A Dietitian or Nutritionist is a professional health expert focused on enriching the health and nutrition of people of all ages. However, since the health and nutrition of children significantly differs from adults, the profession requires a specialization. This is where Pediatric Dietitians or Nutritionists can help.
Pediatric Dietitians perform the same functions as their general counterparts but focus their study and efforts on children. You will need to take extra classes in child development and child physiology in order to understand the nutritional needs of a child’s body and the reasons behind certain eating behaviors of children.
Normally, Pediatric Dietitians can be found in most healthcare facilities such as hospitals and clinics, and their main occupation consists of analyzing the current diet of children and recommending a good meal plan for them that will ensure that the children will receive the necessary nutrition for his development based on their ages and health conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease and dialysis, failure to thrive and other conditions that require specialized diets.
To become a Pediatric Dietitian, a person must love the science of nutrition and must genuinely want to help children in need. If you have these characteristics, then here’s how to become a Pediatric Dietitian. You can enroll in online classes in nutrition sciences for the essential dietician training.
Education and Training
- Start acquiring the skills early. As early as high school, you should already be inclined to take courses in the sciences if you want to eventually try the profession. Start taking advanced courses in science such as biology, psychology and chemistry if dietician careers interest you. You will need to be strong in math as well. Taking all these courses while in high school will prepare you for the college training necessary to pursue the profession.
- Get a bachelor’s degree in the field. Once you graduate from high school, search around for colleges that offer programs in nutritional sciences, food technology, biology or chemistry. Enrolling in one of these dietician schools will give you the necessary knowledge and skills needed to develop your career skills. Make sure that you plan your degree path around a major that will prepare you to be eligible for certification in the future. The program you take will need to be accredited and recognized by the ADA (American Dietetic Association).
During your junior year, focus your studies on child nutrition in order to prepare you for your practicum (supervised practical applications) that you will be taking during your senior year. If you follow this path, you will be able to land a job in pediatric nutrition much easier after graduation. - Get professionally certified. When you graduate from college, the next step will be to get certified. To accomplish this, you will need to pass the state certification exam conducted by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). Once you pass the exam, you will be a certified nutritionist and will be allowed to practice your trade legally. Bear in mind that you will be allowed to take the certification exam only if you obtained your degree in the field from a school accredited with the ADA, so make sure you choose the school wisely.
Job Responsibilities
- Assess dietary needs of children with diseases or illnesses.
- Teach parents and/or caregivers how to plan healthy well-balanced meals for children.
- Make dietary recommendations for children with special needs.
- Plan visits in order to monitor health and growth of children on special diets.
- Make food fun for kids and teach ideas to parents in order to encourage proper food intake while eating healthy.
Job Opportunities
As soon as you pass your certification exam, you can apply at various hospitals, clinics or health organizations for Dietitian jobs. You may even work in public health visiting schools and daycare facilities in your community. Since you want to focus on pediatrics, apply for jobs focusing on good nutrition for children. If you do get a dietician job, chances are that you will be working under more accomplished experts in the field. Take advantage of this opportunity to further your development as a professional Pediatric Dietitian.
Salary and Opportunities For Growth
A typical Pediatric Dietitian will earn anywhere from $53,000 to $74,000 a year depending on the employer and on the credentials of the person. The pay varies from state to state and for different types of facilities. The highest paying salaries and best benefits are found at children’s hospitals where the work is more intense and fast paced.
There are always opportunities for growth in this field. After working a few short years in a clinical setting, you can go into public health and work out in the community teaching parents and caregivers in daycares and schools about good nutrition for children. You can also leave the clinical setting and go into home health, children’s specialty clinics and diabetic or dialysis clinics. This also gives you the opportunity to further specialize working with certain diseases.
Working as a pediatric dietitian or nutritionist can be a challenging, yet rewarding career path. Helping children can be a very emotionally taxing and rewarding job all at the same time. But knowing that you can help sick children stay healthy with good dietary practices will be worth the hard work and time you spend.