While many of us know how difficult motherhood can be, it’s easy to underestimate the amount of time and energy that goes into meal-planning for a growing child, a decision-making process that begins with breastfeeding and doesn’t stop there. Regardless of whether you are pregnant or the mother of an infant or young child, there are a lot of uncertainties when it comes to your child’s diet, and it can be tricky to sift through the opinions and wealth of available information to know what’s best. As your children grow, you may face tough judgment calls such as preparing a healthy and nutritious meal versus preparing a meal they want to eat.
Mealtime, whether you have a newborn or a toddler, can be a battleground, and it helps to have an army of like-minded mothers going through the same process of trial and error. Knowing which nutrition resources are up-to-date and accurate may be a challenge, but having confidantes who are in pursuit of the same information and trusted resources can stimulate a useful dialogue about health and in turn multiply your own nutrition tool kit.
If you have ever tossed and turned in bed, worrying about what or how to feed a fussy child, chances are you would want to help other mothers avoid those sleepless nights also. What if we told you that taking a survey could help do just that? The National WIC Association (NWA), the advocacy and education arm of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), authored the survey questions to get to the heart of challenges facing mothers and prospective mothers at mealtime and beyond.
The survey will help inform NWA of where gaps in knowledge regarding nutritional health exist. At the same time, it provides insight into where access to nutrition and breastfeeding services and support is lacking, including for mothers who do not participate in WIC.
Whatever the challenge, it’s likely the roadblocks you face as a mother of a growing, hungry child are not unique. Take some time to answer NWA’s questions about your child’s diet and nutrition today, and help NWA spare you some of the anxiety and stress you may feel tomorrow. You can find the survey here.
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of MomsRising.org.
MomsRising.org strongly encourages our readers to post comments in response to blog posts. We value diversity of opinions and perspectives. Our goals for this space are to be educational, thought-provoking, and respectful. So we actively moderate comments and we reserve the right to edit or remove comments that undermine these goals. Thanks!