvis up. Hold for up to 10 seconds. Repeat 5 times, slowly working up to 10-20 repetitions.
Kegels. You can do these anywhere but to include your baby, lie on your back with your infant next to you. Slowly tighten all your pelvic muscles (as if you’re peeing and want to stop urinating midstream). Hold that contraction for a few seconds and then relax. Aim for ~3 sets of 10 repetitions a day, holding your muscles for up to 10 seconds.
ACOG further recommends:
4-point kneeling. Kneel on all fours with your hips directly over your knees and your shoulders directly over your hands. Your back should be straight. Inhale and as you exhale, pull your abdominal muscles in, contracting them. Hold for 5-10 seconds, then relax.
Leg slides: Lie flat on your back, with your knees bent slightly and your feet flat on the floor. Engage your abdominal muscles. Inhale and move one leg to a straight position (you can rest it on the floor or hover it a few inches off the ground). Exhale and bend it back again. Repeat with your other leg.
Knee raises. Lie flat on your back, bending your knees slightly, with your feet flat on the floor. Raise one leg, knee bent, so that it is above your hip. Slide your other leg from a bent position to a straight position, either resting it on the ground or hovering it slightly above the floor. Keep your abdominal muscles engaged as you hold the position for a few seconds. Return to your starting position and repeat with the other leg.
Heel touches. Lie flat on your back, bending your knees slightly, with your feet flat on the floor. Raise both legs, knees bent to 90° above your hips (i.e., your calves should be parallel to the floor). Lower one leg to the floor, keeping your knee bent, and touch your heel to the floor, keeping the knee’s 90° angle. Keep your abdominal muscles engaged as you hold the position for a few seconds. Return to your starting position and repeat with the other leg.
Leg extensions. Start the same as ^^, raising your legs so that your knees are bent 90° above your hips. Extend one leg out so that your foot is 12-24 inches off the floor. Keep your abdominal muscles engaged as you hold the position for a few seconds. Return to your starting position and repeat with the other leg.
Additionally, try these pelvic and abdominal exercises:
Postpartum yoga/stretching poses. These are great because not only do they promote fitness, muscle strengthening, and mental health benefits—but they also relieve tight pelvic muscles which are common after childbirth.
‘Happy baby’ is a great example. Lie on your back and bring your knees toward your chest. Open your knees slightly wider than your hips. Keep your arms on the inside of your knees and use your hands to hold onto the outside of your feet (or ankles). Then, bend your knees so that the bottoms of your feet face upward. Hold for a minute or so, focusing on “breathing into your muscles” and relaxing. Gently pull your feet down to lower your knees toward the surface.
Check out this Parents.com article on five other postpartum yoga poses!
We also like this video from Yoga With Adriene—on pelvic floor poses.
**An important note about abdominal exercises: some moms have diastasis recti (when the left and right abdominals separate during pregnancy, causing the belly to stick out). But even moms who haven’t been diagnosed with this should be cautious with postpartum ab work: those muscles have been pulled, pushed, and stretched over the last 9 months, so ease into it!
*For these, your baby should be older (i.e., not a newborn) and able to at least hold their head up on their own.
Baby sit-ups. Get in position for a sit-up and place your baby on their back against your upper legs. Place (and keep) your hands on your baby for support so they don’t fall. Perform sit-ups. When you come up, you can make eye contact, silly faces, etc. with your little one!
Baby lifts. (Basically, an overhead press with a baby!) Sit on an exercise ball (or lie on the floor) and carefully lift your baby to your head height or slightly higher. Repeat lifting them up and down and, if sitting on the ball, twist from side to side, working different areas of your core.
Tummy time exercises. Join your baby on their blanket/mat for tummy time. As they’re on their stomachs, learning to build their neck muscles, try any of the following:
-Push-ups.
-Planks.
-Leg lifts: Get on your hands and feet with your baby underneath or beside you. Slowly lift your right leg up and hold the position for 10 seconds. Bring it back to the floor/mat. Repeat the exercise with the other leg.
-Glute raises: lie on your back and let your baby rest on your stomach. Bend your knees, with your feet firmly planted on the floor. Slowly lift your butt while contracting those muscles. Bring your buns up so that your upper and lower body are in one continuous line. Lower your hips down to the floor, and repeat.
-Crunches.
One idea with crunches: hold your legs in a tabletop position so the lower half creates a flat surface for your baby to lay on. As you place them on your lower legs (stomach side down), do your crunches. Hold onto your baby at all times.
Another way to do this: lie on your back and bend your knees to 60°. Make sure your feet are flat. Place your baby on your lower abdomen and slowly lift your upper body off the floor, engaging your abdominal muscles. Hold that position for 5-10 seconds. And then go back down slowly as you exhale.
Other postpartum exercises that include your baby:
Many people can start walking soon after delivery. When you first begin, try walking just around your block or for 10 minutes or so. Then, increase that to a few times a day, bringing your baby with you, weather permitting. Slowly build up to a 30- to 45-minute walk with your little one.
Want to run? Some experts recommend waiting until 12 weeks postpartum to try running, but if you’re ready before then and your doctor gives you the green light, start with a short slow-paced run—say, a 20-minute session—and try that no more than 3 times a week for the first few weeks. Gradually build up your time and the number of sessions.
As you walk or jog with your baby, mix in lunges and/or squats as you push the stroller forward.
With older babies that can walk and move around on their own, ask them to shake it with you. For little ones who aren’t yet walking, hold them in your arms while you groove to some (not-too-loud) music. See here for Amara’s post on the benefits of music for you and your baby.
Place your baby in their carrier so that they’re securely attached to you. Then, engage in a series of squats—wide-legged ones, shoulder-width ones, etc. Place a chair (or some piece of sturdy furniture) near you so that if you feel off-balance, you can grab ahold of the furniture. We don’t want anyone falling!
(Just google “mommy and me classes near me”!)
We at Amara are all about postpartum exercise and supporting moms’ health journeys. As a baby and toddler food company, we (obviously) care about babies’ health and development—but we also care about parents. Amara’s baby blends and toddler snacks have no additives, are 100% non-GMO and organic, and are made from only a few—very real, very transparent—ingredients. We want to offer babies—and the moms and dads feeding them—the best of nutrition.
Any exercise or fitness tips to share?
At Amara, we’ve written quite a few posts about how safe something is for pregnant women, breastfeeding moms, infants, and toddlers—things like caffeine, food additives, BPA, and sugar.
And while each of those substances are different with unique risks, the overwhelming takeaway regarding each is: limit your exposure.
Today, we give you a deep dive into alcohol and pregnancy, with the resounding (and different from the ^) message, taken directly from medical researchers and providers:
No level of alcohol exposure during pregnancy is known to be safe.
But first a bit of background.
Quite common.
Globally, in 2016, 32.1% of women of childbearing age (15 to 49 years old) consumed alcohol. Rates are lowest in Tukey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt (1.3%) and highest in the Europe (53.9%) and in the U.S., where almost 54% of women, 18 to 44 years old, reported drinking alcohol.
Beyond this, approximately 8.7% women of childbearing age across the globe reported engaging in heavy episodic drinking, which means consuming at least 60g of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days (also known as binge drinking—an intake of 5+ drinks on a single occasion). In the U.S., 18.2% of women reported such binge drinking.
(An important note: the definition of what constitutes a standard drink varies across different countries: in the U.S., a standard drink contains 14g of pure alcohol, but in Europe, a standard drink contains approximately 10g of alcohol.)
Overall, the number of women drinking is on the rise, thanks to economic advancement and changing gender roles in many parts of the world—as well as the increased availability of alcohol and that it’s increasingly socially acceptable in many places for women to drink.
Unfortunately, with this rise, alcohol use disorder among women is also on the rise. Worldwide, nearly one third of diagnosed alcohol use disorders are among females. This is especially concerning because women are more susceptible to the negative impact of alcohol, both psychologically and physically, than men. For example, women with alcohol use disorder have a higher likelihood of suffering from mental health issues like anxiety and depression than men. Women also metabolize alcohol differently from men, with alcohol concentrations reaching higher and longer-lasting concentrations. This can contribute to the development of more severe problems at younger ages, including cirrhosis of the liver, heart disease, and neurotoxicity. Alcohol is also a risk factor for female diseases such as breast cancer.
Studies show that approximately 10% of women worldwide consume alcohol during pregnancy, in part due to the global trend of increasing alcohol use among women of childbearing age.
Now, some women may drink alcohol while pregnant because they don’t yet know they’re pregnant. After all, a significant proportion (44–65%) of pregnancies is unplanned. And while many women stop drinking once they get that positive pregnancy test, the intervening time between the test and conception are critical periods of fetal susceptibility to alcohol. This is when major organs are developing. As such, alcohol consumption before or around the time of conception is linked to multiple adverse fetal outcomes, including spontaneous abortion, gastrointestinal malformations, and neural tube defects.
And then there are women who know they’re pregnant—and still they drink alcohol. Why? Many factors—poverty, histories of trauma and violence, mental illness, and sociocultural and economic vulnerabilities and disadvantages—predispose and push some women to imbibe. Some express, additionally, that they thought only “strong” alcohol or alcohol in large quantities was harmful to a developing baby. Others said that peers influenced them to drink, or they thought alcohol had some beneficial properties (including that it stimulates the production of breastmilk). Women that come from communities in which alcohol consumption is important have also expressed their cultural backgrounds are a factor influencing them to drink while pregnant.
In short, individual beliefs, community traditions, environmental factors, and lack of information/knowledge push women to drink even though pregnant.
And on top of all that, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these issues, resulting in more prenatal alcohol exposure.
Alcohol is what is known as a teratogen, which means it can cause malformation of an embryo and fetus. It can readily cross the placenta, and it’s one of the few substances that scientists and doctors really know is harmful to a developing baby. In fact, alcohol consumption during pregnancy is linked to a larger number of fetal and infant deaths than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and diabetes. This, along with other reasons, is why there are so many guidelines advising women to abstain from it during pregnancy.
What are the risks more specifically? Spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, low birthweight, prematurity, intrauterine growth restriction, and birth defects, among others.
Alcohol intake during pregnancy can cause Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder which is a serious, chronic, and systemic disease characterized by central nervous system damage, physical disabilities, and a wide range of lifelong health and social consequences for the baby. Approximately 1 in every 13 infants prenatally exposed to alcohol will develop Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, so around 630,000 children are born each year with it. Aside from the disastrous health consequences for the child, having this disorder is a significant cost burden on healthcare and service systems: the daily estimated cost of care per child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is over $20,000 per day.
(You might have heard of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The Spectrum Disorder, referenced ^, is an umbrella term for a range of behavioral, cognitive, and learning disorders associated with fetal alcohol exposure. Fetal alcohol syndrome represents the more severe end of the spectrum.)
Aside from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, alcohol use during pregnancy can severely impair maternal/paternal functioning and trigger and exacerbate patterns of intimate partner violence—which negatively affects child development and safety.
As babies grow in utero, they don’t process alcohol as adults do. Instead, alcohol becomes highly concentrated in their growing bodies, inhibiting the passage of adequate nutrition and oxygen to their organs, among other very serious consequences.
Studies (both on animals and on people) have demonstrated that alcohol diffuses through a placenta and travels to the fetus, where their baby’s kidneys excrete xenobiotics (substances foreign to human bodies—like drugs) into the amniotic fluid, which is then swallowed by the fetus. And because alcohol accumulates in amniotic fluid, there is a prolonged effect on the baby.
Alcohol seems to be especially harmful to the developing nervous system, contributing to:
-increased oxidative stress to the central nervous system
-impaired angiogenesis (formation of new blood vessels) and neurogenesis (brain development)
-increased cell death in various brain structures
-disruptions to the endocrine (hormone) system, to gene expressions, and to prostaglandin synthesis (which plays a key role in the generation of the inflammatory response).
Additionally, fetal alcohol exposure can lead to:
-severe organ defects in the liver, kidney, and heart
-disruptions in the gastrointestinal and endocrine systems.
Consistent and high levels of alcohol intake during pregnancy are associated with significant fetal impairments in gross and fine motor function, as observed in childhood. Children who were exposed to alcohol in the womb are more likely to have learning disabilities and behavior disturbances, resulting in:
-hyperactivity and impulsivity
-difficulties with planning, mental organization, and concrete thinking
-visuospatial problems
-lack of awareness of social cues
-trouble understanding the consequences of their own behavior
-speech, language, and other communication problems.
For babies with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, they are often born with abnormal facial features, a small head size, and a low body weight, in addition to the above-described developmental difficulties.
Now, an important note to all of this is that: the level or intensity of fetal alcohol exposure and harm is driven by what alcohol the mom drinks, how much she drinks, and for how long; how much the mom otherwise takes care of herself; at what point in her pregnancy she drinks; and many genetic factors.
So, the risks of fetal harm are not even across all alcohol-consuming pregnant women.
To this point, medical researchers have determined that binge drinking is the most hazardous kind of alcohol consumption when it comes to injuring the unborn.
Knowing all this, medical and health experts say with confidence: no level of alcohol exposure during pregnancy is known to be safe.
Infant exposure to alcohol through breastmilk can cause delayed cognitive development, agitation, and disrupted sleep patterns.
So, knowing all this—what are best practices and guidelines around alcohol if pregnant?
-If you’re trying to conceive or are pregnant, don’t drink. Experts say all types of alcohol can be harmful, including wine and beer.
-And even if you’re not *yet* trying to get pregnant, if you think you might want a baby (for the first time or again), pay attention to how much you’re drinking—and consider reducing it.
-Ask your partner for support. While pregnant or trying to get pregnant, women should consider asking or encouraging their spouses/partners to limit their alcohol consumption.
-Seek out advice from your doctor and/or a mental health professional. If you’re pregnant or trying to conceive, and you’re concerned about fetal alcohol exposure, including if you are consuming alcohol, discuss this with your healthcare providers. They *should* be trained in nonjudgmental support and able to offer helpful advice, like how access to treatment programs if needed.
-Be honest with yourself about alcohol—whether you’re pregnant, trying to be, a new mom, breastfeeding, or one day want to be a mom. Studies show that mothers may underreport their drinking behavior and that women may not accurately recognize how much they drink or how harmful alcohol use can be at nondependent drinking levels.
-Get informed and help spread information around alcohol, pregnancy, and women’s health. Women of reproductive age need to be educated on the negative consequences of alcohol use pre-conception, during pregnancy, and during breastfeeding. This will empower them to better navigate an environment where there are mixed messages around alcohol consumption.
***
We at Amara care about topics like alcohol consumption and pregnancy because we care about women’s and babies’ health—which is why we’re in the business of nutrient-dense baby and toddler food. Amara’s baby blends and toddler snacks have no additives, are 100% non-GMO and organic, and are made from only a few—very real, very transparent—ingredients. Only the best for our babies.
***
Article researched by:
Amara's Chief Nutritionist: Sonia A. Schiess, PhD in Nutrition, specialized in the introduction of solids and liquids to infants. Sonia's passion started when she was studying nutrition and dietetics in university, completing a post degree in Human Nutrition. Later on, she completed her PhD as a nutritionist, with a focus on introducing food in the first year of a baby's life. Her wide experience gives her a unique perspective, drawing from her time in clinics, hospitals, independent consulting and university research. She's authored several papers including "Introduction of complementary feeding"; "Introduction of potentially allergenic foods in the infant's diet during the first year of life" and "Intake of energy providing liquids during the first year of life" in five European countries. The combination of Sonia's science and our chef's magic ensures every Amara product is not only optimized for your baby's health but is delicious as well.
References:
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/alcohol-use.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7061927/
Bereda G, Alcohol intake during pregnancy and fetal alcohol síndrome. Pregnancy & Child Birth. 2022
Dahl B et al., Opening Pandora’s box: A meta-ethnography about alcohol use in pregnancy from midwives’ and other healthcare providers’ perspectives. Eur J Midwifery 2023
England LJ t al., Alcohol Use and Co-Use of Other Substances Among Pregnant Females Aged 12–44 Years — United States, 2015–2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020
Gomez KU et al., Alcohol use during pregnancy and motherhood: Attitudes and experiences of pregnant women, mothers, and healthcare professionalsKU et al., PLoS ONE 2022
Lassi ZS et al., Preconception care: caffeine, smoking, alcohol, drugs and other environmental chemical/ radiation exposure. Reproductive Health 2014
Popova S et al., Alcohol’s Impact on the Fetus. Nutrients 2021.
Popova S et al., Why do women consume alcohol during pregnancy or while breastfeeding? Drug and Alcohol Review. May 2022.
]]>Did you know that when you and your baby dance, sing, and play around with music, at least eight areas of their brain are activated at the same time? Wow!
During the first three years of a baby’s life, their little bodies grow at a remarkable rate. Just one example: their brains form new connections with each new experience—700 new connections per second in the first year alone!
Us parents want to encourage this phenomenal brain development—plus other growth—as best as possible. And among many other positive learning experiences, music is very helpful for this. It uses so much of the brain and body that it supports growth for many areas of our children’s physical and emotional wellbeing.
And on top of that? It’s an amazing bonding experience with our children.
So, today we give you some benefits of music for babies, followed by some tips on how to introduce it to your little one.
*Llari and Polka, 2006.
And on top of all this, these benefits can start very early. While pregnant, listening to music can not only calm and uplift you (the mom) but also your unborn baby. Babies can hear sounds as early as 16-18 weeks. By and after 24 weeks, babies’ ears develop rapidly, and as such, babies have been shown to turn their heads in response to noise—like music!—in the final months of pregnancy.
Some general recommendations:
That way, those amazing benefits (^^) can start as soon as possible.
Be aware that studies show babies from an early age (5 months according to a 2008 study*) can tell the difference between happy and sad music in the same way they can distinguish between happy and sad faces. Research has also shown that babies prefer harmonic and consonant music to dissonant sounds.
*Flom, Gentile, and Pick, 2008.
This not only encourages the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of music but bonds your baby to your voice.
For this, you don’t have to buy an instrument. Just use household objects that allow your baby to practice their music-making—pots, pans, wooden spoons, bowls ….
If you want to buy an instrument for your child, consider a toy drum, shakers or rattles, maracas, or a xylophone.
You might think you can only play Mozart and kids’ lullabies—but any type of (kid-friendly/appropriate) music works!
Oldies, Taylor Swift, electronic—just play music that you like, which will encourage you to share it with your child.
Babies’ ears are very sensitive because their ear canals are smaller than ours. This means they’re more susceptible to hearing damage. A good rule is: you should be able to talk over the music. Otherwise, it’s too loud for your baby.
Specific age-based recommendations, courtesy of Zero to Three and What To Expect:
-Play lullabies, especially at difficult moments (like getting them ready for a nap/bedtime or before drop-off at daycare).
-Hold them while you sing to them. Dance around with them in your arms. Place them on the floor and move their arms and legs to music.
-Play simple, repetitive songs (“Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round and ‘Round”) that can help them learn to recognize words.
-Provide musical toys and later simple “musical instruments”—like dry beans in a bottle—that they can easily shake. (You’ll need to show them how to do this: shake the rattle and show them how to shake one in return).
-Play songs that encourage muscle growth and body awareness/knowledge (both fun dance songs and songs like “Hokey Pokey” that call out certain body parts).
-Play interactive songs that ask the toddler to perform an activity (“Clean Up Time”).
-Play music and dance with your toddler, then pause suddenly, encouraging them to freeze, too. It’s fun—and helps your little one learn about body control and self-regulation.
-Offer toys (dolls, stuffed animals, etc.) during music time, giving toddlers an opportunity to sing to and otherwise involve these “friends.”
-Play music, especially songs that are simple or repetitive, and pause every now and then, getting your toddler to fill in the “______” of what’s coming.
-Offer DIY musical instruments or simple “real” ones like a toy drum or maracas.
-Encourage your toddler to dance around and listen to music with other toddlers.
-Encourage your toddler to make their own music—singing, playing an instrument—and ask them to tell you about it. Is it happy music? Sad? Why?
-Host a dance/music party with your toddlers’ friends.
-Make up a dance routine with your child, helping them learn sequences in movement.
-Fast dance to a fast-paced song with them, and then slow dance to a slow-paced song, helping them learn the difference.
-Sing songs that have stories embedded in them.
-Don't forget the snacks! Try some exciting snacks that won't give your little one a sugar crash. We recommend our best-selling Yogurt Smoothie melts. They are bright (with no artificial colors) and sweet (with no added sugars), and everyone LOVES them!
We at Amara support things like ‘introducing your baby to music’ because we care about babies’ health and development. That’s why we’re in the business of nutrient-dense baby and toddler food. Amara’s baby blends and toddler snacks have no additives, are 100% non-GMO and organic, and are made from only a few—very real, very transparent—ingredients.
Any (musical) tips to share?
]]>Any of this sound familiar to you?
Toddlers just don’t sleep well.
Toddler bedtime is called “the witching hour” for a reason.
Sleep regression is a part of “toddlerhood.”
My toddler is moving from a crib to a bed, so they won’t sleep well during this period.
My toddler is going through a developmental spurt, so they won’t sleep well.
My toddler is teething. They are going to have trouble sleeping.
My toddler is potty training, and I can’t help that after I put them to bed, they always seem to have “to go” again.
My toddler has older siblings, so of course they won’t go to bed before them.
Toddlers experience separation anxiety, so they’re uncomfortable being left alone at night.
You’re not supposed to sleep well when you have small children. That’s part of parenthood.
Now, toddlers are going through a lot—developmentally, behaviorally. They’re newly independent, able to walk and talk and (for some) go to the bathroom on their own. And with this independence, sleep issues can arise. As a result, many of these myths have some truth to them. Toddlers do experience sleeping issues frequently, including sleep regressions. Toddlers can have trouble switching from a crib to a bed. Toddlers are experiencing physical discomforts like teething.
You get the idea.
But as pediatric sleeping experts tell us, this ^^ doesn’t have to be your reality—or your permanent reality.
And so today, we bring you some tips from those experts to help your toddler sleep well.
First, here are some pointers from Dr. Aubrie DeBear, a pediatric sleep consultant, doctor of psychology, and mom of three (check her out @babysleepdr):
We at Amara care about topics like toddlers and sleep because we care about babies’ health. That’s why we’re in the business of nutrient-dense baby and toddler food. Amara’s baby blends and toddler snacks have no additives, are 100% non-GMO and organic, and are made from only a few—very real, very transparent—ingredients. Only the best for our babies.
Any sleep tips to share?
]]>We have heard it a million times: eat your veggies. And yet, so many of us fall short on this. And what about our children? If we as adults are struggling to fill our plates with lots of vegetables, then surely our kids aren’t getting enough either.
Today, we dig into this topic, focusing on America’s “veggie report card.” We look at how many vegetables American children and adults are daily consuming, how that fares with government recommended intakes (hint: it’s not enough), and what we can do—as parents—to increase our own veggie count … and our children’s.
Before we dive in, let’s talk vegetables more generally first.
A recent study by Biodiversity International scientists identified a total of 1,097 vegetable species cultivated worldwide. Beyond that, there are thousands of varieties.
Often, vegetables are grouped into eight main types based on which part of them is edible:
That’s one way to understand veggies. In the U.S., the USDA divides them into the following subgroups:
Despite the great diversity of vegetables, scientists estimate that the average diet worldwide uses less than 7% of all vegetable species. In much of the developed world, for instance, people base their diets primarily on four veggies: tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and carrots.
Eating vegetables provides numerous health benefits: vegetables supply nutrients vital for the health and maintenance of our bodies, and people who eat them along with fruits as part of an overall healthy diet are likely to have a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, and other causes of early mortality. (This is because vegetables, like fruits, are sources of phytochemicals that function as antioxidants, phytoestrogens, and anti-inflammatory agents, all of which act as protective mechanisms in and for the body.)
Most vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories, helping people to reach and maintain healthy weights.
And among other health benefits, veggies are also an important source of many nutrients, including potassium, dietary fiber, folate, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
Why does this matter? Well, diets rich in potassium help to maintain healthy blood pressure. Vegetable sources of potassium include sweet potatoes, white potatoes, white beans, tomato products, beet greens, soybeans, lima beans, spinach, lentils, kidney beans, acorn squash, kohlrabi, and yuca.
Dietary fiber from vegetables helps to reduce blood cholesterol levels and may lower the risk of heart disease.
Vitamin A keeps eyes and skin healthy and helps to protect against infections.
And vitamin C helps to heal cuts and wounds and keeps teeth and gums healthy. It also assists your body in absorbing iron more easily.
In short, not enough. Almost 90% of the U.S. population, including babies and toddlers, does not meet the recommended intake for vegetables.
Only 10% and 15% of boys and girls aged 1–3 years, respectively, consume the recommended 1 cup of vegetables per day.
For children aged 4–8 years, less than 5% consume the recommended 1.5–2 cups of vegetables per day. Instead, this age group, on average, eats around half of the amount of vegetables recommended.
According to data from the 2021 National Survey of Children’s Health, a study of over 18,000 young children in the U.S., many are not consuming fruits and vegetables daily and instead drink sugar-sweetened beverages regularly. One in three children (32%) aged 1-5 years did not eat a daily fruit, 49% did not eat a daily vegetable, and 57% drank a sugar-sweetened drink at least once in the previous week.
(Estimates of veggie consumption in this study varied by state, and states with higher poverty rates had worse outcomes: 16% of children in Vermont did not eat fruit daily compared with about 50% in Louisiana, a state with higher poverty. 30% of children in Vermont did not eat a daily vegetable compared with 64% in Louisiana. Overall, in 20 states, more than half of children did not eat a vegetable daily during the week that was analyzed.)
Vegetable consumption among U.S. children is lowest in boys aged 9–13 years and girls aged 14–18 years. Less than 1% of this population consumes the recommended 2–2.5 cups per day. Instead, on average they consume less than 50% of the recommended amount.
Across the U.S., veggie intake increases slightly with age, once children become adults, but it still remains quite low.
White potatoes, the most commonly consumed vegetable in the U.S., make up about 80% of starchy vegetable consumption and 21% of all vegetable consumption. Aside from potatoes, tomatoes account for another 18% of total vegetable consumption in the U.S. Lettuce and onions are two other big ones, making up more than 5% each of total American vegetable consumption.
When Americans do consume vegetables, almost half (45%) are eaten as a distinct dish. About 40% are eaten as part of a mixed dish (like a stir-fry or a sandwich). The remainder are consumed as snack foods and condiments.
Most Americans consume vegetables with additional sodium from salt and sauces added during cooking.
Well, as the 2021 National Survey of Children’s Health revealed with its state-by-state disparities, vegetables are under consumed in part because of cost and accessibility. Families of lower incomes often struggle to prioritize buying veggies and fruits over cheap processed foods. Relatedly, many families of lower incomes live in “food deserts“ where grocery stores, farmers‘ markets, and other food shops are either nonexistent or offer a very limited supply of fresh produce.
For many families, there’s also the time factor. In many people’s experiences, it takes longer to prepare veggies and fruits versus processed foods.
Many parents also believe that when they buy veggies and fruits, their children are unlikely to eat them, so they’re just wasting money on foods that will end up in the garbage can (and will cause a meltdown at the dinner table).
Parents are also less likely to offer vegetables that they personally dislike to their children.
(For global context, current fruit and vegetable intakes are well below recommendations across many countries. In response to this, more than 100 countries have developed food-based dietary guidelines that encourage increased fruit and vegetable consumption. Still, for a developed country like the U.S. to have such poor vegetable intake—we have much less of an excuse than most parts of the world.)
Toddlers |
12 to 23 months |
⅔ to 1 cup |
Children |
2-3 yrs |
1 to 1½ cups |
4-8 yrs |
1½ to 2½ cups |
|
Girls |
9-13 yrs |
1½ to 3 cups |
14-18 yrs |
2½ to 3 cups |
|
Boys |
9-13 yrs |
2 to 3½ cups |
14-18 yrs |
2½ to 4 cups |
|
Women |
19-30 yrs |
2½ to 3 cups |
31-59 yrs |
2 to 3 cups |
|
60+ yrs |
2 to 3 cups |
|
Men |
19-30 yrs |
3 to 4 cups |
31-59 yrs |
3 to 4 cups |
|
60+ yrs |
2½ to 3½ cups |
(*These are general recommendations by age. Find more information at MyPlate Plan.)
What counts as a cup of vegetables?
Put another way, the U.S. government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend you make one-half of your plate at each meal fruits and vegetables.
Although our kids might be predisposed to prefer sweet-tasting foods and beverages and to avoid bitter-tasting foods such as dark-green vegetables, parents can help shift these patterns of food acceptance and rejection. And it can start early: before birth, the fetus detects the continually changing flavor profile of amniotic fluid, which reflects the mother's diet. And after birth, if mothers choose to breastfeed, babies receive food sensory experiences through milk. So, women who maintain a healthy diet through pregnancy and lactation prepare their infants to like healthful foods.
That way, when parents introduce their babies to solid foods around 6 months of age, they stand a better chance of the infant accepting a variety of veggies—and being open to new, healthful foods. In fact, studies show that this time period—6 to 12 months—is a formative one: introducing lots of variety to your baby in these months has been shown to make them more versatile eaters as they grow up (and that if you try and introduce variety later, like when they’re a toddler, they might be more resistant).
Something else to keep in mind when you’re introducing veggies to your little one: offer them veggies as stand-alone foods—like just a dark green vegetable. Most baby foods blend vegetables together with fruits or red and orange vegetables to provide additional sweetness (which, the logic goes, makes babies more likely to eat them). In order for our kids to learn to like vegetables, their flavors—even the bitter ones—must be perceptible in baby blends and other mixtures. So, look for baby foods that are not a big mixture of ingredients but instead just have one or a few key ingredients. Amara’s baby blends, for instance, contain only a handful of ingredients at most and all are just vegetables and fruits, blended together—nothing else.
Another tip for introducing more veggies to your little ones: mix it up. Serve different vegetables at different meals and across different days. Not only does the variety help develop their palate but it also keeps things interesting.
For example, choose snacks that include veggies, like our best-selling Mighty Sweet Greens Smoothie Melts with spinach and mango.
Parents can also shape children's flavor preferences by creating supportive feeding environments. What does that mean? Eating at the table with all family members (or many of them) present. Engaging in conversation while eating. Not having the TV on. Giving everybody appropriate portion sizes.
And remember: if you as the parent eat a variety of veggies, you’re not only giving your body the mix of nutrients it needs to function as an adult and caregiver, but you’re modeling great behavior for your kids, too.
When your child rejects a particular vegetable, don’t give up. Reintroduce it again at a later date—and again after that. Some nutritionists recommend offering a food up to eight times to increase acceptance of it.
(And as an important aside here: try not to add sugar or salt to the veggie to make your child like it.)
Get them excited about the versatility in nature: the tastes, textures, shapes, sizes, and seasons of different veggies and fruits.
Remember: no single fruit or vegetable provides all of the nutrients you or your child needs to be healthy. So, eat plenty every day.
Another strategy to increase vegetable intake is to increase the veggie content of mixed dishes (like a stir-fry). Or you and your family could reduce the portion size of the main dish (often meat) to allow for more vegetables as side dishes.
But keep in mind, the longer you cook them, they’ll lose more of their nutrition. It’s always best to avoid frying anything. It’s great to add spices and healthy oils (like olive oil) to veggies as you prepare them: just don’t overdo the oil or the salt.
Veggies can be raw—or cooked, frozen, canned, or dried. Veggies can be whole, cut-up, or mashed. Lots of options! 100% vegetable juice counts, too, but it’s better for us to eat (i.e., chew) our vegetables since juices can have reduced fiber content—and on top of that, they don’t necessarily help us teach our kids to love the textures, tastes, and experiences of consuming veggies.
A recent survey of commercial baby food products in the U.S. revealed a lack of variety in the types of vegetables offered. That’s where Amara comes in.
We make baby foods and toddler snacks with a variety of veggies and fruits, all of which are organic and additive-free. Unlike many baby foods, Amara’s products don’t have veggies and fruits as “down-label“ ingredients. Instead, consider our Kale Potato Veggie Mash: the only ingredients are potatoes, kale, bananas, and onion.
We at Amara care about increasing people’s vegetable intake because we care about families. And we believe good health starts at age 0—which is why we’re in the business of nutrient-dense baby and toddler food.
***
Article researched by:
Amara's Chief Nutritionist: Sonia A. Schiess, PhD in Nutrition, specialized in the introduction of solids and liquids to infants. Sonia's passion started when she was studying nutrition and dietetics in university, completing a post degree in Human Nutrition. Later on, she completed her PhD as a nutritionist, with a focus on introducing food in the first year of a baby's life. Her wide experience gives her a unique perspective, drawing from her time in clinics, hospitals, independent consulting and university research. She's authored several papers including "Introduction of complementary feeding"; "Introduction of potentially allergenic foods in the infant's diet during the first year of life" and "Intake of energy providing liquids during the first year of life" in five European countries. The combination of Sonia's science and our chef's magic ensures every Amara product is not only optimized for your baby's health but is delicious as well.
***
References:
https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/vegetables
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/
https://northernnester.com/types-of-vegetables
D Aune et al., Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer and all cause mortality—a systematic review and dose response meta-analysis of prospective studies. International Journal of Epidemiology, 2017
Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020 & 2020-2025; as well USDA 2018
AJ Bakke et al., Blending dark green vegetables with fruits in commercially 4 available infant foods makes them taste like fruit. Elsevier 202
CA Forestell, You Are What Your Parents Eat: Parental Influences on Early Flavor Preference Development, Nestle Nutr Inst Workshop Ser, 2020
SL Johnsons & KJ Moding, Introducing Hard-to-Like Foods to Infants and Toddlers: Mothers' Perspectives and Children's Experiences about Learning to Accept Novel Foods. Nestle Nutr Inst Workshop Ser, 2020
A PIetrobelli et al., Nutrition in the First 1000 Days: Ten Practices to Minimize Obesity Emerging from Published Science. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017
JL Salvin & B Lloyd, Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables. Adv. Nutr. 2012
TC Wallace et al., Fruits, vegetables, and health: A comprehensive narrative, umbrella review of the science and recommendations for enhanced public policy to improve intake. Critical Reviews In Food Science and Nutrition 2020
AS Wickoff et al., Intake of fruits, vegetables lacking in 1- to 5-year-olds: CDC study. AAP 2023
Arts and crafts are an essential part of early childhood development and education. Aside from fostering our children’s imaginations, artmaking also supports many physical, cognitive, and emotional skills.
Read on for these benefits! 🡪
When our toddlers use their small hands and fingers to hold crayons and paint brushes, they’re developing their ability to use both hands dexterously. They’re also working on their bilateral development, where they can use both sides of the body in different ways but together. These skills are essential building blocks for writing and other motor abilities. And when our little ones get in their craft time, they’re also improving their hand-eye coordination.
Using drawing tools can additionally help a child develop ‘eye tracking,’ where they follow a line or whatever shape with their eyes. You know what that skill leads to? The ability to read and later to do arithmetic!
For infants, arts and crafts will help them develop these motor skills even if they cannot physically make artwork yet. Just interacting with sensory art materials—finger paints, for instance, or large crayons—helps them develop fine motor skills.
When young children attempt to draw or create something, they might have one vision in mind—and then end up creating something totally different (by adding a different color, for example). These unintended outcomes are opportunities for a child to learn cause-and-effect.
It allows kids to understand where objects are in space. And from such visual-spatial skills, our children can draw letters and shapes, repeat dance moves, hit a baseball, or complete a maze.
When our little ones make art, they’re engaging in a series of opportunities to make choices, to second-guess themselves, to reach conclusions, and to evaluate their results. By doing this often, kids become comfortable with this process and the uncertainty it entails. They are fashioning themselves into confident but flexible thinkers.
Art gives kids a critical sensory experience and in the process it allows children to process their world and to deal with sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant emotions in a safe way.
If a child is trying to replicate something they’ve seen before, they’re sharpening their memory.
If they have a vision for something they want to create, they must exercise the self-control to try and achieve that result.
Babies might not be able to talk yet, but they certainly can communicate. Even at 6 months of age, they can look at pictures and/or objects being described to them, and they are already learning (and retaining) basic words. So, you can use artwork to help your infant learn words like “ball.” You can show them a drawing of a ball—or make a ball yourself.
And toddlers—well, they LOVE to describe their artwork. Let them: this helps them find the words and the expressions to explain their own ideas and processes to others.
(Relatedly, check out Amara’s post on speech milestones for infants and toddlers.)
Creativity is known to activate reward centers in the brain. As such, it decreases stress, lowers anxiety, and boosts self-confidence. These aren’t just benefits for adults. Toddlers need them, too.
And creativity is a skillset in and of itself. It has the awesome side effect of promoting love of learning, non-judgement of oneself and others, and (of course) self-expression.
You can do this by asking your toddler process-oriented questions (‘Wow! I love all the green paint you used. Why did you pick that color?’) and if they had fun making the art.
Let your child dictate their own creative decisions and encourage them to think however they want, including outside the box.
Some examples are: ‘Tell me about this painting!’ or ‘I love all the circles. What do you like about circles?’
You might be asking, why would a baby food company care about arts and crafts? Well, because we’re in the business of healthy and happy babies and toddlers—and we care about supporting parents.
Our baby blends, designed for 5+ months, are made from whole, organic fruits, vegetables, and grains, sourced directly from growers. Our patent-pending pressure protected technology locks in the taste, texture, and nutrients of the fresh fruits and veggies by gently removing the water. Then we grind down the ingredients. The result? Simple food powders with no additives—just REAL ingredients like black beans, corn, kale, mango, strawberry, pumpkin, pear …. You know—REAL foods! And all you do, as the parent or provider, is add 4-5 tablespoons of breastmilk, formula, or water to the powder, stir, and serve to your baby!
And our toddler snacks: smoothie melts that are 100% organic and have no additives. They’re a great addition to any arts and crafts hour, staving off your little one’s hunger for more creative time.
How do you encourage arts and crafts in your home?
]]>Caffeine is addictive. Caffeine causes insomnia. Caffeine has no health benefits. Caffeine is full of health benefits. Caffeine is harmful for women trying to get pregnant. When you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t drink coffee. It’s fine to drink coffee when pregnant.
We’ve heard it all before.
There is a lot of conflicting information out there about caffeine and its health consequences, especially for pregnant women, because there are a lot of conflicting scientific studies about the topic. So, when you Google this topic, the advice is often confusing.
We have decided to explore this topic, giving you—our Amara readers—a well-researched deep dive into this much-talked-about stimulant.
Caffeine is a naturally occurring central nervous system stimulant found in many foods, beverages, dietary supplements, and drugs. (To get technical, it’s an alkaloid from the methylxanthines family.) It’s known to improve vigilance, attention, and reaction time, particularly in sleep-deprived individuals. Many of us know it best in the form of coffee, the most common way that caffeine enters the human food chain. (Energy drinks, a rising market since the 1980s, is another common way, at least in the U.S., that caffeine enters our systems.)
But did you know that caffeine has other uses as well? For instance, it occurs naturally in certain plant leaves, seeds, and fruits, where it serves as an herbicide, insect repellant, and even attractant for pollination.
It is also employed to treat very ill and premature newborns afflicted with apnea (temporary cessation of breathing). Other uses include as an adjuvant (an aid) in pain therapy. In the sports world, caffeine is known to improve endurance and muscle strength.
There are almost no age, gender, geographical, or cultural barriers to the consumption of caffeine: it is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in history. Its availability is nearly unlimited, and in Europe it is not subject to state regulation. In the U.S., the FDA has regulated caffeine as an ingredient in food since 1958, when the Food Additives Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was enacted. This is why, on Coca-Cola bottles and cans, for instance, you see how much caffeine is contained.
For reference, coffee contains about 85 to 110 mg of caffeine per cup, tea about 40-50 mg/cup, soda beverages 30 to 45 mg/serving, cocoa about 5 mg/cup, and chocolate 25 mg/small bar.
Caffeine consumption in adults has many recognized benefits, including helping to prevent:
-neurological diseases (e.g., Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases)
-cardiovascular diseases (e.g., coronary heart disease and stroke)
-certain cancers (e.g., prostate cancer, melanoma, liver cancer, and breast cancer)
-liver diseases (e.g., liver fibrosis and liver cirrhosis)
-type 2 diabetes
The caveat to this is that the FDA—and many other agencies across the world (including in Europe, Canada, New Zealand, India, and Australia—recommend healthy, non-pregnant adults restrict their caffeine intake to around 400 milligrams a day (~4-5 cups of coffee) to take advantage of its health benefits while avoiding negative ones. The FDA has not set a level for children, but the American Academy of Pediatrics discourages the consumption of caffeine and other stimulants by children and adolescents.
Many experts conclude that caffeine is safe within a typical dose amount. But overconsumption of caffeine can cause or contribute to insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, nausea, headache, a feeling of unhappiness, increased heart rate, and other cardiovascular effects like elevated blood pressure. And a sudden decrease in caffeine may cause withdrawal symptoms such as fatigue, irritability, headache, and difficulty focusing on tasks. Indeed, habitual consumption leads to physical dependence, which is why when we suddenly stop drinking coffee, we experience behavioral and physiological effects.
But only in very high doses can caffeine be really unsafe, to the point of fatality, but—again—this is rare. The FDA estimates that toxic effects like seizures can be observed after the rapid consumption of around 1,200 milligrams of caffeine (~12 cups!), or 0.15 tablespoons of pure caffeine.
Pure caffeine, often found in dietary supplements, should be treated with extreme caution. It often comes in highly concentrated powder or liquid form, where just one teaspoon of powder can contain the same amount of caffeine as 28 cups of coffee, and a half cup of liquid concentrate contains the equivalent of more than 20 cups of coffee. Yikes! And what makes it scarier is that dietary supplements are often marketed in bulk packaging with up to thousands of servings per container, requiring the consumer to measure out what they think is a safe serving. The FDA, importantly, does not regulate them in the same way as medications.
But again, aside from these supplements, most of us get caffeine from a few cups of coffee which—again—many experts say, “don’t worry about.”
If you are pregnant, trying to conceive, or have been pregnant, you’ve probably heard that caffeine consumption during pregnancy increases certain risks, namely the risk of pregnancy failure and gestational complications like low birth weight. In fact, in 1980, the FDA issued a warning advising pregnant women to restrict or abstain from the drug following studies (using rodents, mind you) that showed harmful effects to fetuses.
And yet, many pregnant women today consume caffeine. In recent studies from the U.S., anywhere from 70 to 82% of pregnant women polled reported consuming caffeine daily (and for comparison’s sake, studies show it’s around 91% in France).
Well, for one, updated studies (post-1980) have reassured many medical experts: many (not all, but many) currently maintain that under a certain amount, caffeine consumption during pregnancy is most likely safe for the fetus.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises that pregnant women may safely consume up to 200 mg of caffeine per day (~2 cups of moderate-strength coffee), and the same advice is contained in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Similarly, the European Food Safety Authority states that maternal consumption of caffeine up to 200 mg per day does “not give rise to safety concerns for the fetus”, and the UK National Health Service advises pregnant women to “limit” daily intake to 200mg. The Swedish National Food Agency recommends an intake of less than 300 mg caffeine per day during pregnancy. And the World Health Organization likewise says that daily caffeine consumption below 200–300 mg is a safe dosage for pregnant women.
Furthermore, many medical researchers and practitioners note that the effects of caffeine on pregnancy outcomes vary greatly from individual to individual because there is wide variation in both how sensitive people are to the effects of caffeine and how fast they metabolize it. Furthermore, scientists point to how genetics, epigenetics (how your behaviors and environment can affect your genes), and environmental conditions can predispose certain individuals to higher sensitivities to caffeine while pregnant.
Basically, when it comes to caffeine dosage recommendations, it’s more nuanced than we previously understood.
In adults, caffeine is metabolized by enzymes in the liver (specifically, cytochrome P450 enzymes). As a result, over 90% of ingested caffeine in adults get metabolized before it reaches the kidneys.
But fetuses lack this enzyme system.* And when the mom consumes caffeine, it crosses the placenta, exposing the fetus to concentrations of the drug similar to levels in the mother.
(*In fact, this enzyme system is primitive even in infancy. In newborns, more than 80% of caffeine consumed (via their moms‘ breastmilk) passes through their kidneys unmetabolized. As a result, infants of caffeine-consuming mothers can experience caffeine withdrawal symptoms much like adults, including disturbed sleep, vomiting, tremors, and irregular heartbeat and respiration.)
As women advance through pregnancy, their “clearance of caffeine“—how much and quickly they metabolize—changes. In the first trimester, women can process caffeine much like they do when not pregnant. But their ability to do so—that rate—slows to one-half and then to about one-third during the second and third trimesters. As part of this, caffeine’s half-life (how long it lasts in our systems/bodies) increases in the first trimester from the usual adult rate of about 2.5-5 hours to about 15-18 hours by the 38th week of pregnancy.
For fetal health, exposure to caffeine can lead to “vasoconstriction in the uteroplacental circulation“—meaning, it can cause blood vessels involved maternal blood flow to narrow, constricting the exchange of oxygen and nutrients to the baby. This can, in turn, affect the baby‘s growth and development, leading to possible outcomes of preterm birth, low birth weight, and miscarriage. Studies show that children born small for their age have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease later in life and a higher chance of impaired neurodevelopment during childhood.
You might be asking yourself: if this ^ is true, why did my doctor say I could drink 200 mg of coffee a day while pregnant?
Many medical researchers and practitioners distinguish between high, moderate, and low intakes of caffeine when they advise about it—a low to moderate dose being 200-300 mg or less.
Scientists established this threshold from recent studies. One of the largest ongoing cohorts—where 64,000 full-term pregnant women in Norway were recruited from 1998 to 2008—showed that low to moderate caffeine consumption during pregnancy was not associated with any persistent adverse effects concerning the child’s neurodevelopment up to 8 years of age.
So many experts consider caffeine a significant risk for pregnancy only when moms-to-be are consuming large quantities of caffeine. In the language of coffee, a high intake could be considered ~3·5 to 7 cups of coffee per day and a very high caffeine intake as ≥7 cups of coffee per day.
At these levels, some studies suggest a significant increase in the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Similarly, some studies from the U.S., Netherlands, Ireland, and Norway correlate high dosages of prenatal caffeine to babies with higher body mass indexes, total body fat, and liver fat, contributing to childhood obesity.
Of course, here’s the tricky part of medical science: it’s an ever-evolving project. To this point, some researchers disagree on what exactly constitutes a high intake of caffeine, versus a moderate or low dose. Even more muddying, some researchers have concluded that any caffeine intake is harmful to fetuses.
One meta-analysis, for instance, showed that the risk of pregnancy loss increases by 19% for each increase of 150 mg/day of caffeine, and 8% for each increase of 2 cups of coffee per day. Another meta-analysis found that 100 mg of caffeine per day during pregnancy was associated with a 14-26% increased risk of pregnancy loss. Additionally, the analysis found that pregnant women who ingested 2 or more cups of coffee per day before pregnancy had a higher risk of bleeding in early pregnancy.
Other studies, though, have concluded low and moderate amounts of caffeine have no effect. And others claim that low and moderate amounts of caffeine are beneficial for pregnancy, reducing the risk of gestational diabetes, as one example.
Confusing!
One 2015 study underscored this ambiguity, concluding: “There is insufficient evidence to confirm or refute the effectiveness of caffeine avoidance on birthweight or other pregnancy outcomes. There is a need to conduct high-quality, double-blinded RCTs [randomly controlled trials] to determine whether caffeine has any effect on pregnancy outcomes.”
Many medical experts would agree with this premise: we need more studies. And that’s because each existing study—while useful—is limited. One study alone cannot answer all our questions, in part because it’s difficult to isolate caffeine intake and pregnancy as the only 2 variables in a woman’s and her baby’s health. What about the mom’s age? Race/ethnicity? Genetic health and predispositions? Her body mass index? Does she smoke? What’s her personality and stress level? Other consumption habits? Kinds of caffeine consumed (coffee, soft drinks, etc.)? Exact amounts of caffeine consumed?
This last question is particularly thorny. Many substances contain caffeine—dark chocolate, for instance—so when we tally up how much caffeine we *think* we had in a day, accurate estimates are hard to come by. On top of that, one person’s—or one company’s—cup of coffee might be stronger than the next. There’s a lot of variability even in commonly recognized sources of caffeine.
To this point, while high maternal caffeine intakes are more consistently associated with a higher risk of pregnancy loss and other negative results, the outcomes for moderate and low caffeine use have been mixed—due to difficulties in measuring caffeine intakes and differences in participants and studies. That said, it’s worth reiterating that ACOG and other expert bodies currently advise that up to 200 mg/day is most likely safe.
We at Amara care about caffeine consumption and pregnancy because we care about women’s and babies’ health—which is why we’re in the business of nutrient-dense baby and toddler food. Amara’s baby blends and toddler snacks have no additives, are 100% non-GMO and organic, and are made from only a few—very real, very transparent—ingredients. Only the best for our babies.
***
Article researched by:
Amara's Chief Nutritionist: Sonia A. Schiess, PhD in Nutrition, specialized in the introduction of solids and liquids to infants. Sonia's passion started when she was studying nutrition and dietetics in university, completing a post degree in Human Nutrition. Later on, she completed her PhD as a nutritionist, with a focus on introducing food in the first year of a baby's life. Her wide experience gives her a unique perspective, drawing from her time in clinics, hospitals, independent consulting and university research. She's authored several papers including "Introduction of complementary feeding"; "Introduction of potentially allergenic foods in the infant's diet during the first year of life" and "Intake of energy providing liquids during the first year of life" in five European countries. The combination of Sonia's science and our chef's magic ensures every Amara product is not only optimized for your baby's health but is delicious as well.
References:
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/spilling-beans-how-much-caffeine-too-much
Berglundh S et al., Maternal cafeine intake during pregnancy and child neurodevelopment up to eight years of age—Results from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study. European Journal of Nutrition 2021
Chen L-W et al., Maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy and risk of pregnancy loss: a categorical and dose–response meta-analysis of prospective studies. Public Health Nutrition 2015
Gahr M, Caffeine, the most frequently consumed psychostimulant: a narrative review article. Fortschr Neurol Psychiatr 2020
Grosso G et al., Coffee, Caffeine, and Health Outcomes: An Umbrella Review. Annu. Rev. Nutr. 2017
Jahanfar S & Jaafar SH, Effects of restricted caffeine intake by mother on fetal, neonatal and pregnancy outcomes (Review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2015
James JE, Maternal caffeine consumption and pregnancy outcomes: a narrative review with implications for advice to mothers and mothers-to-be. BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine June 2021
Lassi ZS et al., Preconception care: caffeine, smoking, alcohol, drugs and other environmental chemical/ radiation exposure. Reproductive Health 2014
Qian J et al., Impacts of Caffeine during Pregnancy. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2020
Román-Gálvez MR et al., Caffeine Intake throughout Pregnancy, and Factors Associated with Non-Compliance with Recommendations: A Cohort Study. Nutrients 2022
Rosenfeld LS et al., Regulatory status of caffeine in the United States. Nutrition Reviews 2014
Voerman E et al., Associations of maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy with abdominal and liver fat deposition in childhood. Pediatric Obesity 2020
Wikoff D et al., Systematic review of the potential adverse effects of caffeine consumption in healthy adults, pregnant women, adolescents, and children. Food and Chemical Toxicology 2017
Long before your baby speaks their first words, their communication skills have already been developing!
In this post, we’ll cover common speech and language milestones for the first three years of life, helping you monitor your baby’s development to make sure they’re (generally speaking) on track.
(You might ask: what’s the difference between speech and language? Well, speech means making sounds that comprise words, whereas language means using words—and eventually sentences—to express yourself.)
Strong speech and language skills, as you’ll see below, are closely intertwined with hearing skills. Newborn babies recognize important sounds around them—like your voice. Then, as they grow, our little ones begin to sort out speech sounds that make up the words of language—whatever language that is for your household—to the point that by about six months of age, most babies recognize many of their native language’s sounds. So, hearing, speech, and eventually language abilities mature hand in hand!
Beyond this, we should appreciate that communication development also depends on nurturing physical, motor, sensory, cognitive, and social skills in our little ones as they grow up. Altogether, these different aptitudes lay the foundation for a bright future!
Babies develop speech and language skills best in an environment full of sounds, sights, and the speech and language of others. So:
First off, communication development happens uniquely with each child, so these ^^ milestones should be taken as general ones.
That said, if you think your child is struggling to understand what others are saying or is having a hard time communicating their feelings/thoughts, it may be a sign of a language or speech delay or disorder—or a hearing issue. Book an appointment with your pediatrician and discuss your concerns.
Why do we at Amara care about speech milestones?
Because we care about babies’ health. That’s why we design uniquely nutritious baby food and snacks—food that can power our little ones to work on things like speech and language development.
Our baby blends, designed for 5+ months, are made from whole, organic fruits, vegetables, and grains, sourced directly from growers. Our patent-pending pressure protected technology locks in the taste, texture, and nutrients of the fresh fruits and veggies by gently removing the water. Then we grind down the ingredients. The result? Simple food powders with no additives—just REAL ingredients like black beans, corn, kale, mango, strawberry, pumpkin, pear …. You know—REAL foods! And all you do, as the parent or provider, is add 4-5 tablespoons of breastmilk, formula, or water to the powder, stir, and serve to your baby!
How do you encourage your little ones to communicate?
For many breastfeeding moms, pumping is a must for a variety of reasons—to be able to bottle feed your baby (or to enable your partner to bottle feed); to store milk for when you and your baby aren’t together; to increase your supply, or even to deal with a tricky oversupply.
For many of us, especially first-time moms, pumping seems daunting and brings forth a wellspring of questions. Which pump do I buy? Will my insurance cover it? How do I use this thing? When do I pump? How often? Even for seasoned mothers, pumping can be tricky.
So, we’ve prepared some tips to make it go extra smoothly:
For the actual pumping session:
More generally:
Just like with breastfeeding, pumping takes time and practice, but if you’re new to it or are having struggles, know that lots of moms have been there before—and know that you’re doing your best!
Consider asking a lactation expert for help. Contact one of these resources for advice on your particular situation:
We at Amara care about things like breastfeeding and pumping because we support parents, and we support great health for our littlest ones. That’s why we design baby food—blends and toddler melts—with only the simplest of ingredients (organic ones, mind you!) and no additives. And with our unique baby blends, all you do as the parent or provider is add breastmilk, water, or formula to the powdered blend—and it’s ready for your little one!
Any pumping tips or hacks to share with other moms?
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For those moms who decide to breastfeed, it can be such a powerful, beautiful experience—and an amazing bonding activity—between mothers and babies. But not without its complications. Many moms experience difficulties—i.e., too low or too high of a milk supply; soreness and pain; plugged ducts, mastitis, and infections, among others. A key problem many women experience is getting babies to latch properly.
As Courtney Miller, RN, BSN—a breastfeeding educational expert and member of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners—explains, a deep latch is critical for efficient milk transfer—and for the mom’s comfort! So, today, we bring you several practical suggestions for the best latch, courtesy of Courtney and other specialists.
As you work on breastfeeding with your baby, just remember: like all things in parenthood, this may take some time and practice! If you don’t get that good latch the first time, take a deep breath, take a sip of water, and give it another go.
Here are some pro tips from Courtney. (Check Courtney out @thebetterboob!):
Courtney shares that once you have positioned your little one in a way that maximizes their ability to latch, you then need them to open their mouth wide. Why? Because to remove milk from your breast, babies need to use their jaw and cheek muscles, not just their lips! So, it’s very important to wait for a nice big open month. In other words, your baby should be ready to take a big bite out of a hamburger (which will translate to your breast)—or in other words, their mouth should open wide around your breast areola, not just your nipple.
To encourage a wide-open mouth, try these tips from Courtney:
Here is a great video demonstrating this.
Here are some other latching suggestions from WIC, La Leche League, and other breastfeeding experts:
At Amara, we care deeply about breastfeeding—and feeding in general!—because we want great nutrition for our little ones from their earliest months onward. Our baby blends, designed for 5+ months, are made from whole, organic fruits, vegetables, and grains, sourced directly from growers. Our patent-pending pressure protected technology locks in the taste, texture, and nutrients of the fresh fruits and veggies by gently removing the water. Then we grind down the ingredients. The result? Simple food powders with no additives—just REAL ingredients like black beans, corn, kale, mango, strawberry, pumpkin, pear …. You know—REAL foods! And all you do, as the parent, is add 4-5 tablespoons of breastmilk, formula, or water to the powder, stir, and serve to your baby!
Do you have any breastfeeding tips to share with other moms?
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We hear about it all the time. Eat locally. Eat seasonally. And while those phrases might seem obvious in meaning, let’s dig into the matter of local food production—what it is; what its benefits—and challenges—are; how it differs from globally sourced food; and what YOU as a consumer can do about it all.
Local food is produced, processed, marketed, and consumed within a relatively small geographical area. Because of its geographic confines, local food is usually grown and distributed in season.
Local foods are products sold directly to consumers but also to retailers, institutions (e.g., schools and hospitals), and intermediaries (e.g., food hubs, processors, and wholesalers).
Demand for local food has been growing over the past twenty years or so.
In the U.S., local foods represent less than 4 percent of total farm sales but are nonetheless a growing share of the U.S. food system. In Europe, local food represents a bigger force: there are about 310,000 food companies, and 99% are small and medium-sized.
Now, an important note: local food is often associated with:
These characteristics are often true of local producers, but not always. It’s not true, for instance, to assume that all local farmers are organic farmers.
But it is fair to say that, compared to large multinational food producers—which we’ll get to in a minute—local producers are, on the whole, more committed to nonspecialized and more sustainable farming.
Food safety, quality, and diversity.
Buying local enables you to purchase food that is fresh (and thus tasteful) since it doesn’t have to be transported over long distances. Buying local also means buying whatever growers in your area are producing, and that diversity of foods contributes to well-rounded nutrition.
Transparency of the supply chain—more knowledge for consumers.
A local supply network allows better communication between producers and consumers, facilitating the traceability of the products.
Environmental sustainability.
Local food production reduces the distance between the point where a food is produced and the point where that food is consumed, reducing the product‘s carbon footprint and food waste involved in transportation. Additionally, local food often equates to less packaging/plastic. Locally grown and sold food is usually seasonal and diverse, meaning multiple foods are grown at different times of the year. This protects biodiversity and promotes sustainable farming.
Support for local businesses, communities, and economies.
Buying from local food producers directly supports their businesses. It allows them to operate without the use of expensive intermediaries, so that they are left with a larger share of the retail price. And when you support food growers near you, you’re also supporting your community, promoting job creation and economic diversification and growth. In short, you’re keeping food dollars within your local economy. Local food production also promotes regional culture by exhibiting, for example, the gastronomy of area products—which can be boon for local tourism!
Food sovereignty and security for growers and their communities.
Locally grown and sold food gives agency to the growers who do all the work! In the U.S. and Europe, buying local supports rural communities; and in developing countries, locally grown and distributed food strengthens native farming communities and assists the entire nation with its economic development. And on top of that, locally controlled food distribution reduces the likelihood of famine and malnutrition.
It’s economically challenging for growers.
Local, smaller-scale food producers often find it difficult to be profitable. Many do not have sufficient capacity to manage the entire food production process as efficiently as large-scale, specialized producers who can outsource different tasks. In addition, local growers are often committed to ethical production in terms of environmental and social sustainability which requires even more time and effort.
Local producers often struggle with a small marketing budget, and marketing is often through word of mouth and by social media. Sometimes local sales channels and retailers even have to compete against each other, primarily for consumers but also over local food products. All of this makes it hard to succeed at the local level.
At the same time, buying local food often requires more time, effort, and money from consumers and retailers.
For consumers, supermarkets conveniently provide a large selection of less expensive food that can be taken home at any time. For retailers, purchasing locally often means slower deliveries, smaller volumes, and products that lack consistency in terms of size and shape.
When we buy food at major grocery chains, much of it is produced, processed, and marketed through global food chains. This system is based on:
This system—where multinational companies control much of the world’s food production—came about after World War II, when agriculture—based on small family farms, supplying the local market through short supply chains—transformed in Europe and the U.S. These developed parts of the world then exported industrialized agriculture, genetically modified and monocrop culture farming, and long supply chains to developing sections of the world (like Mexico and India in the 1950s and 1960s during the so-called Green Revolution).
Depending on who you ask, yes. For many consumers in the developed world, food produced and sold through global chains means it is:
So, in short, the system provides food security for many people in places like the U.S.
Food produced and distributed in this way has led to many negative impacts, particularly for the developing world.
Global food chains contribute to the imbalance between developed states and developing ones.
Rich countries source cheaper products from remote, poorer parts of the world, transporting foods across the globe. This increases the consumption of fossil fuels and other natural resources.
On top of that, diversified local production—where an area grows many types of crops—is often displaced by monocrop farming, reducing native biodiversity.
Mass produced, monocrop food—shipped from developing states to the developed world—also loses its cultural significance. The regional, unique characteristics of a food product are all but gone in the global food chain, disincentivizing consumers from knowing about the places where their food comes from—and the people who grow it. Food is suddenly a commodity that is difficult to associate with a particular country.
Another issue is the cheap price tag attached to globally distributed food. A key reason why it’s so low is that many farmers and farm workers in poorer parts of the world are dramatically underpaid. As a result of this, they are vulnerable to hunger and extreme poverty.
Global food chains rely on intensive, highly mechanized and specialized farming. This is very hard on the environment.
Its many adverse impacts include biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, pesticide and fertilizer contamination of soil and water, soil erosion and degradation, deforestation, and eutrophication (where a body of water becomes deluged with too many minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus).
Globally sourced food lacks the benefits of locally sourced food.
When we buy and consume food from around the world, it is often not as fresh, tasty, diverse, and nutritious as food from our local communities.
To support local, especially small- and medium-sized food operations, many advocates recommend:
Making sure food is nutritional, diverse, and sustainable is something that we at Amara understand and support.
At Amara, we care that food is fresh, organic, and real—that our littlest ones with the most vulnerable bodies are eating the best of foods. To us, food safety, variety, and quality are vital. As such, Amara’s baby blends and toddler snacks have no additives, are 100% non-GMO and organic, and are made from only a few—very transparent—ingredients. Only the best for our babies.
How does your family navigate local v. global food? Any tips for supporting local producers?
***
Article researched by:
Amara's Chief Nutritionist: Sonia A. Schiess, PhD in Nutrition, specialized in the introduction of solids and liquids to infants. Sonia's passion started when she was studying nutrition and dietetics in university, completing a post degree in Human Nutrition. Later on, she completed her PhD as a nutritionist, with a focus on introducing food in the first year of a baby's life. Her wide experience gives her a unique perspective, drawing from her time in clinics, hospitals, independent consulting and university research. She's authored several papers including "Introduction of complementary feeding"; "Introduction of potentially allergenic foods in the infant's diet during the first year of life" and "Intake of energy providing liquids during the first year of life" in five European countries. The combination of Sonia's science and our chef's magic ensures every Amara product is not only optimized for your baby's health but is delicious as well.
References:
https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-markets-prices/local-foods/
https://www.nal.usda.gov/human-nutrition-and-food-safety/local-foods-and-communities
Kapala A, The role of short supply chains and local food systems in the concept of food sovereignty and food democracy. PPR 2023
Keech D et al. , Selling local food in the city: A comparative study of short food supply chains in Oslo and Bristol. NIBIO Report 2023
Macieira A et al., Food Safety in Local Farming of Fruits and Vegetables. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021
Mariola MJ, What do local foods consumers want? Lessons from ten years at a local foods market. JAFSCD 2021
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As much as your little one benefits from playing with you, did you know that independent play—when your child is spending time by themselves with their toys and books, even if just for a few minutes—is also super important?
And there are many benefits to independent play for you—the parent, including:
- Getting ‘a breather’
- Learning to give your child space and time to become their own little person
Depends on who you ask! Some parenting experts and websites suggest starting it with 3-6-month-olds. Some even suggest introducing it to newborns.
However, starting independent play around 6-months of age may be easiest. By then, your baby might be able to hold their head up and manipulate a toy on their own (even if they aren’t yet mobile).
If you have a toddler and haven’t introduced independent playtime yet, there’s no time like the present! You can introduce it at any age.
Again—it depends on who you ask! For instance, some parenting websites say 6-month-olds may be able to play by themselves for ~5 minutes. Others say that toddlers’ attention spans are 5 minutes! Because the advice varies widely—and because children vary widely—a good starting point for any age is: begin with a few minutes of independent playtime and see how it goes. You can always add more!
Parents.com suggests working up to the following:
6-months: 5 minutes
12-months: 15 minutes
18-months: 20 minutes
2 years: 30 minutes
Take your child to a small, child-proofed room, area, or playpen and introduce an activity with their favorite toys or books. Then after a few minutes, move a few feet away while offering occasional words of encouragement and acknowledgement if they need it. Gradually, as they get used to independent playtime—and as they get older—you can move further away. (And of course, when your children are much older—like preschool age—you can leave them alone in a room or space for a short period of time. But at this young age—2 years and younger—you won’t want to leave them unattended.)
If your child stops playing when you move away, return to them and play with them again—but only for a few seconds. Then remove yourself again. Repeat as many times as you need. Many children become more interested in their toys/activities than watching you come and go.
And if they start crying when you stop playing, try offering words of encouragement and comfort instead of immediately returning to the play area. Reassure them that you’re nearby and are just giving them space to play.
Tips for Success!
Be patient with your child. Your child’s temperament and day-to-day (i.e., how much sleep they got; if they’re sick; if they’re going through a growth spurt) are going to influence how playtime goes. That’s normal! Start with small amounts of alone time and work up from there.
Develop a schedule for independent play and stick with it. This way, the child will learn to expect that routine.
Offer different toys/books on different days.
But also limit the number of toys available!
Avoid overstimulating toys. Put away the ones that light up, sing, and move around, and instead offer simple, passive toys (blocks, dolls, stuffed animals, boxes, books, art materials, play furniture) that let children stimulate themselves and be creative about their playtime.
Avoid screentime as a part of independent play. We want to go ‘old school’ here and provide toys that let the child, not the game/movie/TV program, take the lead.
Use verbal encouragement at the start of playtime to set expectations:
“OK, now it’s playtime! I’ll be sitting (reading, etc.) over there, and you can tell me about your playtime when you’re done!”
“OK, I’m going to leave you alone for 10 minutes. I’ll even set a timer if you want. I can’t wait to hear what you do!”
Frame it positively (i.e., don’t say: “I need time away from you.” Or “I’m busy. Go play by yourself.”)
During playtime, use verbal encouragement only if they need it. Let them initiate your involvement. Avoid praise. It’s playtime, not a test, so children don’t need to be told, “You’re doing such a great job.” If anything, you can ask questions about what’s going on in their imaginary world.
Make sure your baby gets your undivided attention at other times throughout the day. Then, they’ll be more likely to embrace the short amounts of alone time they’re given.
Last tip! Pick a time for play when your child isn’t too tired or hungry. At Amara, we’re always thinking about food (lol) and making food convenient—but healthy—for children. For hungry babies, consider using one of Amara’s food blends, made with only organic ingredients and no additives. All you do to prepare it is open the package; add 4-5 tablespoons of breast milk, formula, or water; stir; and serve! And for hungry toddlers, try Amara’s yogurt melts before playtime! Babies and toddlers who aren’t hungry will enjoy independent playtime much more than those who are!
Any tips on independent play to share? Please share!
Introducing solids to your baby—and putting your little one in a highchair—are significant steps in parenthood, as those of you with toddlers know.
Here are three ways to play in a highchair before the baby’s first bites, courtesy of Jordyn Koveleski Gorman, MS, CCC-SLP, a speech language pathologist and feeding specialist. Check out her work on IG @eatplaysay!
1. Bring your baby's favorite books and toys to the highchair! Encourage your little one to reach out for and touch the toys on the tray to practice reaching and touching foods.
2. Offer spoons and teethers! When your baby brings these items to their mouth, they are practicing self-feeding skills, Jordyn explains. (How cool!)
3. Sit face-to-face with your baby in the chair and play! Feeding is a social activity, so playing with them in the highchair is great practice for mealtime socialization.
4. Water play! Fill a cake pan or cooking tray with ~1/2” of water and place on top of the highchair. Or if you have a thick-lipped highchair tray, you can put the water directly in it. Put your child’s favorite (waterproof) toys in the water. Plastic Easter eggs are a great option, too. (You can also be creative and use new ‘toys’ like milk jug lids—just be mindful about choking hazards). Your baby will love splashing and feeling the water, and by trying to move and catch their toys, they are working on fine motor skills, hand and eye coordination, sensory skills, and the ability to grasp objects as they move. This game is a little messy but it’s just water!
(Photo credit:ParentHacks; photos by Emily Moss and Misty Poush)
5. Muffin time! Place your muffin pan on top of the highchair and put small (but safe!) toys in some of (but not all) the openings for your little one to pick up, feel, and move around/reorganize. Wooden blocks and small balls are great options. Try to select toys of different shapes and textures to promote different sensory experiences and skills.
Tip: try turning the muffin tray upside down! The game works using the spaces in between the “bump-ups” for muffins.
(Photo Credit:LaughingKidsLearn)
6. ‘Painting’ with yogurt and purees! You can use yogurt (Greek is a great option)—or try one of Amara’s baby blends. On the highchair tray, place a few blobs of different kinds of yogurts/purees—ideally different colors—and let your baby ‘fingerpaint’ on the tray with them. (You can model it for them to get them started.) They’ll have fun smearing it around and tasting the ‘paint’ without you having to worry about actual paint. It’ll be messy!—but easier to clean up than actual paint.
Tip: We recommend Amara baby food blends for this due to their vibrant color and customizable textures. Try Kale Potato Veggie mash for a great green ‘paint’ color’; Tropical Mango for orange; and Applesauce with Maqui Berry for red/purple.
(Photo Credit: BabyPlayHacks; Yogurt Painting)
8. Painting mess-free with ‘actual paint’! Put a piece of blank white paper into a resealable clear bag, squeeze in a few drops of different paint colors, and seal it up. Tape it to the highchair tray and encourage your baby to press on it, mixing the different paint colors (with no mess!).
(Photo Credit: The MumandtheMom)
9. Magnet magic! Place a small metal pan and a handful of magnets on your child's highchair. Choose larger magnets to avoid a choking hazard. By moving them around and picking them up, your baby will be exercising more of those fine motor skills! And worse case—if the pan falls to the floor, the magnets shouldn’t fly everywhere!
Any highchair games or tips to share?
Smoothies are a tasty—and easy!—way to make sure your little ones are getting lots of great nutrients. They’re particularly useful for babies who are starting to eat solids but who don’t love textured foods or who don’t love food in its whole form.
And especially in the warmer months, when we (and our littles ones!) don’t always want a hot meal, smoothies are a refreshing break from that, without sacrificing any nutrition. They’re great for meals or snacks.
Each of Amara’s baby food blends makes a perfect base or addition to a smoothie. They’re packed with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients; have no additives; and are 100% organic.
Take our Tropical Mango blend. It’s made of organic mangoes and bananas. That’s it. Mangoes are rich in Vitamins A, C, and K; potassium; beta-carotene (that’s what gives it its orange color); folate; choline; and magnesium—not to mention healthy carbohydrates and fiber. And bananas are a great source of fiber, potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and several antioxidants. So you can feel assured when you give your child our Tropical Mango blend, you’re packing in a lot of great stuff in a single serving!
Here are 3 ideas for smoothies using our Tropical Mango blend:
Idea 1: Tropical Fruit Galore
Top with Amara’s Mango Carrot yogurt melts!
Idea 2: Green Kick
Top with Amara’s Mixed Red Berries yogurt melts!
Idea 3: Avocado Dream
Top with Amara’s Mighty Sweet Greens yogurt melts!
Tips: Consider adding a little nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew) for protein. Add ~1 tbsp.
For any of these, if you find the result too wet or too thick, just add a little more fruit or more milk/yogurt/water, respectively, and blend away.
Also, you can always double or triple a recipe.
Any leftover smoothie should be kept in your refrigerator in an airtight sealed container.
Any tips for us? How do you make smoothies for your family?
Welcome to summer! Here at Amara, where we’re all about real, fresh food, we get excited about summertime because it’s when the earth produces some of the best fresh produce!
Let us help you find it.
Today, we have six ways for you to shop locally and seasonally:
Shopping at your local farmers' market is one of the best—and most enjoyable—ways to help your family eat more locally and seasonally. You can use the National Farmers’ Market Directory to find one—or more!—close to you.
Tip: be sure to check the days and hours they’re open: often, they operate on weekends and only certain weekdays. Another tip: when picking a time to go, air on the earlier side. Not only will they be less crowded, but they usually open very early (farmers get up early!) and close earlier than you might expect.
A CSA is short for “community supported agriculture.” As a member, you’re connected directly to a farm or group of farms, often small family-run ones. Depending on what you sign up for, you get fresh produce from the farm(s) once a week, biweekly, etc. Sometimes, you pick it up at the farm, and sometimes the CSA will have pick-up locations throughout the area. You usually can get “add-ons,” too—things like eggs, flowers, herbs, depending on what the farm grows.
Joining a CSA not only helps your family eat locally and seasonally—but you’re also directly supporting your local independent farming community! Check out Local Harvest CSA guides to find one near you.
Did you know that some farms will let you come and pick your own produce? How cool is that! Check out the U-Pick Farm Locator for the closest farms to your family. At the farm, you’ll have at your fingertips your area’s freshest, most seasonal produce. And on top of that, you and your family can see where the veggies and fruits you’re eating actually come from. (I know I’m not the only one that looks at a certain vegetable and is like, “does this grow on a bush … or underground…?”)
With community gardens, a group of people—often neighbors—jointly grow produce for their families within a public or private plot of land. While members usually have their own small plot within the garden that they’re responsible for, the collective benefits are huge: community gardens help the environment, beautify their surroundings, promote healthy lifestyles, build strong local bonds, and—of course—help people eat locally and seasonally. And sometimes, community gardens donate a portion of their produce to local food banks—another reason to join.
There are approximately 18,000 community gardens throughout the U.S. Use the American Community Garden Association’s website to find one near you.
On top of ^^, why not start your own garden? If you have the space outside, start a small veggie or herb garden. Visit your local civic garden center for advice on what to plant, where to plant it, and when to plant it. They often have free or low-cost classes, online and in-person, that advise on what grows best in your area.
No space outside? No problem. Build a small veggie/herb box or buy one pre-made from your local hardware or gardening supply store. Simply secure it in a deep window sill or place it on your fire escape. (I’ve grown chives, radishes, and arugula from my fire escape planter!)
For example, here at Amara we source all of our produce directly from the farmers. We make sure each fruit and vegetable is harvested at peak time for taste, nutrition and freshness, and is treated in a way that maximizes its nutritional value. For example, we use the whole apple, not puree, and even include the apple peels for extra vitamins and fiber. To learn more about what makes our baby food the best in quality and convenience, read on.
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What’s so cool about farmers’ markets, CSAs, U-pick farms, and community gardens is that they’re viable options for local produce year-round. So, while we might be excited that summer brings such delicious options (berries, tomatoes, melons …. mmm!), many places will be able to offer seasonal produce during the cold months, too (apples, pumpkins, squash, kale … and more!). Check out the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s seasonal produce guide for more info.
What does your family do to shop locally and seasonally?
]]>First things first: what are they exactly?
Well, in the broadest sense, a food additive is any substance added to a food that affects its characteristics. They can help preserve food. They can shape the texture, taste, and look of foods. And they can make food packaging more “user-friendly,” among many other things.
Additives can be added at any stage in the food process—so, during production, processing, treatment, packaging, transportation, or the storage of food.
And for a bit of background, they aren’t unique to the 20th and 21st centuries. Our ancestors used salt to preserve meats and fish, added herbs and spices to improve the flavor of foods, preserved fruit with sugar, and pickled cucumbers in a vinegar solution.
So, today’s consumers—in demanding a food supply that is flavorful, nutritious, safe, convenient, colorful, and affordable—continue that old tradition of adding ingredients to food to enhance it.
Yet, we should understand that there has been a sharp diversion in consumption habits over the last 70 years or so. … may be we put 170 years = it start with the industrialization In these decades, people in the developed world have been increasingly consuming processed—and ultra-processed—foods. Food additives are a major part of that, so our use of them, and our inadvertent and intentional consumption of them, has skyrocketed.
Let’s dig a little deeper.
There are two kinds of additives—direct and indirect.
Direct food additives are added to a food for a specific purpose in that food. For example, xanthan gum—used in salad dressings, chocolate milk, bakery fillings, puddings, and other foods to add texture—is a direct additive. Most direct additives are listed as an ingredient on a food label.
Indirect additives, in trace amounts, become part of a food during its packaging, storage, or other handling. So, these are harder for consumers to track.
Another distinction when we think about food ingredients: there are “natural ones” and “artificial ones.”
The difference is just that artificial ingredients are synthetically (man-made) made, whereas natural ones are derived from natural sources. For example, from soybeans and corn, we can get lecithin which helps to maintain product consistency. Or—consider beet powder. Totally natural, it can be used for food coloring. (To make things a bit more complicated: some ingredients found in nature can also be manufactured artificially and produced more economically, with greater purity and more consistent quality, than their natural counterparts. For example, vitamin C or ascorbic acid may be derived from an orange OR produced in a laboratory.)
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates both direct and indirect food additives—its goal being to ensure that foods are safe to eat and are accurately labeled.
All of this started with the 1938 Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, followed by the 1958 Food Additives Amendment (and other subsequent regulations).
To market a new additive (or one that’s been approved for one use but not another use yet), the FDA requires that a manufacturer or sponsor provide evidence that the substance is safe for the ways in which it will be used.
The FDA considers: 1) the composition and properties of the substance, 2) the amount that would typically be consumed, 3) immediate and long-term health effects, and 4) various safety factors. All of this helps the FDA determine an appropriate level of use for that additive with a built-in safety margin (so that the level of approved use is actually, in the FDA’s opinion, much lower than what would be expected to have any adverse effect.)
But this isn’t perfect science. The FDA writes:
“Because of inherent limitations of science, FDA can never be absolutely certain of the absence of any risk from the use of any substance. Therefore, FDA must determine - based on the best science available - if there is a reasonable certainty of no harm to consumers when an additive is used as proposed.”
If an additive is approved, the FDA issues regulations including which foods it can be used in, the maximum amounts to be used, and how it should be identified on food labels. (And if new evidence suggests that a product already in use may be unsafe, or if consumption levels need another look, the FDA can prohibit its use and/or conduct further studies to determine if the use can still be considered safe.)
Additionally, since 1999, the FDA also consults with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the review process for ingredients that are proposed for meat and poultry products.
Now, more than 10,000 chemicals are allowed to be added to food in the U.S., either directly or indirectly, under these laws.
Of these, an estimated 1,000 are used under a “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) designation, which doesn’t require FDA approval or notification.
Yep, those are additives as well.
What are they exactly?
A color additive is any dye, pigment, or substance that imparts colors when it’s added or applied to a food, drug, cosmetic, or to the human body. It can do this on its own or through reactions with other substances.
Color additives are used in foods to:
to offset color loss due to exposure to light, air, temperature extremes, moisture, and storage conditions to “correct” or enhance natural variations in color—so that all goods look the same to the consumer to provide color to colorless foods
Because let’s face it: we want our (processed) foods to “look” a certain way. Without color additives, soft drinks wouldn't be brown; margarine wouldn't be yellow; and mint ice cream wouldn't be green.
In 2005, Procter and Gamble—the global consumer goods giant—coined “the first moment of truth” to describe when we, as consumers, pick one product over another. In this “first moment,” color is responsible for 62–90% of the customer’s assessment. Wow! That’s a major incentive, then, for a lot of research and development into food colorants. Some market research companies have predicted the global food colors market will be $2.97 billion by 2025. (In 2016, it was $1.79 billion.)
The FDA categorizes color additives in two ways:
1. Certified colors are synthetically produced and used widely because they give off an intense and uniform color, are less expensive, and blend easily to create a variety of hues.
2. The other category is colors exempt from certification. These include pigments derived from natural sources—or, if man-made, they’re considered “nature-identical.” They are typically more expensive than certified colors and may add unintended flavors to foods. Examples of exempt colors include annatto extract (yellow), dehydrated beets (bluish-red to brown), caramel (yellow to tan), beta-carotene (yellow to orange) and grape skin extract (red, green).
And while the categorization scheme—where certified=artificial and exempt=natural—seems pretty clear cut, the FDA doesn’t provide a specific definition for “natural color” vs. “artificial color.” Only natural flavorings, another class of food additives, have a specific definition given by the FDA. To this point, consider the food colorant, copper chlorophyllin. It’s extracted from a natural source (often from edible green leaves), but its manufacture requires additional chemical batch processing. So, the question is: is it a natural or a synthetic colorant? (Both…?)
Since the FDA regulates food additives, can we assume that they’re pretty safe?
Some additives are safe—and sometimes very helpful for human health. Let’s consider how we add vitamins and minerals to fortified cereals.
In the 1930s, deficiencies in numerous B vitamins, such as thiamin and niacin, as well as vitamin D were so common in the U.S. that cereal companies like Kellogg’s began to add these vitamins. They also did the same for folic acid deficiency. And it’s definitely helped.
*Interesting side point about when cereal makers add in nutrients, they bake in heat stable ones (such as vitamins A and E), whereas they apply non-heat-stable nutrients (such as B-vitamins) to the cereal after heating is completed. Since each cereal is unique in how many nutrients it can handle, fortification levels vary across cereals.
But back to the question: are all additives safe? Let’s remember the FDA’s own caveat: “Because of inherent limitations of science, FDA can never be absolutely certain of the absence of any risk from the use of any substance…”
So, when we’re asking ourselves—"are all additives safe for human consumption?”—the short answer is no.
Not all additives appear to be safe, and others... well, we need more information. There are substantial gaps in data about potential health effects of food additives.
From human and animal epidemiological studies over the past few decades, there has been increasing scientific evidence suggesting some synthetical chemicals used as indirect and direct food additives could have potentially adverse health effects, contributing to disease and disability.
As the American Academy of Pediatrics has said, children may be particularly susceptible to the effects of these compounds because they have higher relative exposures compared to adults. They’re smaller than us, so they have greater dietary intake per pound. On top of that, their metabolic (ie, detoxification) systems are still developing, and key organ systems are undergoing substantial changes that are vulnerable to disruptions.
And beyond that, there are so many additives, and we’re missing comprehensive and long-term studies—not only on each one but also the cumulative effects of consuming multiple additives, especially over long periods.
For instance, the FDA maintains a food additive list and of the 3,941 additives listed, reproductive toxicology data was only available for 263 (6.7%), and developmental toxicology data was only available for 2 additives.
Beyond this, scientific critics argue that the FDA’s “Generally Recognized As Safe” (GRAS) designation has been too liberally applied, putting possibly dangerous substances into the food supply.
Take butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) for instance. Found in prepared foods (cereals, fast food, drink mixes, snack foods), food packaging, and plastic, it’s a synthetic antioxidant used to prevent fats in foods from going rancid and as a defoaming agent for yeast. We’ve been using it since the 1940s. The FDA classifies it as GRAS, but some laboratory studies have shown BHA to be carcinogenic in rats and other animals. The National Institute of Health’s National Toxicology Program even concluded that BHA can be “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” Contrary to that, though, is the claim that since BHA is an antioxidant, its tumor promoting properties might be offset by its antioxidizing powers (which are known to fight free radicals). So … which is it?
To me, it seems better to air on the side of caution … which brings us to a few more examples of problematic additives.
Perchlorates
Perchlorate is an indirect food additive that enters our food supply a few ways. One, as a contaminant in water or as a component of nitrate fertilizers. As the FDA has discussed in its own studies, exposed crops may retain elevated levels of the compound. Two, perchlorate is also used as an antistatic agent for plastic packaging. And three, perchlorate can contaminate food when food manufacturers use hypochlorite bleach to clean.
What’s the big deal with perchlorate? Well, it’s known to disrupt thyroid hormone production, and the thyroid hormone is critical for early life brain development, among other processes. Alterations to normal hormone concentrations can have lifelong cognitive consequences.
So, when we think about infants, toddlers, and children, this is an issue.
With infants in particular, some powdered formula also has perchlorate in its packaging materials.
Pregnant women’s exposure to perchlorate raises further concern. Since perchlorate can disrupt adult thyroid functioning, this could contribute to maternal hypothyroidism (where the mom’s iodine level decreases and the thyroid gland can't produce thyroid hormone; women who are iodine deficient are especially at risk for this). The developing fetus will be impacted by maternal hypothyroidism since the baby is reliant on its mom’s thyroid hormone during the first trimester. The effect? Scientists suggest that maternal hypothyroidism during pregnancy is associated with cognitive deficiencies in children. They also speculate that perchlorate (and other food additives that mess with the thyroid) may be contributing to the increase in neonatal hypothyroidism and other thyroid system issues that have been increasingly documented in the U.S.
Artificial food colors (AFCs)
From 1950 to 2012, our use of AFCs increased more than fivefold, from 12 to 68 mg per capita per day. And while the FDA has approved 9 AFCs for use (Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 3, Red 40, Citrus Red 2, and Orange B), studies over the last few decades have raised concerns regarding the effect of AFCs on child behavior—particularly their role in exacerbating attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms. (There is evidence, for instance, that at least one AFC, Blue 1, may be able to cross the blood-brain barrier—meaning, it can impact the brain’s functioning.)
The FDA has set acceptable daily intakes for each of the AFCs. However, these standards, as well as original safety approval for the color additives, are based on animal studies that did not include neurologic or neurobehavioral observations.
Given that such effects have been observed in children, many scientists argue that a thorough reassessment of AFCs is warranted to determine whether they meet the FDA‘s benchmark of safety: “convincing evidence that establishes with reasonable certainty that no harm will result from the intended use of the color additive.”
On top of all this, AFCs, like other food additives (including sweeteners, preservatives, emulsifiers), can also mess with our guts, inducing an imbalance in the bacterial composition there. This can contribute to the onset of Irritable Bowel Disease which is on the rise in western countries. (Emulsifiers, by the way, are added to processed foods to enhance texture and extend shelf-life.)
Consider food colorant titanium dioxide (TiO2), also known as E171, frequently found in sauces, cheeses, skimmed milk, ice-cream, coating for sweets, and chewing gum. In May 2021, the European Food Safety Authority (“the EU’s FDA”) concluded that E171 can no longer be considered safe when used as a food additive because increased consumption can negatively impact the human microbiome—aka, our guts.
Nitrates and nitrites
Nitrates and nitrites are commonly used as preservatives in cured and processed meats, fish, and cheese. But there has been increasing concern regarding their use.
In 2004, the American Medical Association stated that nitrates and nitrites can particularly impact infants because of the chemical compositions of their gastric tracts, making them vulnerable to methemoglobinemia (a rare blood disorder that affects how red blood cells deliver oxygen throughout your body).
The American Medical Association also highlighted the risk of gastrointestinal or neural cancer from the ingestion of nitrates and nitrites, which (although not carcinogenic themselves) may react with secondary amines or amides to form carcinogenic “N-nitroso” compounds in the body.
To this point, in 2006 the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified ingested nitrates and nitrites, in situations that would lead to the production of those carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds, as “probable human carcinogens.”
And in 2015, the same agency specifically classified processed meat (which includes meat that has been salted, cured, or otherwise altered to improve flavor and preservation—so, probably containing nitrates and nitrites) as “carcinogenic to humans.” (Relatedly, there is convincing evidence linking consumption of processed meats with colorectal cancer.)
High maternal intake of nitrite-cured meats has also been linked to an increased risk of childhood brain tumors in the offspring.
So, what does the FDA think of all this? Current regulations allow up to 500 parts per million of sodium nitrate and 200 parts per million of sodium nitrite in final meat products. However, the FDA does not permit nitrates or nitrites to be used in food produced specifically for infants or young children. On top of potential carcinogenic effects, nitrates, like perchlorates, can also disrupt the thyroid from functioning.
What’s not helpful? In recent years, food manufacturers have been using alternative sources of nitrate and nitrite preservatives, such as celery powder, in products labeled as “natural” and “organic.” These products may contain nitrates and nitrites in concentrations that can be equivalent to or higher than those found in traditional products using sodium-based sources. So, consumers should be aware that with respect to nitrates and nitrites, natural and organic products may not provide advantages over conventional products.
There are many other food additives with potentially adverse effects. Here are a few more examples:
Bisphenols like BPA - Found in the lining of metal cans, plastics, and cardboard containers (now banned in plastic baby bottles and sippy cups). BPA can disrupt puberty, decrease fertility, increase body fat, and impact the nervous and immune systems. Check out our post on BPA here.
Phthalates - Makes plastic products flexible. Gets into dairy, meat, seafood, fruits, veggies, and fast foods during food processing/packaging. These may affect male genital development, increase childhood obesity by disrupting metabolic functioning, and impact cardiovascular systems.
Per- / polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs) - Used in nonstick cookware coatings and for grease- and moisture-resistant paper and cardboard packaging. These can reduce immunity, birth weight and fertility and may also impact the thyroid.
And don’t forget about added sugars, added salt, and artificial sweeteners. Check out our post on artificial sweeteners here.
I don’t know about you but all of this... is very overwhelming to me!
So, what are some practical things you can do for your family to limit your exposure?
- Buy fresh food—ideally organic and local—with minimal packaging.
- Buy packaged food with additive-free labels, like Amara’s baby food blends + smoothie melts.
- If you’re choosing a processed food, search for products with short, clear, and understandable ingredients.
- Make dishes from scratch.
- Make simple switches (i.e., fresh herbs/spices instead of processed marinades/sauces). For beverages, choose fresh herbal teas, fresh fruit or vegetable juices, or old-fashioned (filtered) tap water.
- Prefer real meat, poultry or fish than processed products (like sausages, hotdogs, meat products, prepared meat or fish dishes/ready to serve…).
- Wash plastic food containers/utensils by hand instead of in the dishwasher.
- Avoid putting your plastics into the microwave. (Heat causes them to release additives.)
- Use glass and stainless-steel containers to cook and serve food.
- Be careful with older plastic containers (like baby bottles and cups) that might not be BPA-free.
- Be a smart shopper. Reduce your use of plastics #3, 6, and 7 unless labeled "biobased" or "greenware.” Look for “BPA free” on plastics and metal cans.
Any tips to share? #amarafood #additivefree
Article researched by:
Amara's Chief Nutritionist: Sonia A. Schiess, PhD in Nutrition, specialized in the introduction of solids and liquids to infants. Sonia's passion started when she was studying nutrition and dietetics in university, completing a post degree in Human Nutrition. Later on, she completed her PhD as a nutritionist, with a focus on introducing food in the first year of a baby's life. Her wide experience gives her a unique perspective, drawing from her time in clinics, hospitals, independent consulting and university research. She's authored several papers including "Introduction of complementary feeding"; "Introduction of potentially allergenic foods in the infant's diet during the first year of life" and "Intake of energy providing liquids during the first year of life" in five European countries. The combination of Sonia's science and our chef's magic ensures every Amara product is not only optimized for your baby's health but is delicious as well.
References:
https://www.fda.gov/food/food-ingredients-packaging/overview-food-ingredients-additives-colors
"BHA and BHT: A Case for Fresh?” Scientific American, December 19, 2013.
Raoul P et al., Food Additives, a Key Environmental Factor in the Development of IBD through Gut Dysbiosis. Microorganisms 2022.
Rinninella E et al., Food Additives, Gut Microbiota, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Hidden Track. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020.
Trasande Let al., Food Additives and Child Health. Pediatrics 2018.
Viera I et al., Green Natural Colorants. Molecules 2019.
For all the moms reading this—Happy Mother’s Day from Amara!
You deserve the biggest round of applause and the longest nap ever! Moms make the world go round. Always have, always will.
This Mother’s Day, we have a few low-key ideas of how to celebrate if you have young children.
It’s mid-May! In most parts of the States, it’s warm—or warmish—which means going for a walk around the block, frolicking in your backyard, strolling around a park, or going for a short hike nearby are all great (and EASY) options. Put your little one into their carrier or stroller, and you’re off! (Don’t forget snacks, like Amara’s Smoothie Melts.)
Flowers and plants are two of the most common Mother’s Day gifts. Growing up, my mother loved getting flowering, potted plants for her garden on Mother’s Day—but she also enjoyed picking them out. So, my dad would drive my mom, my siblings, and I to the local gardening store. It was a trip that lasted an hour max, and it allowed my mom to get exactly what she wanted. When we got home, we’d all mess around in the garden together!
Have a family recipe that you love? Have your partner prepare the dish while you help out/supervise (unless you love cooking). If you have a toddler, place their highchair where they can see what’s going on in the kitchen. Then tell them about the recipe and the family tradition behind it as the food is being fixed.
(Pro-tip: if the recipe includes lots of veggies, fruits, whole grains, and/or healthy fats—all the better! Point out the different ingredients to your toddler, explaining how important and tasty each one is.)
Unless your little one is also partaking in the dish you’re preparing, show them their food: the solids they’re going to eat and how you’re preparing them. (And here, don’t forget about Amara baby food blends as healthy and easy purees that you just mix with water, formula, or breastmilk!)
Dig through your bookshelf or visit your local library for mom-themed books that you and your little one can read together for Mother’s Day. Some staff favorites are:
Alternately, you can share one of your favorite stories from your childhood. Snacks can help wiggly kiddos sit still a little longer. Try our mess-free and sugar-crash-free Amara’s Smoothie Melts. Last, be sure to snuggle up together and get all of your cuddles in!
There are entire Pinterest boards devoted to Mother’s Day crafting.
Here’s one idea for toddlers:
Take an oversized white sheet of art paper. Have your toddler draw a heart on it (big enough that their hands will fit in it). Then, pour red, pink, or purple water-based paint into a pan. Let your toddler immerse their hands in the paint. Then help them place their hands inside the heart, gently pressing down. Don’t forget to add the date and any other details to remember the day by.
Another easy idea: do the ^ above but instead of drawing a heart, have your little one draw the stem of a flower with a green crayon/marker. Their handprint—imprinted above the stem—will be a flower!
A great way to celebrate Mother’s Day is to celebrate the moms in your life—your own mom, grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, etc. Plan a simple picnic at a nearby park with them. You can ask your partner (or a friend) to babysit while you and other moms have some nice adult-only time. Or you can include children.
(Tip: consider using your own backyard. Tell people to bring what they/their kids need and that you’ll only be supplying the space + a pitcher of lemonade or coffee/tea. (Moms will get it.) Since people will be outside, you won’t have to clean much inside. Unless hosting is your thing, the whole point of Mother’s Day is to keep it simple and stress-free!
The tradition of pampering on Mother’s Day reminds us of how important ‘mothering ourselves’ is every day. Prioritizing our own needs isn’t selfish. It’s practical, healthy, and 1000% deserved.
On this Mother’s Day, instead of hoping your family intuits that you need and want a little space, tell them upfront. Let them know a few days ahead of time what YOU’D like to do on Mother’s Day. That could be many things:
(Cute tip: have your partner and little one(s) make fun coupons for these ^^ activities. Then, throughout Mother’s Day weekend, you can “redeem” them when you need/want them.)
As part of this, ask your partner to explain to your children that “Mom is having a special day to herself” or “Let’s try to be quiet because Mom is taking a nap right now, just like you do.”)
If you’re a single mother, consider a babysitter for a part of the day. If that’s not an option, try asking a friend or another family member to come over for part of the day and help out.
How do you celebrate Mother’s Day with your family? What traditions are you sharing with your little ones? We’d love to hear!
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Especially with the recent popularity of protein-heavy diets (not naming any names here…), I’ve been hearing so many friends and family talk about protein and protein sources.
But other than knowing that protein is one of the three macronutrients (the other two being fat and carbohydrates), and being able to rattle off some key sources of plant protein, I honestly didn’t know very much about it.
If this is you, too^^, then keep reading for the low-down on protein — we’ll cover all the basics, including what protein is and what it does for the body, the differences between plant and animal protein sources, and everything you need to know about protein needs for babies and toddlers.
Ready? Let’s go…
Proteins are organic compounds that exist everywhere in our bodies — they’re in our muscles and bones, our skin and hair, and all of our organs and tissue. The main structural components in virtually all of our body’s cells, proteins are made of amino acid chains and can vary greatly in size, composition, and shape (as one article described, the variations are “infinitely diverse and complex”).
Fun fact: Our bodies are able to make and modify some amino acids (again, the building blocks that make up protein) on their own, but others we need to eat to obtain. There are more than 20 kinds of amino acids; the nine specific ones that our bodies cannot independently produce are called essential amino acids.
Proteins serve a host of different purposes in our bodies:
Point is: protein is a powerhouse of an organic compound.
The big, buzzy difference between plant and animal proteins is that animal proteins are considered “complete” because they contain all nine essential amino acids. While some plant proteins are also complete (we’ll get to those shortly), most common plant proteins are not. Animal foods also tend to contain more (concentrated) protein than plant foods — meaning you’d have to consume more food to get the same amount of protein from plants than you would from animal foods. And some plant foods that are excellent sources of protein (see below) are not necessarily foods we usually (or should) eat in larger servings (looking at you, spirulina).
This doesn’t necessarily mean plant foods are any “less than” in the protein department, but rather that they don’t contain all nine essential amino acids. It’s entirely possible to get all the protein you need from plant sources, the trick is simply to combine multiple sources over the course of a day/days to meet all the body’s needs.
Here’s a quick run-down of high-protein foods in the animal and plant categories:
Plant Protein Sources |
Animal Protein Sources |
Soy products (tofu, tempeh, edamame*) |
Eggs |
Seitan |
Fish/Seafood |
Nuts, Nut Butters, and Seeds (i.e., chia* & hemp* seeds) |
Lean Meat |
Certain Whole Grains (buckwheat*, quinoa*, wheat, and wild rice) |
Poultry |
Peas |
Wild Game |
Legumes (chickpeas, lentils, split peas, beans) |
Dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt) |
Nutritional Yeast* |
|
Ezekiel Bread* (sprouted grain bread) |
|
Spirulina* |
* in the plant column denotes complete protein sources that contain all 9 essential amino acids; all of the animal protein sources listed are complete.
Animal- and plant-based proteins both have advantages and drawbacks. Let’s look at each in turn:
Nutritionists remind us that just because all animal protein is “complete” does not necessarily mean it’s all healthy — watch out especially for processed meats and meat products that contain excess salt and/or fat (such pepperoni, hot dogs, bacon, etc.). Red meat has also been linked to an increased risk for heart disease and stroke. On the other hand, some sources of animal protein can be healthy and economical. Fish in particular have been associated with numerous health benefits, including reduced cognitive decline and lower rates of heart disease.
Turning our attention to plant-based proteins, the big drawback is that few, on their own, are complete. However, this can easily be overcome by consuming a variety of plant protein sources in your daily diet (don’t worry about protein pairing at every meal — just think about balancing out your sources over the course of a day).
This handy protein pairing chart from the American Society for Nutrition may come in helpful:
Food |
Limited Amino Acid |
Complement |
Beans |
Methionie |
Grains, nuts, seeds |
Grains |
Lysine, threonine |
Legumes |
Nuts/seeds |
Lysine |
Legumes |
Vegetables |
Methionine |
Grains, nuts, seeds |
Corn |
Tryptophan, lysine |
Legumes |
While deriving protein mainly from plants may demand a little more attention and care, numerous studies suggest plant-based eating may be healthier overall — it’s linked to lower blood pressure, reduced body weight, lower cholesterol levels, and a decreased risk for cancer, stroke, and heart disease. Some studies also show that plant-based diets can be beneficial for prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. (A reminder: just as not all animal proteins are healthy, not all plant-based foods are healthy. Many processed vegetarian or vegan foods contain added sugar, salt, or other additives — and in fact numerous “old-school” junk foods are technically vegan: fruit roll ups, potato chips, Fritos, and pudding are all vegan, for example.)
While many parents may be worried that their children aren’t getting enough protein, in the United States this is frankly unlikely. Studies show that most babies and toddlers in the U.S. are indeed getting sufficient protein from their diets, and in fact researchers tend to be more concerned about excess protein intake than insufficient protein intake.
For babies <1, breast milk and formula are both excellent sources of protein that meet babies’ needs; and for toddlers and older children, the same healthy sources of plant- and animal-based proteins as we adults consume are wonderful. In thinking about our day-to-day feeding habits and patterns as parents, as long as your baby/toddler is eating enough and you’re offering a balanced variety of fresh wholesome foods, they’re very likely getting enough protein.
If you still want some kind of benchmark, here are the recommended intake amounts for different age groups, according to the British Nutrition Foundation:
Age group |
Recommended daily protein intake (g) |
0-3 months |
12.5 |
4-6 months |
12.7 |
7-9 months |
13.7 |
10-12 months |
14.9 |
1-3 years |
14.5 |
4-6 years |
19.7 |
7-10 years 28.3
By the way — and at the risk of repeating myself — most kids consume more than these amounts^^. According to one study, the average toddler (1-3 years old) consumed 41 g protein daily and the average child (4-10 years old) consumed 53 g protein per day. The reality is that children in developed, industrialized countries like the U.S. and U.K. are getting their protein (and then some).
According to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, some 75% of adults meet or exceed the recommendations for meats, poultry, and eggs. Given these statistics (plus the fact that most Americans do not consume the recommended amount of seafood), more nutritionists are advising families to seek out more plant-based sources of protein in their diets. Especially if you are vegetarian or vegan, it’s a great idea to keep a list of protein-rich foods somewhere visible (I keep one on our refrigerator, for example), so that over the course of a day you have an easy reference for a variety of different plant-based proteins.
At Amara, we do everything plant-based! We hand pick the freshest whole-foods ingredients at peak harvest, and our patented nutrient protection technology maintains the nutrition and structure of everything — which means you can rest assured that the proteins in our baby foods remain intact. Plus, all of our recipes are designed with input not just from a chef but also from our in-house nutrition PhD, who ensures each meal is nutritionally balanced and complete. For protein-rich meals, check out our Organic Veggie Blend, Black Bean and Sweet Corn, and Ancient Grain Cereal.
Additional References
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002467.htm
https://publications.aap.org/aapbooks/book/667/chapter-abstract/8087152/Protein?redirectedFrom=fulltext?autologincheck=redirected
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/interactivenutritionfactslabel/protein.cfm
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/animal-vs-plant-protein
https://nutrition.org/protein-complementation/
https://www.fao.org/3/ae906e/ae906e22.htm
https://www.nutrition.org.uk/media/1z2ekndj/nutrition-requirements-update.pdf
https://mamamadefood.com/blogs/mamamadeblog/plant-based-proteins-for-babies-toddlers
https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/protein-foods
James LEA . Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.): composition, chemistry, nutritional, and functional properties. Food Nutr Res 2009
Richter M et al., Revised Reference Values for the Intake of Protein. Ann Nutr Metab. 2019
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¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo! I don’t know about you but where I am, it’s springtime and I’m so excited to cook with all the fresh produce that’s coming back into season. Each year, I feel like Cinco de Mayo rings in those warmer months and gets me excited for the summer ahead.
So today we have a Cinco de Mayo-inspired recipe for your toddler, using one of our Amara baby food blends!
Our Black Bean and Sweet Corn puree takes center stage in the recipe below. Like all of our organic baby food blends and yummy toddler yogurt melts, the ingredients in this puree are super fresh and simple and actually taste like the real thing—because they are the real thing!
only 2 ingredients: organic cooked black beans and organic sweet corn
no added sugar or additives
no soy, dairy, or gluten
extra iron and potassium
great source of fiber and protein
Optional Toppings!:
Avocado
Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Peel your sweet potato and cut it into inch-size cubes.
3. Place your cubed sweet potato in a bowl and toss with olive oil to evenly coat.
4. Roast the potato on a cookie sheet in the oven for about 20 minutes (stirring halfway). You’ll know it’s done when you can easily pierce the potato with a fork.
5. While the potato is cooking, prepare the Amara Black Bean and Sweet Corn puree. Open the meal packet and pour the contents into a small bowl. Then add 4-5 tablespoons of breast milk, formula, or water and stir. Set the puree aside.
6. Prepare a small soft tortilla wrap (whole wheat, corn, or spinach ones are great). To warm it up: dampen two paper towels and squeeze out any excess. Wrap around your tortilla and heat in the microwave for ~15-20 seconds.
A few ideas for toppings:
Instead of sour cream, how about Greek yogurt? It’s higher in protein and calcium and lower in fat and lactose than sour cream—and tastes very similar! Or if you’re looking for a dairy-free option, there are great nut-based yogurts that mimic sour cream/Greek yogurt.
For the diced tomatoes, you can use a medium-sized heirloom or Roma one—or a few cherry tomatoes that are a little bit sweeter. Doesn’t matter!
As for shredded lettuce, romaine is a great option. It’s crunchy and full of nutrients (vitamin C, K, and folate), making it a much better option than iceberg lettuce. You can also try chopped-up spinach or even bok choy. These are both LOADED with folate and other great vitamins—which is why they’re considered superfoods—and taste-wise, they mimic lettuce. If you’re unfamiliar with bok choy, it’s really common in Asian cuisine and tastes a little like cabbage. It’s crunchy and delicious, imo!
Finally, for shredded cheese, you could use cheddar or mozzarella. Or try a vegan cheese that mimics cow-based cheese for a dairy-free option!
And of course, if your little one isn’t ready for a tortilla wrap, you can also just present the ^^ food to them as a ‘3-course’ baby-led weaning meal – sweet potatoes, avocado, and black beans/sweet corn, yum! And for even younger babies—8-months old+—who are being introduced to solids, you can always forgo the tortilla wrap and puree the sweet potato with the black bean & sweet corn.
MORE handy-dandy TIPS:
If you live near a farmer’s market, try shopping there for your produce. That way, you support local and small businesses, and you help the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions involved in food transportation. And if you go to the farmer’s market on a less busy day (i.e., I’d avoid the weekends), I find it’s a MUCH better shopping experience than a traditional grocery store. You get to know the merchants; you get to walk around, often outside or inside a cool old markethouse; and your kids get to see how a lot of different food is made, often from different cultures. All of that promotes positive associations with healthful, joy-filled eating!
Leftovers? Great! Simply store any in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy in the next day or two! We recommend serving at room temperature or slightly heated-up.
Lastly, as a variation on the recipe above, try swapping the Black Bean and Sweet Corn puree with Amara’s Tropical Mango puree and pairing it with a protein like chicken or fish for another Cinco de Mayo-inspired meal!
How have you been using our Black Bean and Sweet Corn puree? Quesadillas?! A layered dip!? We’d love to hear your recipes!
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Yes, the list of nutritional benefits oats provide runs long… let’s just hit the highlights:
In short, oatmeal is seriously a great way to start the day — though our culture’s obsession with oats as a breakfast food may actually miss the mark: oats are also fantastic in savory dishes we tend to associate with lunch/dinner. Try swapping steel cut oats in for rice, risotto, or orzo next time you’re preparing any of those dishes, and let us know what you think! Oats can also work well in many soups, and I even love a bowl of oatmeal with a simple drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.
Point is: there are lots of ways to enjoy oats beyond the traditional bowl of oatmeal (although, that’s great too).
Thanks to Amara’s patented nutrition protection technology, our Oats n’ Berries pouches deliver all the same nutritional benefits as *real oatmeal, without any of the added sugar that most instant oatmeal comes with (bleh). Here are three ways you can use Amara Oats n’ Berries to up your oats game:
This is a fun, hands-on recipe that toddlers *love to help make. Especially since it contains oats and nut butter, it’s a really great snack that really delivers: it’s nutritious, filling, and delicious. Once you get the hang of making these (and depending on your child’s age), you can also play around with other add-ins, such as unsweetened coconut, nuts/seeds, or dried fruit.
Ingredients:
Directions:
These healthy pancakes take mere minutes to whip up and they’re SO delicious!
Ingredients:
Directions:
This is a fun variation on traditional (warm) oatmeal that’s very fun to pepper in on spring and summer mornings. Also: it’s *actually the easiest healthy breakfast to make ever. Seriously. It’s a little bit ridiculous to even have a “recipe” for it, LOL. 😂
Ingredients:
Directions:
In all seriousness, one of the most surprising things I am constantly (re)learning about being a parent is just how much of every day revolves around food. My little kids need and want to eat *all the time, it seems. I’m the kind of person whose first question about the weekend or a vacation is, what are we going to eat?, and I have never thought about food so much as with regard to my kids.
I’ve recently been fascinated with debates I’ve heard about snacking — namely, whether young children should do it. So this week we’re bringing you a primer on all things snacking: the case for it, the case against it, and tips for managing and making the most of snacktime.
Grab a snack…
Let’s start with the “cons,” shall we? Full disclosure: I was firmly on this side of the fence at the outset. I read Bringing Up Bebe when my firstborn was an infant and decided that the next best thing to moving to Paris was trying to emulate the French, hah. (We’ll get to the relevance momentarily…)
Many Americans harbor negative ideas about snacks and snacking generally, and these impressions stem probably from our own upbringings and attitudes toward food/eating, various cultural influences, and broader concerns about the food environment in which we live.
Many parents who worry about their children eating (too many) snacks say they fear snacking may impede their children’s ability to self-regulate their own eating, and/or contribute to overeating, weight gain, and obesity. While there is a certain logic to these concerns, there is not conclusive data to support them. (And as we’ll see shortly, some experts argue exactly the opposite.)
A separate concern I hear a lot is that snacking interferes with kids eating their meals — i.e., if Jack eats a snack before lunch or dinner, he is less likely to eat the meals his parents prepared for him. This exact scenario, I think, is almost ubiquitous among the parents of toddlers…
Still more families worry that our culture’s problematic food landscape — in which (mostly unhealthy) food is omnipresent — is driving the ship, and point to other cultures around the world where snacking simply is not the norm. In France, most children have a single daily snack (!) in the afternoons when they return home from school, and the classic American problem of “my kid is whining for snacks all day long — no really, all day long” is just not really a “thing.” These cultures — again, using France as an example — generally advise that there is no need for children to eat constantly throughout the day (or even, much more than meals), that it’s okay to be hungry, and that restraint is a learned skill.
On a related note, many parents recognize that early childhood is an important window of opportunity for building eating habits and taste preferences, and worry that frequent snacking may simply be teaching their children bad habits for the future.
Lastly, there are the facts that in the United States, children may simply be snacking too much and on the “wrong” things. According to Harvard Health, more than a quarter of most children’s daily calorie intake comes from snacks, and American children have been snacking more over the past decades. One study, for example, found that children consume more than 8 snacks daily, on average. Combine this with the detail that most snacks consumed are processed low-nutrient foods, and you begin to see the issue.
[set aside] We at Amara are trying to change our country’s culture of eating — and its overreliance on highly processed foods — from the ground up. Our organic baby food pouches and toddler yogurt melts are the perfect alternative to “junk food snacks” — they’re just as easy but they come with benefits rather than health problems… Our nutrient protection technology ensures that every Amara bite is as nutrient-rich and flavorful as homemade foods and snacks. It’s a win-win! {end]
There’s another side of the story!
More pediatric nutritionists, parents, and researchers are suggesting that our culture has denigrated snacking to the point of unnecessarily moralizing the behavior, and expressed that restricting children’s snacking may inadvertently backfire. Here’s a little more on their take:
Feeding experts explain that most young children, on account of their growing bodies, ongoing brain development, and comparatively smaller stomachs, may in fact need to eat more frequently — every 3-4 hours. Indeed, growing children have higher nutrient demands than adults, and especially given that most children do not eat predictably (meaning, “regularly” at meals), it’s entirely possible that our children may be whining for a snack for good reason. Add to this the observation that toddlers and young children literally cannot eat as much in one sitting as an older child or adult (again, smaller stomachs), and the one-hour-after-mealtime-snack-request starts to look much more reasonable…
Another thing: many nutritionists note that restricting a child’s eating to the point of making food feel scarce can yield unintended consequences. Namely, they say that children who live in homes where eating is strictly restricted may grow up to be more likely to overeat, more likely to harbor negative feelings about eating, and less likely to be able to control their own eating. The premise behind these outcomes is that children who experience food restriction have fewer opportunities to learn to eat intuitively and independently self-regulate their own consumption. Following this same ideology^, many believe that it’s also important to periodically offer children unfettered access to “junk food” so that they gain experience moderating intake.
There is no one right recipe for kids’ snacking — in fact, you may take a different tack among your own kids! I took away from this research that there is such a thing as “too much” snacking, but also that we need not beat ourselves up about it.
Indeed, instead of throwing our attention on snacking per se, we are better served to focus on our children’s plates — namely, what we’re serving them, and what we’re not…
Experts suggest making some adjustments to your approach toward snacking for a more successful and overall healthy experience. Here are the top pieces of advice:
Often, children ask for snacks based on circumstantial factors such as boredom or external cues. Look for patterns in when and why your child may be requesting a snack, and consider whether they might “actually” be hungry or there may be some other issue prompting them to desire food.
This is a classic piece of advice from experts and grandmas everywhere — don’t offer snacks too close to meals, as this can lead to reduced eating at mealtime… which then often causes increased snack requests afterward… It can be a vicious cycle!
One major concern about American children’s snacking is that it’s often mindless. When children eat while watching a screen, they’re much less likely to pay attention to what and how they are eating, how their bodies are feeling, and when they are full. One way to reduce mindless eating is to implement the simple rule of “no snacking with screens.” Ideally, experts say, snacks would take place at the table, with the formality of a mini-meal.
Young children thrive when they know what to expect, so it’s best to arrange a snack schedule of sorts and tell your child about it — try to use “landmarks” in time rather than actual time, because this will help children to follow along better (i.e., after the playground or after daycare).
One expert suggested parents think about snacks with the same intention they would meals, and I have to say I love this concept. Just like for a meal, consider putting together snacks that hit the major food groups and offer nutrient-dense foods (these will deliver more micronutrients and be more satiating). One idea is to come up with a list of balanced snack foods so you always have some ideas at the ready.
Parents and kids LOVE our best-selling yogurt smoothie melts because they are 100% organic fruit and vegetables with NO ADDED SUGAR.
**An added benefit of this strategy — treating snacks as mini-meals — is that it may begin to erode children’s sense that “snack foods” are distinct from “real foods.” In fact, one reason why children whine for snacks so frequently (see #1, above) is because they see snack foods as different from meal foods. And honestly, they’re not wrong. We’re more likely to offer our children processed foods, simple carbs, or “treats” for snacks than we are at mealtimes, and our kids pick up on this. If we begin to approach snack prep, however, with the same mentality and care as we would put into meal prep, the particular appeal of snack time (“special foods”) may lose its luster. (Some nutritionists even recommend occasionally offering those quintessential “snack foods” at meal times to help “break” a child’s association.)
This is one basic principle where there’s unanimous agreement in the world of nutrition. Using food of any kind — snack, meal, dessert, you name it — as either a source of punishment or reward conveys to children that their eating and behavior are linked. Instead of teaching our children that the food they receive is tied to how “good” they are, experts say it’s best to separate the realm of discipline from the realm of feeding entirely, and let food be food.
We at Amara say the same thing — let’s let food be food! That’s why every product we make is nothing but the best. We’re talking real, whole-foods ingredients with *nothing else (no additives, added sugar, binding agents, chemicals, or anything else). Everything we make is carefully prepared with the underlying intention of nourishing your child from the inside out. All of our organic baby foods and toddler snacks are as healthy, delicious, and nutrient-rich as homemade food, except without the time or hassle. They’re perfect for meals or snacks or anything in between. 🙂
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In the twenty-first century, environmental health concerns seem very familiar and (for some, at least) very widespread – to the extent that it can be difficult to remember that environmental health awareness in general is relatively new in the scope of American history. Indeed, the field of environmental health emerged in the 1960s and 70s out of initial worries about how industrial chemicals might be affecting wildlife populations. In particular, scientists at the forefront noticed that animals who lived in places where pesticides were widely used (for farming) seemed to be decreasing in number, and they speculated that pesticides were causing reduced reproductive capacity.
Scientists labeled chemicals that exerted such effects^^ endocrine-disrupting chemicals (“endocrine” referring to the hormones), or EDCs, and while you may or may not have heard of EDCs, chances are you have heard of one of its kind: BPA.
BPA is short for bisphenol A, and it’s one type of EDC. BPA was first synthesized in the 1800s but was really put into widespread use in the 1950s, when manufacturers realized that it could be used to make polycarbonate plastic, a now-ubiquitous material that was, at the time, a revolutionary innovation. Here’s how one researcher described polycarbonate plastic: a “miraculous cheap product that is lightweight, transparent, colorable, resistant to impact, heat, and chemicals, inalterable with time, and easy to mold and thermoform.” In the context of a consumerist 1950s society, this development presented as *very exciting. It did not take long before BPA was one of the most widely produced and used chemicals worldwide.
Let us note here: all this transpired^ even though BPA was a known synthetic estrogen.
These days, BPA is everywhere. Every year, some 3.4 million tons of BPA are used to produce plastics, and it’s not just Tupperware – the polycarbonate plastic manufactured from BPA comes across a wide range of product categories, including glasses, media, automotive equipment, electronics, flame retardants, adhesives, building materials, construction materials, medical supplies, packing equipment, and yes, housewares and appliances. BPA is also used to line the inside surface of aluminum cans, contained in thermal receipts, and is even in some dental sealants.
After 70 years of widespread production and use, BPA is virtually ubiquitous in our environment.
As a result of this widespread and mass production, numerous BPA derivatives are released into the environment, and the effects are uniformly deleterious, contributing to environmental pollution as well as soil and groundwater contamination.
So… what does this mean for you and your family? Keep reading for more on sources of BPA exposure, the science of BPA’s effects on human development, and ways to limit your family’s exposure.
While it’s possible to be exposed to BPA through the air, dust, and water (seriously, this was crazy to learn – BPA really is everywhere), more people are more likely exposed daily to BPA through food and beverages. Indeed, for most people, the main source of BPA exposure is diet.
Here’s how this^ works: BPA can seep from its “place” in plastics and can linings into food and drinks. There is no one set rate or amount of this leaching; instead, the extent to which BPA leaches into food or drink depends on the temperature of the food/drink and the container’s age.
This news can be a little overwhelming to confront, especially when we think about how many of these exposures we – and our children – may be encountering every day. And the unfortunate truth is, exposure is widespread. According to one study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 93% of people 6 and older had detectable levels of BPA in their urine. Researchers estimate that around the world, virtually all pregnant women, babies, and children are exposed to BPA.
Because exposure varies so greatly from person to person, so too do BPA levels – concentrations may differ from one individual to the next. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set the maximum safe reference level for BPA at 50 μg/kg/day (for reference, the European Union recently lowered their safe exposure level from 50 to 4 μg/kg/day); and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asserts that BPA is safe at the low levels in which it occurs in some foods.
Yet, it’s clear there’s some uncertainty, because the FDA also banned the use of BPA in baby bottles, infant formula packaging, and sippy cups.
Despite the FDA’s assertions, the question of BPA’s safety remains very much unsettled. While BPA doesn’t “survive” in the body indefinitely – it has a relatively short half-life of six hours and is excreted in urine, which is how scientists measure exposure levels – that doesn’t mean that it can’t exert effects.
Scientists’ main concerns stem from the observation that BPA may affect the body’s hormonal systems, which in turn may impact growth, metabolism, the immune system, reproductive development, and brain development. Hundreds of animal studies have documented these adverse effects^, even at very low levels of exposure.
Scientists also harbor concerns that BPA may impact children’s behavior, exert effects on the brain, and potentially play a role in numerous other diseases, ranging from reproductive abnormalities to cancers, metabolic diseases, developmental disorders and behavioral disorders.
It’s not entirely clear, then, why federal regulatory agencies like the FDA continue to maintain that BPA exposure is safe. Indeed, members of the Endocrine Society have actually criticized the FDA’s statements on BPA for relying on assumptions that fly in the face of basic endocrinology principles (including the presumptions that there is any safe threshold at all and that BPA affects both sexes equally). As one researcher put it, there is an apparent divide between the regulatory outlook and the actual science of endocrinology.
Scientists at the helm of one project (the CLARITY-BPA study, which concluded that low doses of BPA can and do alter hormone-sensitive organs and contribute to a wide variety of human diseases) called for the CDC to lower the existing upper reference level for BPA exposure twentyfold, from the current upper limit of 50 µg/kg/day to just 2.5 µg/kg/day. This kind of reduction would call for drastic changes in food production and manufacturing, and while such actions have occurred elsewhere around the world (such as in France, which required that BPA be removed from all items that come in contact with food), it sadly seems unlikely in the U.S., where the FDA has instead relinquished its own ability to even regulate BPA.
There is currently no alternative to BPA, though scientists are working to develop one. So far, the analogues in development (and already in wide use) have been the topic of controversy, with growing concerns about whether these compounds play any role in miscarriage – in one study conducted in China, for example, showed that women who suffered unexplained recurrent miscarriage measured significantly higher levels of BPA analogues compared to controls (even after comparing for confounding factors).
As parents, many of us are concerned not just about our own exposure to BPA but also that of our children and families, especially given that babies are more vulnerable to BPA exposure than older children and adults. Besides the fact that infants consume proportionally more food than adults (given their small size), there is also evidence that they may not be able to eliminate BPA as effectively, since their organ functionality is still developing.
It's important to know, too, that even exclusively breastfed babies may be exposed to BPA, as numerous studies have documented BPA levels in breast milk. (Note that although the FDA banned BPA from infant formula packaging, there is still BPA in infant formula itself.) As with individual BPA levels, there are wide variations in BPA levels in breast milk depending on numerous independent variables, including physical exposures and diet.
At Amara, we use convenient, BPA-free packaging for all of our organic baby foods and toddler snacks, and NONE of our products contain ANY additives. We believe in giving every baby a healthy start, right from the first bite. Everything we make is produced using the freshest whole-foods ingredients and… nothing else. Amara’s unique nutrient protection technology also ensures that every product features the same nutrients, flavors, and textures as real food. It’s as easy, delicious, and nutritious as homemade, without any of the hassle. We promise you and your family will love it. 🙂
I have to say that I was totally taken aback by the incongruity between scientific research into BPA’s effects and the (lack of) federal regulation on bisphenols in general. Unfortunately, this really is a widespread problem – and it’s not just BPA. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a recent review of almost 4,000 food additives revealed that 65% of them have not been researched for safety. We need more scientific study, more oversight, and more regulation on food additives broadly… and companies need to be accountable for this information.
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/sya-bpa/index.cfm
Ao J et al., Environmental exposure to bisphenol analogues and unexplained recurrent miscarriage: A case-control study. Environmental Research 2022
Braun JM, Early Life Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Childhood Obesity and Neurodevelopment. Nat Rev Endocrinol, 2017
Cunha SC et al.,Drivers of owning more BPA. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2021
Eladak Set al., A new chapter in the bisphenol A story: bisphenol S and bisphenol F are not safe alternatives to this compound. Fertility and Sterility, 2015
Koniezca A et al., Health risk of exposure to BPA. Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig, 2015
Vom Saal FS et al., Update on the Health Effects of Bisphenol A: Overwhelming Evidence of Harm, Endocrinology, 2020
Yesildemir O et al., Estimated exposure to bisphenol A in breastfed and breastfed plus formula-fed infants in Turkey: a comparison study. Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2022
]]>Like so many other product categories in the baby world (and the feeding world!), it can be incredibly overwhelming to know which high chair, of the hundreds offered on the market, might be best for your baby and family. With dozens of different styles, features, and attributes at price points ranging from $25 to $600, it really is a lot!
There are considerations that are going to be very family-specific (how much space do you have? where will you use the high chair? what is your budget?) but there are also some that are more universal. Read on for everything you need to know about how to pick a high chair — and if you’re just getting started with solids, make sure you check out this guide covering readiness signs, first foods, expert suggestions, and everything in between.
The first thing is to consider where you will use your high chair and where you will store it. There are high chairs designed to stand on their own (these have a tray), pull right up to the “grown-up” table, sit fixed on top of a dining room chair, hang off the counter or table, and sit on the floor. Some high chairs have a pretty sizable footprint, and stay put, while others are more compact and may have portability features that enable you to fold them up and store them out of sight. Depending on whether you live in a city apartment or a larger space in the suburbs, you may have real space limitations.
If you’re looking for a traditional high chair with a tray, these are generally called “standard” or “standalone” high chairs (or nothing at all, just high chairs, hah). Definitely check to make sure the tray is *easy to attach and detach, pinched fingers are the worst!
If you want something you can affix to a chair you already own, these are called space-saving high chairs.
If you plan to use your high chair at the table, look for a transitional (also sometimes called a convertible or a “grow-along”) high chair. These have the benefit of generally lasting much longer — well into and beyond the toddler years — since they “grow along” with your child. (Note: this is also the type of high chair that most feeding experts recommend, since it enables babies to eat at the table with their families.)
If you want a seat that hooks onto a counter or table ledge, opt for a hook-on or attachable high chair. (Since none of these come with a dedicated foot rest, see #3 below, you’ll need to DIY for that feature.)
If you need a high chair you can store in the closet, look for a foldable, portable, or collapsible high chair. These can also be convenient for travel and on-the-go.
At Amara, our mission is to set every child up for a lifetime of healthy eating, starting right from their first bites. In fact, a baby’s first experiences with food are super fun and also super important — which is why we make 100% real baby foods and toddler snacks in a variety of fresh flavors, ranging from savory to sweet and exotic to staples.
Our foods use a nutrient-pressed technology that locks in all the good stuff (nutrients, tastes, textures) to make whole foods convenient and accessible for every family. Our ingredients are certified organic, picked at peak harvest (when they are most nutrient dense and flavorful), and 100% plant-based, too! Check out our full line of organic baby foods and toddler snacks for an array of fresh-tasting flavors and fun pairings for your baby or toddler.
Although many high chairs on the market today feature reclined seating options, pediatric nutritionists strongly advise against this (which really makes you wonder — who are they consulting in the product design??).
In fact, when babies are starting solids, it’s *super important that they are sitting straight up. Like, totally straight up, at a 90 degree angle. It’s not only unsafe for babies (who are still learning how to eat) to eat while they are leaning back, but it’s also just best for their bodies. This is one reason why the ability to sit up independently and well is one “readiness sign” for starting solids.
Thus: choose a high chair that has a supportive, straight back. (And if you already own a high chair with a recline, you can use a rolled up towel behind your baby’s back to help them sit up straight.)
Here is another area where there’s been some lag between product design and expert advice… Many high chairs have no foot rest, and babies really need somewhere to set their feet. Think about it: how uncomfortable would you feel eating from a bar stool with no footrest and your legs just swinging in the air? Nutrition experts say it’s equally “weird” for babies — a simple footrest helps them feel more grounded and stable, so pick a chair that has one.
Or, you can turn to Google for any number of clever parent hacks to add a DIY footrest to a high chair (you could use duct tape or an exercise band, for example, or affix a wooden beam to a chair if you’re handy). There are also companies that now sell this kind of accessory for popular high chairs that don’t feature footrests.
When you’re picking a high chair, consider that the ideal and safest positioning for babies, according to pediatric dieticians and feeding experts, is 90/90/90 — this means babies sit with a 90 degree bend at their hips, knees and ankles.
If you already own or aren’t able to purchase a high chair that facilitates the 90/90/90 position, don’t be afraid to use props to help get your baby seated in this way. A rolled up hand towel can serve as a back rest; a big book could be a booster to sit on, and you could use a box or a chair for a footrest.
This is HUGE, friends. If you haven’t started solids yet, know that it is messy. So, so messy. Believe me, you want a high chair you can wipe down easily. Don’t pick something with tons of cloth, fabric, or nooks and crannies (watch out for buckles/harnesses and tray-table attachments especially…) — it will drive you bonkers trying to scrape half-dried mashed pumpkin out of hard-to-reach corners and crevices. Seriously, it’s so frustrating.
Instead, look for a high chair with an easy cleanability factor. Choose something with either no fabric or something that’s easy to wipe, a no-frills harness, and a dishwasher-safe tray.
An easy way to make sure you are purchasing a safe chair is to check whether the product is “JPMA certified.” Any products that have a Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association certification have been through voluntary, independent testing for various safety standards — it’s a great way to know whether any product (not just a high chair) has been reviewed and “approved” for safety by a third-party.
The two biggest hang-ups with high chair safety are:
One of the best ways to find a great high chair is to ask other parents which one(s) they love best. What style of high chair are you looking for? If you already own one, what do you like about and what do you dislike? Let us know in the comments!
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It may be a cliche, but the spring cleaning urge is *real, friends. I’ve had the impetus to clean out EVERYTHING in my kitchen recently, so of course I spent hours (procrastinating) scouring the internet in search of the best kitchen and food organization tips and hacks for parents and families.
There’s a ton out there, but at the end of the day, IMO, getting the most out of your kitchen (with your kids!) boils down to these five things:
A simple container makes all the difference in the world, friends. Try using clear containers in the fridge and pantry to keep things from getting lost (read: going bad) and group like items together. You can opt to buy containers for this, but you can also repurpose pieces you likely have on hand to the same effect — study cardboard boxes or lids can work nicely in drawers and cabinets for sorting anything from pens and food clips to measuring spoons or spices, for example. We also love this trick: in your refrigerator, consider using a lazy susan for condiments and other everyday items — it’s SO much easier this way!
Labeling is another huge help, especially for children. I love the idea of also using imagery in labels to help young children who aren’t yet reading know what’s where — you can use this strategy in your pantry and fridge, but it’s also very helpful for drawers and cabinets.
You can freeze nearly anything — including some surprising foods like eggs (not in the shell), milk, and meat. Especially given the extent of the food waste problem in this country, leaning more heavily on your freezer is a great strategy not only for keeping your fridge better organized but also cutting down on waste. Frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh produce, with the benefit of costing less and lasting longer. Keep an eye on when foods will be expiring, and store excess in your freezer for use down the road. (For a quick, easy reference on food safety and freezing, see here; and for everything you need to know about freezing baby food, read this.
Make it easy for your kids to help in the kitchen by creating an accessible, kid-friendly space in your fridge and/or pantry.
We love the idea of stocking the refrigerator door shelves, for example, with healthy grab-and-go snacks like Amara smoothie melts. With no added sugar and no-mess, these are the perfect snack toddlers can grab with zero worry or guilt!
Try also prepped produce (i.e., washed, cut grapes, cucumbers, etc.), cheese sticks, applesauce, yogurt, protein bites, or mini muffins. Check out this list of one-, two-, and three-ingredient finger foods for even more ideas.
Amara organic baby food pouches and toddler yogurt melts are perfect for easy, healthy snacks and meals — and they’re SO easy to store. Plus, Amara’s unique packaging uses 12x less plastic than traditional baby food pouches. Add some to your child’s shelf!
Similar to creating a space where kids can access snacks and foods on their own, creating a designated drawer or cabinet for your child’s things can be a huge help. Young children LOVE to pitch in in the kitchen, and having your space set up such that they can reach for things on their own is really a win-win: your children can learn to build helpful habits (such as setting the table, for example) early on, and they love the independence and autonomy of being able to get out their own plates/bowls/cups/etc. In addition to a cabinet with pull-out drawers for all my children’s plateware, I also keep our mixing bowls, measuring cups, serving spoons, and spatulas where my daughter, who *loves baking, can easily reach them.
Lastly, if you don’t already own one, make sure there’s a sturdy step stool that can stay in your kitchen — it’s handy not only for those times when you’re working on a kitchen project together with your child, but also for basic activities such as washing hands.
To me, maintaining an organized kitchen is something in between a pipedream and an actual achievement (it depends on the day…). But whatever else is going on, I want my family’s kitchen space to feel like it’s for us — all of us. Including my kids. Rearranging some drawers and cabinets to accommodate them has made the entire space more enjoyable and usable for all of us!
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The last two months, my two kids have been home with some version of the flu, a nasty cold, or a GI bug SO often. At one point I calculated that in the previous six weeks my son had been to school only seven times (that did include a holiday break… but still).
I thought we had it *particularly bad, but every time I’ve spoken with other parents recently, they have a strikingly similar story to tell. It’s just that time of year, I guess…
This month we’re bringing you the best of what we know about the connections between diet and the immune system (although, before you get too excited, let me warn you: it’s not all that much). Read on for what parents should know about:
We’ve written at length elsewhere on this blog about the close relationship between what we eat and how we feel — ranging from sleep to skin health to brain development (and more) — and our immune systems are no exception.
In fact, this is exactly what Amara is all about^^. We believe that the way we eat directly impacts our physical, mental, and emotional health, and it’s our mission to make it easy and affordable for every parent to serve their baby the absolute best. All of our organic baby foods are made from the freshest ingredients, using patented nutrient protection technology that preserves vitamins, minerals, and natural texture, just like homemade food.
Although much of the research in the arena of “diet and immunity” is either in its infancy or else quite generalized, health professionals and nutritionists agree that the standard Western diet — that is, a diet that leans on processed and ultra-processed foods — is deleterious for our immune systems. On the flip side, a balanced diet rich in whole foods, fruits, and vegetables can absolutely benefit and boost the immune system.
Interestingly, these benefits begin early — in utero, in fact. During pregnancy, maternal diet can influence a fetus’s developing immune system (this is one reason among many why obstetricians and dieticians advise pregnant women to consume a diverse diet of fresh, whole foods across food groups). Similarly, once babies are born, breast milk has numerous advantages for the immune system: it contains protective factors; stimulates a baby’s gut microbiome (for a closer look at the intimate connection between the gut microbiome and the immune system, read here); and contains components that stimulate immune development. The “cleaner” a nursing mother’s diet is, the more beneficial her breast milk is for her child’s fledgling immune system.
As babies transition to solid foods around the 6-month mark, establishing a healthy diet continues to also serve healthy immune system development and functioning. We have a comprehensive guide on how to introduce solids without any fuss, plus a primer on healthy eating for the whole family, but the basics to a healthy diet (and there are many different ways to follow one!) are:
Of course, offering your child a healthy, balanced diet is just one of several ways you can help boost their immune system. Doctors also note that other lifestyle and environmental factors play a key role: getting sufficient sleep; engaging in daily physical activity; getting outside regularly; staying up to date with doctors’ visits and vaccinations. The point is: it’s all interconnected, and while none of these strategies alone can cure a sick child or guarantee their wellness, all of them together can help to support the developing immune system, whether your child is currently ill or not.
Okay, moving on to the fun stuff…
The technical terminology for a cold is an “upper respiratory infection,” and children come down with more of them than any other kind of childhood illness. In fact, in the first two years of life, most children will experience 8-10 colds; older children often come down with colds even more often, as do young children with siblings (if you have more than one child, you already know: what goes around comes around).
Colds are caused by viruses (as opposed to bacteria), and thanks to COVID, most of us are probably already pretty familiar with the common modes of transmission… just in case you haven’t followed any scientific news for the last three years, it goes something like this:
→ Someone coughs, sneezes, spits, touches their nose/mouth, etc. and gets some of the virus on their hand
→ A healthy person comes in contact with the expelled virus
→ Healthy person then touches their own nose/mouth, and the virus enters their body then proceeds to grow in their nose/throat
→ End game: a cold arises 😫
Likewise, you probably know well the hallmark symptoms of a cold:
While there is no cure for a cold, colds do typically resolve on their own after roughly 7-10 days (we’ll review tips on feeding sick children in the following section). There are also some well-known tricks for (trying to) prevent them:
Since there is no cure for a common cold, the best thing to do in terms of supporting your child’s healthy recovery is to focus on comfort measures, making sure they get plenty of rest, and doing what you can to ensure they are well-hydrated.
Tips for Feeding Sick Children:
Having a sick little one is HARD… for so many reasons. There’s nothing more difficult than seeing your child unwell, and none of us want to waste too much time or energy wondering when/how/what exactly to feed our children when they’re ill — we just want them to get better.
Amara feels the same way. That’s why everything we do is about making our children — the next generation — feel their best. All the foods we make are carefully prepared, with the underlying intention to nourish your child: Amara uses nothing but the freshest whole-foods ingredients (NOTHING else!) to produce baby food and toddler snacks that are as healthy, delicious, and nutritious as homemade food… except WAY easier. Amara is designed to support every child’s developing immune system, whether they are sick, well, or anything in between (but we hope you’re well!).
How is your family hanging in this cold & flu season?
Article researched by:
Amara's Chief Nutritionist: Sonia A. Schiess, PhD in Nutrition, specialized in the introduction of solids and liquids to infants. Sonia's passion started when she was studying nutrition and dietetics in university, completing a post degree in Human Nutrition. Later on, she completed her PhD as a nutritionist, with a focus on introducing food in the first year of a baby's life. Her wide experience gives her a unique perspective, drawing from her time in clinics, hospitals, independent consulting and university research. She's authored several papers including "Introduction of complementary feeding"; "Introduction of potentially allergenic foods in the infant's diet during the first year of life" and "Intake of energy providing liquids during the first year of life" in five European countries. The combination of Sonia's science and our chef's magic ensures every Amara product is not only optimized for your baby's health but is delicious as well.
Here are six fun winter- and Valentine’s Day-themed food crafts that are all simple, healthy, low-ingredient, and adorable:
Use mini mozzarella balls (or cubed white cheese) and a bunch of toothpicks to build an igloo or ice fort! You could also try using pretzel sticks instead of toothpicks to make the entire structure edible; to make this dairy-free, you could use grapes instead of cheese. To get an even better fit, use peanut butter as a glue between pieces. And if an igloo is a little bit much for your child, you can always build a simpler structure such as a house, star, or two-dimensional snowflake.
(photo: @thefrugalgirls.com)
(Note: These images show the food craft with marshmallows, but we love the cheese or grape substitution for a healthier snack!)
Stick a toothpick through two mozzarella balls and use sliced cucumber for a sturdy base. Add seeds for eyes and buttons and a piece of shredded carrot for the nose! To make penguins instead, fill one black olive with cream cheese and then spear a toothpick through it and one other black olive. Use a carrot round with a triangle cut out for the base, and stick the remaining carrot triangle in the top olive for a nose.
(photo @eatsamazing.co.uk)
(photo @zoomyummy.com)
Smear cream cheese (or any white spreadable cheese, such as goat cheese) onto round crackers. Split an olive in half and set one half on each side; add a carrot triangle for a nose, almond slivers for feet, and seeds for eyes. You could also try this on a rice cake for a larger version!
If you prefer to make snowman crackers, just spread the cheese onto circular crackers and arrange into a two- or three-tiered snowman, using a carrot sliver for a nose and seeds for eyes and buttons — optional to include other veggies for “flare” like a scarf.
(photo @ForkandBeans.com)
(photo @simplifylivelove.com)
Spoon plain yogurt (or non-dairy yogurt, so long as it’s white) into a bowl and use bananas to form ears and a nose. Add Amara yogurt melts for eyes and one extra on top of the nose — this is really a fun one for breakfast 🙂.
(photo @glitteronadime.com)
We love this one for a festive Valentine’s Day snack! Use a toothpick to skewer two strawberries side by side (so it roughly resembles a heart), then stick four pretzel sticks in (two on each side) for arms and legs, and add mozzarella balls to the end of each pretzel.
(photo @thecraftingchicks.com)
Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of Amara organic smoothie melts into a bag and tie it together with these free printable valentine’s cards. We love using all the flavors in the pink/red/purple family (Mixed Red Berries, Beets n’ Berries, and Carrot Raspberry) to stick with the Valentine’s Day color scheme. These favors are a perfect alternative to hand out in lieu of candy!
Amara Organic Foods is committed to changing the food industry from the bottom up — starting with the youngest of eaters, because our children deserve healthy, delicious, nutritious foods that set them up for a lifetime of healthful eating. All of our organic baby food blends and toddler yogurt melts are made from the freshest ingredients and prepared using our very own nutrient protection technology that seals in all the nutrients and preserves foods in their original structure. It’s as natural as homemade and as easy as store bought! And we promise you’ll never see anything you don't like — including any kind of added sugar — on our ingredient labels.
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We’re deep in the throes of winter, and between the cold temperatures and the long, dark nights, nothing sounds better than cozy time with the family.
If you have never heard it, hygge (pronounced hooga) is a tough-to-define Danish concept that means (roughly):
Hygge is an important component of Danish culture and lifestyle, and it’s just as much psychological as it is physical — as natives describe it, hygge is both a physical feeling as well as a state of mind. On the physical side, it’s about feeling homey, snug, cozy, and together with loved ones; on the psychological side, it’s about clarity, gratitude, presence, and peace.
Sounds easy, right?
Hah.
Hygge is a beautiful concept, but it does demand some effort — more than anything, it’s about carving out time and space to experience it and make it a habit. As parents with young children, we actually have so many opportunities to build hygge into our lives — but it may require some amount of reframing. Much of the hygge experience is about being in the moment, appreciating quality time, and finding physical comfort; and we’ve rounded up some of the best ways to bring hygge into your home this winter.
Read on for inspiration on finding hygge with your baby — we’ve got simple tips on getting into the hygge mindset; creating a cozy atmosphere; and finding connection with your family, plus some perfect activities for building hygge into your family’s lifestyle.
Getting into the hygge state of mind is about consciously making the choice to leave stress, negativity, and distraction at the door. With the frenetic pace of modern life, this is SO HARD — but if you can, start small. Aim for ten minutes (or five), and really try to set your worries away. For me, this means putting my phone *away and literally being somewhere where I can’t see our family calendar.
One of the most central aspects of hygge is being present in the moment, so try to do whatever you can to let everything else go and simply be where you are, without any particular agenda. The aim is to notice and appreciate the small joys and pleasures in life.
In American cultural media, the word and concept of hygge has become almost synonymous with “cozy” — and while this isn’t all there is to hygge, it is super important! One way to approach *really getting cozy is to think about all of your senses and try to create an atmosphere that’s pleasing and calming to all of them.
Here are our top tips for creating a cozy, comfortable atmosphere to enjoy:
Hygge is also about togetherness, and as parents this is truly a beautiful habit to cultivate (especially with young children, because we can continue to grow it along with them). The Danish way of life really values the importance of connecting with others: it gives us purpose, boosts oxytocin levels and therefore happiness; and provides a unique kind of joy and centeredness.
Probably the best advice I’ve received about building connectedness is to incorporate physical touch into hygge time (snuggling, hugs, etc.) and to really embrace that closeness with young children.
I love one parent’s notion of seeing hygge as a “temporary shelter” from the chaos, stress, and drama of everyday life.
If you are the parent of a baby or toddler, you may have more “together time” than you want (hah!), but the good news is that there are SO many opportunities to “find hygge” in the day-to-day. The key is to make a conscious effort to “hygge” some of what we’re already doing regularly (maybe even daily) with our children — at first it may take more focus and effort to reframe certain moments or engage with the hygge mindset of mindfulness and appreciation, but as with all things it becomes easier over time and eventually brings such a sense of peace and togetherness to our homes.
Here are six of our favorite ways to hygge with your baby or toddler:
Welcoming a young child into the kitchen to “help” can sometimes be time-consuming, messy, and stressful — but setting aside some time to prepare even a simple comforting snack or warm drink, without expectations, is a beautiful way to hygge with your child.
Again, it’s all about the outlook: opt to do this at a time when you’re not stressed — I love after-daycare snack time and weekend mornings, for example, over weeknight dinners, which inevitably feel crunched.
Amara organic baby food is the perfect nutritious way to hygge in the kitchen with your child — babies love watching the easy prep, it’s like magic to them! Just empty one pouch of Amara organic baby food into a bowl and invite your baby to look on as you add water, breastmilk, or formula, and stir: the resulting puree is packed with nutrients, organic texture, bright color, and flavor.
For toddlers, follow along with any of our simple, low-ingredient recipes for a fun kitchen project that results in a healthy, delicious meal or snack. My kids especially love to make these chewy ancient grains cookies and these oats n’ berries pancakes. Seriously, having a no-frills, no-fuss recipe really sets the stage for getting into the hygge zone with your little one in the kitchen.
Reading to your child — something many of us are already doing most days — is a fantastic way to bring hygge into your routine. To really “make it hygge,” make sure to be deliberate about snuggling up, getting cozy, and appreciating the togetherness of that time.
This is such an easy activity that kids universally LOVE — try setting aside a few minutes to create a cozy space you can enjoy with your child. You can use blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, and all the “physical space” accouterments discussed above to enhance the cozy piece! (We love inviting our pets to snuggle, too.)
Bath time has all the components of a good hygge experience: warm water, physical touch and care, togetherness… all we have to do is set the stage. Before your child’s next bath, consider approaching it as an opportunity for hygge: put on some music, dim the lights, leave your phone outside the door, try not to rush, and really be present with your child.
Looking at pictures (and/or videos) with your child is a wonderful way to connect with them and get your hygge on — make sure to pick a cozy spot and get situated… we’re not talking about using pictures as a quick distraction in a moment of stress or desperation, this is really about deciding to make an activity of it and enjoy shared memories together.
Sensory (or fidget) toys are a fun way to engage with your child in a calming, undirected way. As with every other activity here, make sure you carve out the time and space to really bring the hygge mentality to it!
I’m guessing that I am not the only parent out there who LOVES the idea of hygge but finds it (more than) occasionally tough to bring to life… but the thing about hygge is that a little bit can really go a long way. Even finding a few minutes a day to build hygge into your family’s schedule or routine can truly be such a positive addition. The more you do it, the easier it becomes; the practice grows.
And this is another reason why we’re constantly telling parents: take help where you can! Everyday tasks like the laundry, cleaning, and food prep can be enormously time consuming, and don’t think you need to do everything perfectly or by yourself all the time. Amara organic baby food can help: let us take the project of making homemade food for your baby out of your hands. Every one of our products is just as nutritious, flavorful, and unprocessed as homemade food, but it takes mere seconds to prep! You can spend the time you would have spent making baby food purees getting your hygge on, instead. 🙂 SHOP NOW
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We talk a lot about sugar on this website (namely, how much we despise added sugars in processed foods…) and this month we’re bringing you a deep dive into artificial sweeteners. Food manufacturers have begun adding (more) artificial sweeteners to more products in the last two decades — and thus it’s really no surprise that artificial sweetener consumption has also increased dramatically in the United States in recent years across all age groups: scientists have documented a 200% increase in consumption among children and a 54% increase among adults. (Yikes!)
There’s still A LOT to learn about these synthetic food additives, but we’ve dug in to report back on everything you need to know — in this piece we’ll cover: what artificial sweeteners are; how they differ from “regular” sugar; what we know about how artificial sweeteners affect the body; and what nutrition experts recommend about artificial sweetener consumption.
There are two broad categories of sweeteners: natural and synthetically produced. The latter of these are artificial sweeteners. There are several different types of artificial sweeteners (in the US there are six artificial sweeteners that are FDA-approved as food additives), and they can be either nutritive — containing calories — or non-nutritive — calorie-free. At this point, artificial sweeteners are so pervasive in the food industry that they are included in nearly every pastry, sweet, baked good, and the like, as well as virtually all pharmaceuticals.
Generally speaking, artificial sweeteners are all A LOT sweeter than sucrose (table sugar) — meaning that they have an incredibly high degree of sweetness compared to “regular” sugar. You can run through the breakdown below for details on all six artificial sweeteners used in the US, or skip ahead for more on sweeteners as a group.
FDA-Approved Artificial Sweeteners
The FDA regulates artificial sweeteners as food additives; these substances are required to go through mandatory FDA review and approval before being used in foods. (For more information on these additives, you can read here, and for more on FDA regulation and product labeling, see this article.)
- Saccharin — the oldest artificial sweetener; 300 times sweeter than table sugar; contained in many soft drinks, fruit drinks, gum, baked goods, and canned fruits
- Sucralose — aka Splenda; *the most commonly used artificial sweetener worldwide; roughly 600 times sweeter than sucrose; calorie-free (non-nutritive); contained in many diet drinks, tabletop sweeteners, baked goods, frozen desserts, juices, gum, and dairy
- Aspartame — contains calories (though, because of aspartame’s intense sweetness, we consume so little the calories are considered negligible); 200 times sweeter than table sugar; contained in tabletop sweeteners, chewing gum, instant coffee, puddings, and soft drinks
- Advantame — non-caloric artificial sweetener; 100 times sweeter than aspartame^ and 20,000 times sweeter than table sugar (yes, you read that right); used frequently as a flavor enhancer in dairy, fruit, citrus, and mint; also often an ingredient added to milk products, frozen dairy, beverages, and gum
- Acesulfame-potassium (sometimes listed as acesulfame-k) — 200 times sweeter than table sugar; used in many tabletop sweeteners, sodas, frozen desserts, bakery products, candies, chewing gum, dairy, syrups, soups, and sauces
- Neotame — a non-calorie sweetener; 7,000-13,000 times sweeter than sugar (GAH!); ingredient in beverages, baked goods, gelatines, chewing gum, and jams/jellies
*Note that many products contain two or more artificial sweeteners — in fact, this is a very common strategy manufacturers use to minimize potential undesirable effects from any one given artificial sweetener (such as a bitter/unpleasant aftertaste) and enhance a product’s overall sweetness and performance on the market.
Truly — it can be VERY challenging to find products that don’t contain added sweeteners (or sugars)... especially if you are a busy parent. Amara organic baby foods and toddler snacks are all produced using a patented nutrition protection technology that preserves all the good stuff (tastes, textures, and nutrients) without fundamentally altering foods’ natural structure and properties.
BTW — if you’re looking for information about how SUGAR influences children’s growth and development, check out our deep dive into sugar and the developing brain.
Scientists first synthesized artificial sweeteners in the late 1800s, which may seem like quite a while ago, but in the span of the human history of eating (thousands of years), this is a very recent addition to the human diet.
As such, there is still A LOT we don’t know about how artificial sweeteners influence health — and even among experts who study these substances, there are numerous ongoing debates about the relative safety and place of artificial sweeteners in the human diet. No matter where you’re sitting, it’s a controversial topic.
There was a good deal of initial excitement about the promise of artificial sweeteners as a healthy addition to the diet, and it’s worth reviewing the claims:
In the first place — and this remains a major sticking point — many presumed that artificial sweeteners, given their low/no calories and different structural properties — would be preferable to sugar in the diet. The idea was that by using far less of the ingredient (artificial sweetener to replace table sugar), you could achieve similar or even greater sweetness in a food, thus subjecting the consumer to fewer calories and less sugar. Hopeful health professionals speculated that by swapping out sugar for an artificial sweetener, we could reduce rates of both obesity and diabetes in the United States (more on how this has played out shortly…). Food manufacturers, meanwhile, rejoiced in the availability of artificial sweeteners because they really streamlined the production process, both enhancing flavor (making food products taste sweeter) and improving shelf stability.
In reality, these benefits have not materialized as expected. (At least, not clearly, anyway…)
Today, nutrition scientists have more questions than answers as to the effects of artificial sweeteners on the body. For one thing, these substances are incredibly difficult to study. Almost every research project investigating how artificial sweeteners influence the body are short-term, and are therefore limited in what they can tell us about long-term effects. They’re mainlyalso conducted among animals, and the results don’t necessarily translate to humans. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, every artificial sweetener is metabolized differently in every human body — so it’s impossible for scientists to draw universal conclusions about these synthetic food additives as a group (IOW, what’s true for aspartame may not be true for sucralose or saccharin, and vice versa). Plus, given that foods so often contain multiple artificial sweeteners, it’s hard to isolate any given one (and let’s not even get started on the issues with ingredient labeling…).
Artificial Sweeteners and Pregnancy/Lactation
There isn’t any super definitive evidence here, but based on a handful of studies and what we know about how flavors and nutritive properties cross into amniotic fluid and breast milk, babies can be exposed to artificial sweeteners:
- Some studies indicate that babies born to mothers who consumed artificially sweetened beverages during pregnancy were born with visibly altered microbiome compositions and higher BMIs compared to babies born to mothers who did not consume artificially sweetened beverages.
Artificial sweeteners can be detected in human milk — in theory, it’s possible that breastfed babies may be exposed to artificial sweeteners in this way.
Researchers have also identified more nuanced areas of interest based on recent findings:
Let’s take a closer look…
How do artificial sweeteners influence glucose (in)tolerance?
At this point, most experts agree that replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners does not help to manage body weight (if anything, many studies indicate the opposite: that higher consumption of artificial sweeteners is linked with weight gain), and they also agree that artificial sweeteners may influence glucose absorption and insulin secretion.
How do artificial sweeteners influence the gut microbiome?
The jury is still out on this one, folks (if it’s tough to study the effects of artificial sweeteners generally, it’s even more tough to study their effects on the microbiome…), but scientists have discovered evidence that consuming artificial sweeteners may negatively impact the gut microbiome (specifically, by altering its composition and function).
How do artificial sweeteners influence eating behaviors and hunger?
Recent research indicates that consuming artificial sweeteners may affect appetite and hunger. One project documented that consuming artificial sweeteners caused increased cravings for sweet foods and led to greater consumption of sugary foods. The reasoning here is twofold (now things are getting really interesting!):
1. Eating foods sweetened with artificial sweeteners may acculturate our taste buds to sweeter foods — and this may be especially true among young children — with the result that we are driven to consume ever-increasingly sweeter foods. Some researchers even speculate that consuming artificial sweeteners could lead to an “insensitivity to sweetness.” Since we are all programmed, from an evolutionary perspective, to desire sweet-tasting foods, this can really have an impact.
2. Because artificial sweeteners contain either no calories or virtually no calories, our bodies can get confused. Here’s what happens: when we eat something (sweet), our taste receptors send reward signals to the brain and body telling them we are satisfied/satiated; but when we consume foods sweetened with artificial sweeteners, the body’s satiety signals are weaker. In short, when we eat foods that are sweetened with artificial sweeteners rather than actual sugar, and thus contain far fewer calories, our bodies don’t receive the same reward signals as we would with a more calorie-dense version of the food. (This is also the same premise and problem behind the “low-fat” craze: when we eat fat-free yogurt, for example, vs. whole-milk yogurt, our bodies don’t receive the same satiety signals, and we are thus prompted to eat again after a shorter interval.)
On a related note^^, some researchers also believe that artificial sweeteners may influence our energy balance and metabolism: when we eat something and detect a sweet flavor, our bodies assume that we are consuming sugar — which is calorically dense — and essentially expect an influx of calories. But when we consume sweet foods that in fact do not contain those calories, our bodies — and potentially our metabolic functioning — are thrown out of whack.
The TL:DR on how artificial sweeteners affect the body:
It can be *really confusing to sort out professional advice about artificial sweeteners — especially because there is no consensus on whether they are “better” or “worse” than traditional sugar. (And at the risk of being repetitive, again, it’s very difficult to say in any given individual because the effects are incredibly subjective.)
That said, our in-house nutrition science PhD says it’s best to avoid artificial sweeteners as much as you can. this: given the lack of research into their long-term effects and the potential negative effects they can produce in the shorter-term, Obviously, this can sometimes be difficult; if you do choose to incorporate foods with artificial sweeteners or artificial sweeteners themselves into your diet, it’s best to consume artificial sweeteners carefully and in smaller/limited quantities.
There is no reason why anyone — regardless of age or circumstance — needs to consume sugar or artificial sweeteners.
“It is the wild west in the grocery aisle when it comes to sugar substitutes labeling, with confused consumers kept in the dark or left guessing about what artificial sweeteners are in the foods they buy and eat.” ~ P. Courtney Gaine, PhD, RD
As a parent and a consumer, it can be incredibly frustrating to navigate the baby food aisle, where nearly everything contains added sweeteners or sugar (or other unnecessary ingredients).
Amara organic baby foods and toddler snacks leave all that cr@p at the door — every product is made using the freshest, whole-foods ingredients and NO additives of any kind (ever!). Amara’s unique nutrient protection technology ensures that every product contains the same nutrients, flavors, and textures as real food. It’s like homemade food without all the fuss, from a company that’s as committed to changing the food landscape in this country as you are. SHOP NOW.
References:
Baker-Smith CM et al., The Use of Nonnutritive Sweeteners in Children. Pediatrics 2019
Gardener HE et al., Artificial sweeteners, real risks. Stroke 2019
Iizuka K, Is the Use of Artificial Sweeteners Beneficial for Patients with Diabetes Mellitus? The Advantages and Disadvantages of Artificial Sweeteners. Nutrients 2022
More TA et al., Artificial Sweeteners and their Health Implications: A Review. Biosci., Biotech. Res. Asia 2021
Pang MD et al., The Impact of Artificial Sweeteners on Body Weight Control and Glucose Homeostasis. Frontiers of Nutrition 2022
Plaza-Diaz J et al., Plausible Biological Interactions of Low- and Non-Calorie Sweeteners with the Intestinal Microbiota: An Update of Recent Studies. Nutrients 2020
Richardson IL & Frese SA, Non-nutritive sweeteners and their impacts on the gut microbiome and host physiology. Frontiers of Nutrition 2022
Ridson S et al., Sucralose and Cardiometabolic Health: Current Understanding from Receptors to Clinical Investigations. Advances in Nutrition 2021
Stampe S et al., Artificial Sweeteners in Breast Milk: A Clinical Investigation with a Kinetic Perspective. Nutrients 2022
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