6. Provide Good Nutrition

Plentiful research has been conducted on the effects of nutrition on child development and growth.  Poor nutrition has been shown to negatively impact child development significantly.  It is important to understand your child's nutritional needs, which can be difficult when there are many different views as to what constitutes a good diet.

The United States Department of Agriculture has published extensive material on this subject providing a wealth of information on how to properly feed children.  Click on the picture below to go to this resource.  If you have difficulty feeding your child the variety of food needed for a healthy diet due to picky eating, please have your child assessed by a speech-language pathologist who specializes in feeding.  Your child may have an underlying oral motor sensory problem that can be treated.