Children Not Eating Their Lunch at School

I have three children and two of them are in school full-time.  Our six year old daughter is in grade one and our four year old daughter is in junior kindergarten.  Every night I pack their lunch for school and I always pack healthy snacks, a sandwich and a drink.  Our four year old is really good at eating her lunch at school, but our six year old usually brings her lunch back home and eats it at that time.  Sometimes when I ask her why she didn't eat it at school, she tells me because she didn't have time.

Children have a certain amount of time for lunch/snack time and that's usually when they get to socialize with each other and play.  They get so distracted that they forget to eat their lunch.  Then when they get home from school they're starving.  Our girls usually want a snack, but if they're hungry I make them eat the rest of their lunch first.  I don't want them to eat too much because they have to eat their dinner.  

I thought about packing a smaller lunch, but I always worry that it won't be enough and she'll still be hungry.  

In the end, I'm happy as long as she has a good breakfast and eats her healthy snacks at school.

Constipation in Toddlers

 

 

Our seventeen month old daughter has been experiencing constipation for the past few months.  I took her to our family doctor and they did an ultrasound on her abdomen.  The doctor called me back with the results and she advised our daughter has swollen lymph nodes in her stomach that could have been caused by a stomach virus, but it's not serious.  I took her to the pediatrician and he said that swollen lymph nodes wouldn't cause her to be constipated.  He advised me to change her diet and said I can give her a laxative when needed and it wouldn't hurt her.  Sometimes we put Restolax in her juice and it seems to work.  She had another ultrasound and everything came back okay.

 

Signs that your toddler is constipated include:

• Infrequent bowel movements

• Dry, hard stool

• Uncomfortable when he/she finally goes 

The pediatrician advised me to adjust her diet.  She loves bananas, but I have to avoid giving her too much as they will make her constipated.  I'm going to try giving her other fruits and more vegetables.  She loves cheese and drinks homogenized milk on a regular basis, but I have to limit her dairy to two servings to per day.  I'm going to try and increase her fibre intake.  She drinks a lot of juice with water, but I'm going to start giving her more water.   I hope these things help her.