How to Feed a Child With Crohn's Disease

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Crohn's disease is an illness which mainly affects the small intestine and Colon, however the entire digestive tract can be affected including the mouth. Feeding a child with Crohn's disease can seem like a daunting task, because what might work with one case of Crohn's may not work with another.

Steps

1. Figure out what good healthy things your child likes.
   
2. Avoid things like colas and anything carbonated, energy drinks, fast food, anything with a lot of preservatives.
   
3. Be sympathetic. If your child feels it is unfair that he or she has to go on a special diet, go on it with them. That will make them feel not so singled out. However remember that some Crohns diets which contain low fibre can be unhealthy for people without Crohns.
   
4. Get creative, try new recipes and stuff, just make sure they are healthy ones.
   
5. Try juice to drink with meals, but make sure they are 100% juice, juice drink aren't actually juice and they contain a lot of sugar.
   

Tips

• Try different foods you haven't tried before, the worst thing that can happen is they taste bad. Just make sure that they are not overly chemical, if you can't understand whats in it don't eat it!
  
• The fresher the ingredients, the better.
  
• Excess fibre from fruit and overly 'chunky' foods tend to exacerbate symptoms. Particularly avoid these if your child has has a recent 'flare-up' or if symptoms such as diarrhea are present.
  
• All cases of Crohns are different, for some people coffee bothers them where a vindaloo would not. A good rule is to try out what you like despite what other peoples reactions are and see how things affect you.
  
• Many doctors put Crohns patients on a 'white' diet during 'flare ups'. This basically means everything you eat should be white e.g white rice, white bread. Avoid lots of wholemeal or 'brown' foods during flare-ups.
  

Warnings

• Make sure that you get advice from a dietitian and your GP as to what foods you should try and avoid.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Administer Medicine to a Resistant Child
  
• How to Decide on a First Pet for Your Child
  
• How to Praise a Child
  

Sources and Citations

• Crohn's Disease And Children - Includes additional information on how to manage Crohns's Disease in Children.
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Feed a Child With Crohn's Disease. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.