Food for Tots [Paperback]

Janice W. Woolley (Author), Jennifer Pugmire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2001

Food for Tots is written for “parents, teachers, grandparents, and other caregivers of those children who will put anything but food into their mouths.” Food for Tots, the complete guide to feeding preschoolers, is a comprehensive cookbook and nutrition guide. It is a great resource for parents, grandparents, day care providers and other caregivers of young children. The book includes tips for raising healthy eaters, from first foods to finger foods to family meals. There are more than 100 kid-tested recipes that will please even the pickiest eaters. Young children love to help cook. Woolley and Pugmire provide plenty of creative ways to involve the little ones in cooking. There are great recipes for playdough, bubbles, and other fun kitchen crafts. The book also contains four chapters of essential information about food allergies, food safety, nutrition, and how to encourage healthy eating behaviors. It addresses the common concerns that parents of young children! have. The format is lively, and easy to use.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Contains an amazing number of very practical suggestions to help parents encourage healthy eating behaviors in their young children. -- Kim Lampson Reiff, PhD, Eating Disorders Therapist

Great resource for parents. Information about nutrion, behavioral aspects of feeding children, and fun recipes to engage toddlers. -- Danette Glassy, MD, President of Washington Chapter of Academy of Pediatrics

Packed with helpful tips on first foods, finger foods, and family meals,and creative ways to involve the little ones. -- —Carol Fenster, Ph.D., author, Special Diet Solutions and other cookbooks for food allergies and celiac disease

Provides a wealth of kid-pleasing recipes, medical insight and good old fashioned mom-sense to help promote nutritious eating. -- C.APPEL• 11/01 Fearless Reviews

Ways to deliver nutritious foods to little people who appear to their parents to live on air and apple juice. -- Meredith Hughes, The Food Museum

“I love the format, it’s very friendly and would calm a nervous mom." -- —Debra A. Indorato, RD, CPFT, Approach Nutrition and Fitness, Allentown, PA

“This is a wonderfully yummy book, my favorite chapter is Food for Play. Enjoy!” -- —Diane Morgan – Editor, New Book Reviews

“a wealth of kid-pleasing recipes, medical insight and good old fashioned mom-sense. Food for Tots should find a healthy audience.” -- — C.Appel 11/01 Fearless Reviews

From the Publisher

Increasing numbers of children in the United States are obese. On the other hand, children’s diets are often lacking in important nutrients. Why is this? Simply put, children are eating too much of the wrong foods and too little of the healthy ones! For example, a survey of the diets of more than 3,000 children found that only 1 percent met all of the national recommendations for daily food group intake.

Good eating habits need to begin early in life but preschool children, on average, do not eat enough vegetables and fruits. Their diets are low in fiber, vitamin A, and vitamin C but too high in fat. The vegetable most eaten by U.S. children is¯you guessed it¯french fries!

Part of the problem is that preschoolers are notoriously “picky eaters.” They like routine and predictability and usually don’t take easily to new foods. In order to develop a taste for a new food a child has to taste the food. It may take 8, 10 or more exposures to a new food before a young child is ready to try it. So what happens? Too often parents give up and stick with “kid foods” such as macaroni and cheese, hotdogs, fast foods, etc. These are high fat, low nutrition foods. Sadly, a pattern of lifelong poor eating can be established at a tender age. What can parents do to change this trend?

Having a battle at the dinner table is not the answer. Fortunately, there is a better way. According to Janice Woolley, M.D. and Jennifer Pugmire, B.S., authors of Food for Tots, there are some basic rules for helping children develop good eating habits. One of their Seven Rules for Encouraging Healthy Eating is to resist power struggles. They say, “Don’t try to force a child to eat. That is a battle you can’t win. Children who are pressured to eat actually end up eating less than those who are allowed to decide how much they want.” They provide the know-how and the healthy recipes to achieve the goal of healthy eating for the whole family.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Mammoth Prints (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890908010
• ISBN-13: 978-1890908010
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,175,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for parents of preschoolers, June 16, 2002

By 

Aida Miles (Tucker, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Food for Tots (Paperback)

As a mother, Registered Dietitian and Board Certified Specialist in Pediatric Nutrition I wanted to say that this book is an excellent resource for parents. It has become the book that I recommend to parents of healthy children and also the book that I give out at baby showers. The recipes are certainly well tested and easy to make. I particularly like the fact that children can help in preparing many fun snacks and foods. The nutrition advise is also sound and exactly what parents wonder about and need a little more information on. It's a great buy!

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for new mothers, December 10, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Food for Tots (Paperback)

In Food For Tots: The Complete Guide To Feeding Preschoolers, pediatrician Janice Woolley and homemaker mom Jennifer Pugmire collaborate to showcase more than one hundred "kid tested" delicious and nutritious recipes that will please the youthful palate of even the most picky preschooler. There are also great recipes for playdough, bubbles and other fun stuff; as well as essential information about nutrition, food allergies, and food safety. Of special value for moms are the tips for raising healthy eaters ranging from first foods to family meals. Enhanced with illustrations by Marilyn Taggart, an index, and a bibliography, Food For Tots is essential reading for new mothers -- as well as experienced moms confronted with problematic mealtime preschooler tastes and behaviors.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for parents of tots!, December 7, 2001

By 

Carol L. Fenster (Centennial, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Food for Tots (Paperback)

Making sure that young children eat a nutritious diet is challenging, so pedicatrician Janice Woolley and mom Jennifer Pugmire meet this challenge by co-authoring the delightful "Food for Tots: The Complete Guide to Feeding Preschoolers, including 100+ Kid-tested Recipes". This book belongs in the home of every parent! It would make a wonderful baby shower gift!

Packed with helpful tips on first foods, finger foods, and family meals, Woolley and Pugmire also offer creative ways to involve the little ones in food preparation. And, they address major issues such as food allergies, food safety, and nutrition.

As a first-time, soon-to-be grandmother, I'm going to buy two copies: one for my kitchen when the little one comes visiting and one for the new parents-to-be so we can all make sure that the newest member of the Fenster family is a healthy eater.
--Carol Fenster, Ph.D.
author, Special Diet Solutions and other cookbooks for food allergies and celiac disease