Centro Infantil Bellota -- Nutrition & Hygiene
Nutrition
CIB is concerned to provide children with the best nutrition possible. Careful attention is given to the menu to ensure that children get the carbohydrates, fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals that they need for healthy growth and better learning. Effort is made to reduce the levels of sugar, fat, salt and additives in food, and children are given plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Some children attending the Centre used to have a bottle of coke and a packet of crisps or sweets in the morning. Now they eat a healthy breakfast. They have fruit for their morning snack, and eat a nutritious, balanced meal in the middle of the day. They have fruit and a local cereal drink before going home.
Mothers are encouraged to provide healthier food for their children, and many have commented on the improvements in their children’s diet.
- “Before she used to ask for sweets. Now she wants fruit in the afternoon, like she has at the Centre”
- Mother of a girl at the Centre
- “The doctor congratulated me on having such a healthy child. He is not fat but is a good weight and height for his age”
- Mother of a boy at the Centre
Hygiene
Attention is also given to forming good hygiene practices. Children wash their hands before eating and after going to the toilet. After breakfast and lunch they brush their teeth and wash their faces.
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Photographs by Miguel Samper, www.samperphotos.com
“Before when I went to the bathroom I didn’t wash my hands. Now sometimes I’ll just take her out of the bathroom when she finishes and she says, ‘No, I have to wash my hands. I’m going to wash my hands’. ‘And in the morning and at night, you have to brush your teeth’, she says. ‘And the garbage, you have to put it in its place’, she tells me.”
- Mother of a girl at the Centre