Pale Tired

My daughter is tired from the moment she wakes until she goes to bed.  She sleeps on average 12 hours a night but that is occasionally disturbed as she sleep talks and sometimes is woken by her baby sister.

She has a healthy attitude to food, and is average weight, although it's difficult to get her to eat meat and fish so we have to give her proteins in other forms, eg chickpeas.  She eats mainly vegetarian rich diet (carrots, potatoes, spinach, butter beans, cabbage, salad, courgette, aubergene, beans, and wholewheat bread, pasta etc ) She looks pale and has dark circles under her eyes.

She's been in preschool (afternoons) for half a year and is due to start school in September. I can see she get's confused from being so tired, and makes a lot of mistakes.  I wonder if she could be iron deficient or Vit D deficient as its winter here and outdoor play has been limited, to be honest she seems too tired to play for long outdoors.

Mary

[Renee Radenberg]

It is very important children get all the nutrients (carbs, protein, and fats) for them to grow and develop. Children can eat as vegetarians; however, Protein (essential amino acids) is the main ingredient that needs attention. You get protein by using dairy products which can come from animal or plant sources, such as, milk, soy milk, rice milk, yogurt, soy yogurt, cheese, soy cheese, soy ice cream, and rice ice cream. For the plant protein, you need to combine grains and nuts / seeds for essential protein have to be used daily such as rice and beans, pasta and beans, nuts to oatmeal, peanut butter and bread, and salad and nuts. Suggest a daily chewable children multi-vitamin to help supplement vitamins and minerals they do not get from the vegetarian diet. Recommend you read up on vegetarian and combinations of starches / vegetables and beans / nuts for protein, calcium, and other nutrients. Good sources of information are the American Dietetic Association website, www.eatright.org and Vegetarian Resource Group website, www.vrg.org. Hoped this helped you.