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by Janelle Sorensen, Chief Communications Officer, Healthy Child Healthy World

Healthy Child Healthy World has been co-hosting an Easy Organic Living group on Baby Center for the past six months and as part of our engagement there, we’ve been having experts join us to answer moms’ questions. Dr. William Sears was one of our most popular experts and today we’d like to share some of his advice on issues that frequently come up in the Healthy Child community. Enjoy!

Question: I've been giving my 4 yr old daughter non-organic milk since the age of 1. Do you think it will cause her to show signs of puberty earlier than normal? What’s your opinion regarding hormones etc in milk? I’ve recently switched to organic milk and other dairy products. Should I switch to organic meats and poultry as well?? Your expertise is greatly appreciated.

One of my nutritional goals is to help parents raise chemical-free kids. I believe that one of the contributors to the epidemic of what I call the “D” diseases – ADD, ADHD, BPD (bipolar disorder), and ASD (autism spectrum disorder) ­– is that today’s children are being exposed to more chemicals in the air they breathe and the food they eat. Here’s what I believe is the genetic basis of this epidemic of nutrition-related illnesses. According to this new science called nutragenetics, some children are born with an inherited gene, say for diabetes, and this gene has an “on” and “off” switch. Whether or not the gene is turned on, or expressed, and the child gets diabetes, or turned off, or suppressed, can be influenced by the food the child eats. This growing science of nutragenetics is starting to investigate how food may affect genetic traits. In the meantime, I advise parents to operate on the principle of common sense: “When in doubt, leave it out.”

You were wise to switch to organic milk and other dairy products. I would advise you to switch to organic meats and poultry as well. These are the products that are top on my list of recommendations for parents to go organic.

You may have heard of the saying, “We are what we eat.” Also, we are what the animal that we eat eats.

During my forty years of pediatric practice, along with many other pediatricians, I am becoming increasingly passionate about encouraging parents to feed their children organic foods, again because of the epidemic of nutrition-related diseases that we are seeing.

One of the most compelling reasons that caused us to go organic in our own family was the realization that the brains of growing children are most affected by nutrition. The brain above all other organs in the body is most affected, for better or worse, by what you eat. The reason for this is because the brain is sixty percent fat and pollutants are stored in fatty tissue.

For these reasons, you are a wise parent to have made the switch to organic.

Question: My toddler is a vegetarian and is now refusing to eat most of what he used to love. I believe that he has allergies causing him to have a runny nose and slight cough. Is there anyway that I can introduce new foods without him spitting them out? He throws them onto the floor and turns his head away. How can I make them more enjoyable?

Sounds like your child is going through a normal stage of being a “picky eater,” which most toddlers do. Two suggestions: First, since you suspect food allergies, keep a food diary that lists “when my child eats this…he does this…”, such as a runny nose, a facial rash, diarrhea, bloating, etc. By process of elimination, you can then give him the foods that you believe he is less allergic to. Bear in mind that most children eventually outgrow most of their food allergies. Top food allergies are dairy, wheat, and corn. If you believe your child is allergic to dairy, substitute his diet with organic yogurt, since the culturing of yogurt makes the proteins less allergenic.

Next, here’s a Sears’ family trick that we use for our picky eaters: make a nibble tray – an ice-cube tray, a muffin tin, or you can purchase a fun snack tray called “the nibble tray” made by Zak. In this compartmentalized tray put nutritious nibblets and give them child-like names like broccoli “trees,” cheese “blocks,” cooked carrot “sticks,” egg “boats” (hard-boiled eggs cut up to look like canoes), and reserve two compartments for dips, such as organic yogurt and guacamole. Set the tray on your toddler’s own table and let him nibble his way through the day. By the end of the day the tray will be empty and his tummy will be full – without the hassles of you trying to get him to eat. Keep in mind that between one and two toddlers eat much less than they did in the first year because they don’t grow as fast as they did the first year.

A final note about feeding your child a vegetarian diet: be cautious. You almost need a Ph.D in nutrition to feed a child a vegetarian diet since vegetarian diets can be deficient in iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and especially omega 3 fats. In my opinion, the healthiest diet is called pesco-vegetarian, or seafood vegetarian. The seafood makes up for the possible nutritional deficiencies of a strict vegan diet. Or, if you wish to remain vegetarian, it is absolutely necessary that you give your toddler an omega 3 fish oil supplement that contains at least 300 mg. of omega 3 DHA/EPA per day.

Check out all of Dr. Sears’ responses on things like finding a pediatrician supportive of attachment parenting, weaning, childhood constipation, allergies, and more at Baby Center’s Easy Organic Living group!

Dr. Sears, or Dr. Bill as his "little patients" call him, is the father of eight children as well as the author of over 30 books on childcare. Dr. Bill is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine. Dr. Bill received his pediatric training at Harvard Medical School's Children's Hospital in Boston and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto -- the largest children’s hospital in the world, where he served as associate ward chief of the newborn nursery and associate professor of pediatrics. Dr. Sears is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and a fellow of the Royal College of Pediatricians (RCP).Dr. Bill is also a medical and parenting consultant for BabyTalk and Parenting magazines and the pediatrician on the website Parenting.com.

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