by Sheila Wolf, RDH

A glazed doughnut or a wedge of apple pie might be what we choose for a mid-morning munch. Unfortunately, these snacks contain refined sugar that is not only bad for your teeth and gums, but also for your pregnancy. Sugar, sometimes disguised as sucrose, dextrose, or glucose, provides empty calories, adds weight, and can lead to diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis.

We Americans eat entirely too much sugar — almost 7 tablespoons per person per day. Depending on who’s doing the research, that could be anywhere from 64 to 150 pounds per year. These “empty” spoonfuls contribute no nutrition or fiber and crowd out nutritious fare from your diet. In the presence of certain bacteria in the mouth, sugar leads to the production of toxic bacterial byproducts that are very acidic. These toxins, if allowed to sit on the enamel of your teeth, cause caries (cavities). If not removed properly from along the gum line and in between the teeth, they irritate the gums and will ultimately erode the supporting bone that anchors the teeth in the mouth. A mother-to-be is more susceptible to dental problems due to the excessive hormones circulating in her system. According to the Surgeon General’s report in 2000, “toxins or other products generated by periodontal (around the teeth) bacteria in the mother may reach the general circulation, cross the placenta, and harm the fetus.” Pregnant women with severe gum infections are seven times more prone to having a baby that is premature. Prevention and early diagnosis of dental decay and gingivitis (swollen, tender gums) are important for your health as well as your baby’s. So, what can you do about assuring good nutrition and oral health during pregnancy? Here are three tips from my book, Pregnancy and Oral Health that will make a difference right away:

Healthy Snack Alternatives

Here is a list of healthy snack ideas to replace those quick, convenient, sugary ones that contribute to dental decay:

• Yogurt with fresh fruit
• Unprocessed cheese
• Brown Rice, whole grain bagels, whole wheat toast, or bran muffins with cream cheese, peanut butter, or fruit spread
• Homemade frozen popsicles, using one 6oz. can frozen concentrated juice mixed with a small container (6-8 oz) of plain yogurt. I used to give these to my son when he was teething. They were yummy for both of us!
• Baked apples or other baked or stewed fruit
• Fresh fruit (Choose from a range of colors to ensure variety of nutrients and vitamins)
• Fruit smoothies, homemade, using yogurt and banana as your base. Add other fruit and flavorings with ice to make a delicious drink
• Unsweetened whole grain cereals with yogurt and fresh fruit.
• Nuts and seeds.
• Celery with peanut butter (my personal favorite).
• Raw carrot sticks, cucumber slices, green pepper wedges — or any fresh vegetables, for that matter. Serve with a dip made from ground garbanzo beans (hummus), yogurt, sour cream, or cottage cheese with herbs.

When you indulge:

When you do indulge in a sugary treat, it is better to do it all in one sitting rather than to sip on a soda or take tiny bites of sweet things all day long. (One soda has on the average of 12 teaspoons of sugar). Eating tiny bursts of sweets throughout your day is more injurious to your oral health since every time you introduce sugar into your mouth, the bacteria are nourished for about 20 minutes.

Brushing or swishing:

Brush as quickly as possible after eating or drinking anything with a high content of sugar. If that is not possible, I recommend taking a swig of water, swishing it around your mouth and swallowing. By keeping these residues at a very low level, you reduce the nutrients that many plaque-forming bacteria depend on for their growth and survival.

About the Author
Sheila Wolf, affectionately known to her patients and colleagues as Mama Gums, has been a dental hygienist for 32 years, educating and motivating people on both coasts to take control of their oral health. You can read more about the critical link between a healthy mouth and a healthy baby at her website, www.mamagums.com and in her book, Pregnancy and Oral Health: The Critical Connection Between Your Mouth and Your Baby, available through bookstores in June 2004 and on www.Amazon.com. Sheila invites questions and can be reached at 866 MAMA-GUMs or through her website.

by Patti Teel

Food has a huge impact on a child’s well-being. It can energize, increase hyperactivity or induce fatigue. Just as a lack of sleep can jumble a child’s thinking or cause learning problems, so can an inadequate diet. Each child is a unique individual, and it’s unreasonable to think that “one size fits all” diet advice is realistic.

Children seem to be born not only with an emotional temperament but with a food temperament. For instance, my son has always had a particular suspicion and aversion to any food that is green; however, he doesn’t care much for sweets. In direct contrast, my youngest daughter has always loved vegetables and from the time she was a toddler, her favorite food was broccoli. Unfortunately, she also inherited my sweet tooth.

Diet is critical for children’s health and everything that we eat affects us. However, it affects each of us a little differently, depending on our individual makeup and metabolism. For instance, some children are highly sensitive to sugar and any form of sweets in their diet. For them, sugar consumption can aggravate many problems such as hyperactivity, anxiety, nervousness, irritability, and poor concentration—all of which can lead to sleep difficulties.

We all know that children are healthier and sleep better if they eat a healthy diet containing a variety of foods from all the food groups. Unfortunately, some children can be incredibly picky. I don’t think it’s a good idea to cater to a child’s every whim or to battle over food. Fill your house with healthy foods and snacks and don’t get in the habit of buying junk food. That way, when your children are hungry, they will have no choice but to eat healthy and nutritious foods.

In addition, children are much more likely to be interested in eating meals that they have helped plan and prepare. Buy a healthy children’s cookbook and have fun planning and preparing nutritious meals and snacks together.

Healthy Tips:

By Patti Teel

More children than ever before are being diagnosed with special needs “neurobiological disorders” such as ADHD, clinical depression, sensory integration dysfunction, autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Children with these disorders are very likely to have sleep difficulties. In addition, the problems that characterize the disorders will be greatly exacerbated by a lack of sleep.

I cannot stress enough the importance of good sleep hygiene and relaxation skills. Children with neurobiological disorders are often stressed—as they struggle to control their behavior, “fit in,” and try to keep up with their schoolwork. They may also suffer from sleep-related side effects of medications that they are taking. Medications to treat mood disorders, stimulant medications used to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and some of the medications used to treat tics in Tourette’s syndrome can all contribute to sleep problems.

If sleep problems continue to plague your child, work with your physician. Consider alternative therapies such as nutritional and dietary supplements, biofeedback and Chinese medicine. This is likely to be an adjunct to the care provided by your child’s primary-care physician. To ensure maximum benefits and avoid any negative interactions between traditional medication and alternative remedies, be sure that all of your child’s health-care providers work together. When you find the right healing modality for your child, you are likely to see a big improvement.

All children do best with healthy sleep habits. However, everything needs to be “buttoned down” if your child has special needs. For instance, while many children would have some difficulty settling down after a stimulating evening, it might cause a child with a neurobiological disorder to be up half the night. And while a consistent bedtime is always recommended, a child with autism is likely to feel very unsafe and unsettled if his bedtime routine is disrupted. For many children, it’s as if their reactions have been cranked up to full throttle. Of course, each child is different and you will know best what sets off a problem in your own child. However, in general, the same rules apply—only more so.

Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep

by Elizabeth Pantley, Author of Kid Cooperation and Perfect Parenting

Question:
My child wants to eat only her two favorite foods: cereal and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She eats tiny amounts of any other food and complains about what’s put in front of her. What can I do about this?

Think about it:
As long as your child is healthy, and is of normal height and weight, relax your attitude about food. The more you worry and scold, the bigger battleground food will become. In addition, if you also have specific rules about food, and enforce them with a calm demeanor, you’ll have fewer battles.

Offer healthy choices:
Limit the high-fat and high-sugar foods that are available to your child. Offer healthy choices and don’t worry so much about the occasional food jags. Evaluate your child’s diet on a weekly, not daily, basis. Most kids, when given nutritious options, will eat a balanced diet when viewed over a weekly time period.

Schedule:
Have a specific schedule for meal time and snack time, and don’t allow snacking on unhealthy food at other times. (A piece of fruit or a veggie at any time is fine!) If your child is hungry when a meal is served she’ll more likely eat what’s put in front of her. Modify meal times, if possible, to take advantage of your child’s hungry parts of the day. As an example, most kids are truly hungry when they walk in the door after school. Take advantage of this by serving dinner at that time and a light snack later. This way, the kids will eat a healthy meal instead of filling up on snacks while they wait for dinner.

Serve smaller portions:
Your child’s stomach is about the size of her clenched fist, smaller than you thought! If you serve meals on smaller plates and include just a small amount of each food, the meal won’t appear so intimidating to your child.

Give in – a little:
Serve your child’s favorite food as a small side dish to meals. A half peanut butter and jelly sandwich makes a fine side dish to roasted chicken!

Create rules:
Do you remember eating the dinner your mother set in front of you without a fuss? Most of us do. The reason is that our mothers did not feel the ambivalence about serving meals that we do. Try to modify your way of thinking to one simple thought, “This is dinner. If you’re hungry eat, if not, you’re excused from the table.” Save a plate of dinner for your child, and if she’s hungry an hour later offer the dinner, and nothing else. Be consistent with this rule, and your child will begin to eat what’s served, just like you did when you were a kid.

One night off:
Allow your child the option to have toast or cereal for dinner one night a week, passing on a meal he doesn’t like. When he knows he can skip one meal he’ll make a decision to eat things that aren’t favorites, and save his “cereal day” for the day you’re having the food he likes least.

Copyright Elizabeth Pantley. (McGraw-Hill, 2003)

About the Author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.