Our hospital has been working on childhood obesity and has developed a multifaceted program called “Strong4Life.”  Recently the associated website has added some useful content for families.

From recent Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta email:

New Feeding and Wellness Resources for Parents

Children’s has launched a new feeding and wellness resource section on its dedicated parenting website, Strong4Life.com. The site is full of articles, videos and tools that new parents will find essential. From birth through school-age, Strong4Life equips parents to deal with everything from bedtime battles and mealtime tantrums, to food parenting and picky eating, and everything in between. With filtering of content by age of child, parents can now access relevant, easy-to-try tips, facts and advice from Children’s doctors, registered dietitians and wellness experts, who are also parents.

A sampling of the many articles and videos can be found here:

• Newborn feeding tips,
• 8 stress-less tips for taking your toddler out to eat,
• develop your toddler’s appetite for healthy foods,
• introducing your baby to a cup

Other recommendations from Strong4Life:

Added Sugars
In August, the American Heart Association released its recommendations on the consumption of added sugars for children ages two to 18 years old. Children in this age range should not consume more than six teaspoons or 25 grams of added sugar per day; and children under age two should avoid it altogether. To learn where sugar may be hiding in children’s diets and simple ways to avoid it, visit strong4life.com/sugar.

Screen Time
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) fine-tuned their screen time guidelines, to align better with the digital world we live in:

• Children 18 to 24 months—no screen time other than video chatting. If digital media is introduced, focus on high-quality programming/apps, and parents should co-view with their child
• Children 2 years and older—limit digital media to one (1) hour or less per day, of high quality programming
• All children—keep meals, bedrooms and playtimes screen-free