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Galway mum behind mealtime experiment
A Galway mum has taken part in a novel online experiment to assess toddler meal times and whether they were getting enough nutritionally.
Research indicates that 67% of parents have experienced fussy eating with their toddler and almost 50% have abandoned a planned meal due to their toddler’s tantrums or refusals to eat.
Toddlebox recently set out to explore the reality of toddler’s meal times and found seven families, including Alice Shaughnessy from Turloughmore, to take part in the Toddlebox Challenge.
Alice, mum to one year old twins Allegra and Francesca, filmed her toddlers’ meal times on iPad over two weeks to capture the reality of the highs and lows of meal times.
The Toddlebox Challenge worked with Alice and other families one on one, filming every step of the way to offer advice and tips on toddler nutrition to the wider Toddlebox community.
Toddlebox expert dietitian Sarah Keogh worked with these families to tailor meal plans specific to their day-to-day lives in an effort to improve their toddler’s fussy eating tendencies and nutrition. The information was then shared and made available to other families seeking advice and tips on feeding their toddlers on www.toddlebox.ie
The Toddlebox Challenge found that most of the toddlers who took part were not meeting their recommended intakes for Iron and Vitamin D.
Toddlers, although tiny, require almost four times more iron than an adult per kg of body weight per day, yet one in four toddlers aged one year in Ireland are not getting the right amount of iron, which is a key nutrient in supporting brain development.
Toddlers also need five times more calcium and five times more Vitamin D per kilogram of their bodyweight per day.
Interestingly, the Toddlebox Challenge found that all of the toddlers who took part were drinking too much throughout the day or snacking too often between meals and so were not hungry at meal times. Toddlers’ tummies are only the size of their own closed fist, making it sometimes difficult for parents to get the right foods in at meal times.
Sarah Keogh said this a common problem across Ireland and finds that parents struggle to get the large but necessary quantities of Iron, Vitamin D, Vitamin C and Calcium into their toddler’s. She recommends a toddler tailored fortified milk to ensure increased intake of these vital nutrients.
“The Toddlebox Challenge was a fascinating initiative to be part of as it uncovered some very interesting realities surrounding toddler meal times in Ireland. One of the common trends we saw among our seven families was that toddlers were filling up between meals, particularly on milk and snacks.
“By encouraging parents to reduce milk and snacking we saw all our toddlers’ appetites increase and so they are now eating more at meal times, but feeding can still be a struggle so I always recommend adopting a toddler tailored fortified milk.”
Alice Shaughnessy was delighted with her role in the experiment. “When I started Toddlebox, I had hoped that I’d get some good ideas for meals that would get the right nutrition into my two girls and curb the fussy eating habits they had recently developed.
“I got some very good advice on things which I had been doing incorrectly, such as giving the girls too much milk for their age. As a first time mum, this kind of information is vital, as it’s not something I had been told before and would still not know had it not been for Toddlebox’s advice.
“Since cutting down on the size of their bottles, the girls have a much better appetite when it comes to feeding time. They are much more accepting when it comes to trying new foods and love feeding themselves as much as they can.
“I feel more equipped now about what I should and shouldn’t be feeding them and what impact liquids have on their appetites. I would definitely recommend Toddlebox to anyone who is struggling with toddler meal times,” she added.
■ To keep up to date with Toddlebox and for tips and expert advice on toddler nutrition visit Toddlebox or join the conversation on Facebook.
Some 60 tourism companies from Ireland attended ‘Flavours of Ireland’ 2022 in London last week – including Connemara Wild Escapes, DK Connemara Oysters and Killary Fjord Boat Tours.
‘Flavours’ is Tourism Ireland’s annual B2B tourism workshop, where tourism companies from Ireland meet and do business with top global inbound tour operators.
Now in its 20th year, ‘Flavours’ took place in the Guildhall, in the City of London, and was attended by around 100 global inbound tour operators who deliver business from all over the world, including the United States, Mainland Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa.
‘Flavours’ provides an excellent opportunity for the participating tourism providers from Galway and Ireland to highlight and sell their tourism product and build valuable relationships with the key decision-makers in attendance.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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From the Galway City Tribune – The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has asked Galway City Council to roll back material alterations to the new City Development Plan proposed by councillors.
In July, elected members voted through a raft of changes to zonings in the Draft City Development Plan 2023-29, which went out on public display.
But the Planning Regulator has now warned City Hall that many of the proposed changes do not comply with the OPR’s recommendations, and are contrary to national planning guidelines.
The OPR specifically highlighted problems with proposals to rezone as residential land deemed at risk of flooding.
Anne Marie O’Connor, Deputy Regulator, wrote to the Council’s Planning Department outlining the OPR’s fresh advice on the changes to the draft plan proposed and approved by councillors.
The draft plan will come before elected members again this month.
Councillors will be asked to row back on some of their previous material alterations, which ran contrary to advice of the OPR.
Ms O’Connor said the OPR welcomed many of the changes made by the City Council in its draft plan. She said, however, that the OPR “has a number of outstanding concerns relating to the response of the planning authority to its recommendations and to a number of proposed material alterations relating to the zoning of lands”.
These relate to changes that conflict with national and regional objectives for compact growth; with legislative requirements regarding climate action and core strategies; and with rezoning land at risk of flooding.
The OPR highlighted a dozen or more material alterations by councillors that are “not consistent” with the National Planning Framework for compact growth.
These include re-zoning of land from agricultural or recreational and amenity to residential.
The changes voted on by councillors, the OPR noted, were done against the advice of the Council’s Chief Executive Brendan McGrath.
The OPR said the changes proposed by councillors represented a “piecemeal approach” to zoning and were “inconsistent” with national policy.
These comments related to proposed rezoning of land at Rahoon; Dublin Road; Quarry Road, Menlo; Ballindooley; off Circular Road; Menlo village; Roscam and Barna Woods.
The OPR also raised “significant concerns” over five material alterations proposed for residential zonings of land at Western Distributor Road; Terryland; Menlo Village; Headford Road and Barna Woods which are located within flood zones.
The approach by councillors “may place people and property at unnecessary risk from future flood events”, the OPR warned.
Ms O’Connor told planners that if the draft plan ignores the OPR advice or is at odds with its recommendations, the Council Chief Executive must inform the OPR in writing the reasons for doing so.
Save Roscam Peninsula in a 33-page submission to the draft plan echoed many of the concerns outlined by the OPR.
The Council has pencilled in four dates in November and December to approve the plan.
It will meet on November 21, 24 and 28 and December 1 when material alterations will be voted on individually.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune, November 4. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
JOHN HARNEY from Mountpleasant first joined the Ballinasloe Horse and Agriculture Show Committee, all of 60-years ago, on April 24, 1962. Both John and the show are still going strong as they celebrate their 183rd event on this Sunday. Here, he looks back on his involvement with this iconic show through the years.
THE Ballinasloe Show back in the early 1960s was going well with both the Showgrounds and Duggan Park both used for running the competitions.
My first introduction to the show was stewarding the pony competitions in the Mountpleasant end of the Duggan Park with the rest of the GAA field being used for trade stands.
At that time, it was a very big show with horses, ponies, cattle and sheep, pigs and fowl – also there was a big garden and farm produce section as well as a home craft and baking section with flowers and plants supported by a very large women’s committee.
At that time, showjumping took place in the afternoon with the top riders in the country taking part. I was elected Chairman at the AGM in 1975, a position I held for ten years.
During that time, the Duggan Park Committee approached the Show Committee for a piece of the showgrounds behind the GAA Stand for dressing rooms.
This was brought up a number of times at our committee meetings, and at first, the view was that the Duggan Park Committee would buy the ground.
However, after much deliberation it was decided by the Show Committee to ‘give the ground’ for the sum of £1 with the proviso that the dressingrooms could be used on show days by the local ICA to do catering for the event.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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