Baby Care

Many people do things instinctively, obeying unknown origin arising impulses. Children also instinctively try to taste everything. However, watching attentively the habits and predilections for taste of our kids, sometimes we can understand what substances are not enough for proper development of the child.

Sometimes six to ten year old children, suddenly begin to pull in the mouth any stuff. And not just drag and purposefully look for but also eat some substance. This may be chalk, clay, coal, and head of the matches or land. Someone remembers how in the village at the grandmother he/she secretly ate plaster, someone digging in the depths of memory, discovers that being a child sometimes he/she licked watercolor paints with pleasure. All of them were sweet to the taste, but for some reason they chose red and orange.

Some of us keep the style, for example, eating chalk in adulthood. Accidentally meeting “brothers” of habit, these people seriously discuss the taste differences between different brands of chalk, and argue which chalk is tastier – crayons “Antoshka”, round chalk “Lanthanum” or mild Czech chalk “Kohinor”. Many women notice a passion to the chalk during pregnancy.

All these habits are not accidental. If you find your child’s habit to not quite normal “products”, this is an extra reason to think – whether the child eats with food, all the necessary substances for his/her development and growth?

The reason of “dependence on chalk” among children (and adults) can be different. But as a rule, children who secretly eat crayons from the blackboard, most likely need calcium. Because chalk is a natural source of calcium.
A child’ body, in fact, needs large amounts of calcium: 800mg per day for 1-3 years old children, 900-1000 mg for 4-6 years old children, 1100 mg – 7-10 years, 1200 mg – 11 years and older. Calcium is needed for normal development of bones, formation of healthy teeth and gums, as well as for the growth of muscles. Without calcium children quickly get tired and often sick. Calcium is also involved in many metabolic processes in the body, and its deficiency can lead to severe hormonal disorders.

The love to chalk can also be a side-symptom of anemia, or lack of hemoglobin. And then the body does not have enough iron. By the way, all the iron oxides are brown or reddish – remember about the red water-color paint? According to WHO, some 30% of the population of Earth suffers from iron deficiency in one form or another.

The most balanced set of vitamins and minerals, suitable for most children, has “Kaltsinova”. It contains calcium, phosphorus and vitamins A and D3, and B6 – all those elements, without which the normal human development is unthinkable.

Besides the obvious hazard and the potential toxicity of inedible objects, many useful substances, such as phosphorus, is very rare and little in food. Its deficiency can also be compute to predilections of taste, of course, adjusted for child’s love of sweets.

However, people who eat a lot of sweet can also have a problem – they simply do not have enough chrome. Chocolate lovers may feel instinctive shortage of magnesium. Similarly, children who like to nibble the head of matches may well compensate for the lack of sulfur and phosphorus, salt lovers – potassium and sodium, and if there is a sudden interest in the acid products – perhaps it is from lack of vitamin C. In any case, if you notice change in tastes or other gastronomic strangeness, above all, consult a doctor!

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