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Nutrition 101 for Toddlers (1-3 years) and Preschoolers (3-5 years)

Introduction

Why is nutrition important?

Starting with Toddlers

Continuing with Preschooler

Physical Activity

Common Questions

Key Message

Written By :

Mirabelle

December 27, 2022

Introduction

Mothers, are you confused with what you should feed your toddler or preschooler? Have you heard that some foods are better to be avoided? There are a lot of questions that surface mothers’ mind when they think about nutrition.

This blog aims to explain the importance of nutrition, the development of feeding skills, the feeding behavior of your toddler/preschooler, what foods to avoid, physical activity, how to encourage good eating habits, and how to deal with picky eaters. 

You have heard from your family, friend or pediatric doctor that nutrition is important to stay healthy and promote growth for your toddler/preschooler.

Why is nutrition important?

  • Adequate nutrients is needed to achieve the child’s full growth and development potentials.
  • If the child was malnourished, this will impair their physical as well as cognitive development.

Starting with Toddlers

Development of feeding skills for Toddlers?

With time, they will become more independent and they will practice self-feeding:

  • At 9-10 months, weaning bottles begins, use sippy cups
  • At 12-14 months, they will be completely weaned
  • At 12 months, refined pincer (small food tolerated)
  • At 18-24 months, they can use their tongue to clean their lips and can chew food so soft and chopped food are tolerated

What are the feeding behavior of toddlers?

  • They will show decreased interest in food because of slowing in the growth rate and a decrease in their appetite.
  • They will develop food preferences and dislikes.
  • It is better if you introduce new food or food they previously rejected when they are hungry, mixed with familiar food, and that is also eaten by someone from the family.
  • It is a good idea to decrease screen time when the child eats.

What are Toddler size portions?

  • A good toddler plate is one that is ½ an adult serving plate or 2 – 3 tablespoon per meal.

Toddler Snack?

  • Snacks should not be sweetened beverages or cookies (This might reduce their appetite latter for meals).
  • Schedule a regular snack time and meal time.

What food to provide?

Vegetables   

  • 1 serve = ½ medium potato (or sweet potato or corn); or ½ cup cooked veggies (like broccoli, spinach, carrots, pumpkin); or 1 cup green leafy veggies; or ½ cup cooked, dried or canned beans or lentils.
  • Offer 2½ serves a day.
  • Cut the vegetable to avoid chocking.

Fruits

  • 1 serve = 1 medium apple, banana, orange or pear; or 2 small plums, kiwi fruits or apricots; or 1 cup diced fruit (no added sugar).
  • Offer 1 serve a day.
  • Always cut the fruit to avoid chocking.

Grains

  • 1 serve = 1 slice of bread; or ½ cup cooked rice, pasta, noodles, quinoa or polenta; or ½ cup porridge; or ⅔ cup wheat cereal flakes; or ¼ cup muesli; or 1 crumpet or small English muffin. Whole grain is best.
  • Offer 4 serves a day.

Protein

  • Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts, seeds, legumes: 1 serve = 65 gm cooked lean beef, lamb, veal or pork; or 80 gm cooked lean chicken or turkey; or 100 gm cooked fish fillet or 170 gm cooked tofu or 2 large eggs; or 1 cup cooked lentils, chickpeas or canned beans; or 1½ tablespoons nut or seed pastes (whole nuts are a choking risk).
  • Offer 1 serve a day.
  • If you are giving your toddler meat, you should give ground meat and not a steak or chops.

Fat

  • 1 serve = 1-2 teaspoons  of olive oil; 1-2 teaspoons  of nut or seed pastes; or 1 tablespoon of avocado.
  • Avoid foods like cakes, biscuits, chips, lollipop, processed meats and fried or takeaway foods. They’re high in saturated fat and sugar and salt.

Dairy

  • 1 serve = 1 cup (250 ml) pasteurized cow’s milk; or 1 cup dairy alternative like soy or rice milk with at least 100 mg of added calcium per 100 ml; or 2 slices cheese; or ¾ cup (200 gm) yoghurt; or ½ cup ricotta cheese. Choose mostly reduced-fat dairy.
  • Offer 1½ serves a day.
  • Of-course, each child’s intake will vary, listen to your child, if he/she is not hungry anymore, do not force them to eat just to finish their plate.

This is “My Plate” using the provided food in one plate (You can download this picture and ask your son/daughter to color it or write the food they believe fits in the category!! For example, in Fruits, what might belong there: “Apple, Lettuce, Milk??”

Note:

Starting age one, your son/daughter can have honey. Before 1 year of age, honey should NOT be given.

What Foods to avoid?

  • Avoid sugar
  • Avoid salt
  • Avoid food that might cause chocking such as: hot dogs, nuts, candy, seeds, raw carrot, popcorn, grapes, cherries, baby tomatoes, chunk of peanut butter, chewing gum, marshmallows
  • Avoid mold ripened soft cheese (brie, camembert, ripened goat’s milk cheese and soft blue veined cheese like Roquefort”

Feeding

Recognize the cues that your child is full, such cues are:

  • Push their food away
  • Close their mouth
  • Turn their head away from food

Each child is different by expressing, but those are some examples.

  • Provide regular meals/snacks. If you have lunch at 1:00 PM, try to always serve lunch at 1:00 PM
  • Serve meals at room temperature, not too hot and not too cold
  • Have your toddler seating in a secure chair
  • Make food soft and moist which will it easier for your toddler to eat, masticate it and swallow it.

Physical Activity

 Children under the age of 2 years should not have screen time, achieve approximately 60 minutes per day of play time and exercise.

Ideas for toddler’s safe movement:

  • Dancing, tricycles, balance bikes
  • Puzzles
  • Outdoor play that is safe for the toddler to walk and explore
  • Supervised play-ground

Those activities will allow the toddler to practice gross motor skills by feeling the puzzle pieces or the grass on the ground.

Continuing with Preschooler

The development of feeding skills in preschool age children?

  • They can use fork, spoon and a cup
  • They are seated at a table when eating
  • Ba careful, some food might still cause chocking
  • Supervise your preschooler when they are eating

What Foods should I focus on?

5 food groups

Grain Group:

  • Half of the plate should be made up of whole grains
  • Most preschoolers need 3-5 ounces of grains each day. 1 ounce is:
  • 1 slice of regular size bread
  • 1 cup of dry cereal or 1 cup puffed dry cereal
  • ½ cup cooked cereal, pasta, or rice
  • 1 small tortilla

If your son/daughter ate less or more, it is fine. They know when they are full.

Vegetables Group:

  • Half of the plate should be made up of fruits and vegetables
  • Most preschoolers need 1-2 cps of fruits daily. 1 cup is:
  • 3 cup raw leafy vegetables
  • ½ cup cut cooked vegetables
  • 1 cup cut raw vegetables
  • ½ cup 100% vegetable juice

Fruits Group:

  • Half of the plate should be made up of fruits and vegetables
  • Choose whole fruit instead of fruit juice. Whole fruits contain fiber which is needed as it is healthy. Juice contain more sugar, which is better to have it in limited quantity.
  • Most preschoolers need 1-1.5 cups of fruits daily. 1 fruit choice is:
  • 1 small fresh fruit
  • ½ cup (4 fluid ounce) of unsweetened fruit juice (100% juice)
  • 2 tablespoon dried fruit
  • 2 cup unsweetened canned or frozen fruit

Dairy Group:

  • Most preschoolers need 2.5 cups from this group daily. 1 cup is:
  • 8 ounces (240 mL) of milk or yogurt
  • 5 ounce of natural cheese like cheddar

Protein Group: 

  • Go with lean protein
  • Most preschoolers need 2-5 ounces of food form this group daily. 1 ounce is:
  • 1 ounce of lean meat, fish, poultry To have it as lean, remove any skin, for example remove the poultry skin.
  • ½ ounce of nuts or seeds
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter
  • ¼ cup cooked peas or beans

Fat will be provided through cooking or  adding it to food (For example, olive oil on yogurt) 

  • 1 serve = 1-2 teaspoons  of olive oil; 1-2 teaspoons  of nut or seed pastes; or 1 tablespoon of avocado.
  • Avoid foods like cakes, biscuits, chips, processed meats and fried or takeaway foods. They’re high in saturated fat and sugar and salt.

How to feed a preschooler? 

  • Serve food in an attractive way
  • Do not allow junk food and drinks between meals
  • You can involve your child in simple food activities to teach them about food

Avoid food that might cause chocking such as a popcorn, grapes, tomatoes. You can give your preschooler cut grapes and cut tomatoes, always provide the food into small pieces, in order to facilitate the swallowing process.

Also to avoid chocking, always have your preschooler sitting at a table while eating.

Feeding behavior of preschool age children?

  • They have an innate ability to control their food intake, if they feel full, do not force them to continue their meal.
  • They do not know what food is healthy and what food is not, it is your job to teach them and explain. Do not force a child to eat something, encourage them to do so.
  • They observe their parents, friends, and siblings and learn about food and food habits

Strategies to encourage good eating habits and monitor food intake

  • Establish a routine when you and your child sit together and talk during mealtime and snack time,
  • Prepare a healthy snack box that the child can have whenever they are hungry between meals. You can prepare fruit pieces, small cheese sandwich and vegetables. When your child becomes hungry, offer them a small snack between their meals.
  • Establish a routine when you provide milk and water to your child. Do not provide your child with carbonated beverages (example pepsi), they are packed with sugar and lack nutrients.
  • Do not give your child a large serving, offer small serving and if they are still hungry, they can have more.
  • Provide food that your child likes with a new food. It is fine if the child dislikes a certain food, do not force them to eat it, but remember that dislikes change with time.
  • Do not avoid serving a kind of food that the child doesn’t like, serve it for your rest of the family and put a small quantity in your child’s plate, if they did not eat it, it is okay. Children’s food preference is learnt with repeated food exposure. A minimum of eight to ten exposure to this particular food, your child might overcome their dislike response ot the food and start to enjoy it.

Healthy eating for preschoolers

Model healthy behaviors

Preschoolers will copy what you as parents do at the table. If you eat your healthy vegetables, they will eat their too.

Think about the drinks

Sugar-sweetened drinks (for example pepsi) are sources of added sugar and are high in calories. Drinks such as water and milk are better for children.

If you drink pepsi during mealtime, they will ask for a cup.

Offer Choices

Preschoolers as adults like to decide what they want to eat. You can ask your child “Would you like an apple or pear?” In this way, you are still providing a healthy fruit, however you give them the impression that they are making a decision of what to eat.

Physical Activity

60 minutes or more of physical activity is recommended daily for children.

Aerobic exercise which means running, hopping, skipping, jumping rope, bicycling, dancing. Muscle strengthening which is playing on the playground equipment, playing tug of war.

Try to limit the time you set for your child on screen time to encourage them to go outside and play.

Common Questions and Concerns

Picky Eaters

  • Preschoolers might not eat the exact amount of food each day, which is fine.
  • Serve food at scheduled meal time
  • If your child is unwilling to taste a new food, serve it with a familiar food in the same meal. It may take several exposures to the food for the child to accept it.
  • You are a role model! Try the food with your son/daughter. Talk about the texture, taste, smell, size, color of the food, try to increase their interest.
  • Allow your child to help prepare meals with you, children get excited when preparing meals and this will increase exposure to food.
  • Offer choices, you could ask “Do you prefer broccoli or cauliflower for dinner?” instead of saying “Do you want broccoli for dinner?”

Food Safety

  • Teach your child to wash their hands before eating
  • Only serve your child cooked seafood, meat, poultry, eggs (never serve lightly cooked food, always cook food very very well)
  • Avoid giving your child raw juice or milk

Should I give my toddler/preschooler juice?

A lot of opinions have been circling this topic, the issue with fruit juice (even if its fresh) is that it contains sugar (natural) and it does not contain fiber.

  • When you squeeze the orange to create orange juice, fiber will be lost.
  • You need 4 oranges to fill a cup however you get full by eating 1-2 oranges, this is why it is said that orange juice has more sugar, you are needing more of it to create the juice quantity to fill a cup

Your toddler/preschool doesn’t need sugar but they need fiber.

If they would like to drink fresh squeezed orange juice, limit their intake to ½ cup per day.

  • Some tricks you can follow:
  • Mix the juice with water to dilute it (decreasing sugar) or some ice
  • Mix it with a blender not a juicer to keep the fiber in the juice
  • Add 1 or 2 vegetables within the drink

What are unhealthy drinks that I should avoid?

There are a lot of drinks to be avoided such as soft drinks, sports drinks, tea, coffee.​

  • Starting with sports drinks, soft drinks, they have a lot of sugar with no nutrients to benefit your toddler/preschooler.
  • They also increase the risk of tooth decay and obesity.
  • Flavored milk/flavored water is best if avoided because of the added sugar, also opt for healthier milk versions and regular water.
  • Continuing with tea and coffee, the amount of caffeine will affect your toddlers/preschoolers sleep and behavior.
  • Also, some herbs are best avoided because they are harmful.
  • Preschoolers or toddlers have small stomach capacity which means you need to focus on the food that they will benefit from, they are unable to eat a lot, so every bite counts!

Artificial sweeteners?

  • Empty calories with no benefits as they are not nutritious.
  • If your child consumed a snack made with artificial sweeteners, it will not harm them.
  • Keep in mind, if your child has PKU, they should avoid aspartame.
  • Artificial sweeteners such as neotame, aspartame, saccharine, acesulfame-K and sucralose aren't linked to behavior problems or cancer.
  • Needless to say, do not provide daily artificial sweeteners.

How to properly communicate?

Check this link for examples: Help and Hinder Phrases

Activities to increase interest in food based on age

Check this link for ideas on how your son/daughter can help you in the kitchen:
Kitchen Helper Activities

Here are 4 nice activities you can download and enjoy with your son/daughter

  • Increase their awareness and interest to food
  • Understand each food to which group it belongs

Game 1: This activity is a Maze Game, where your son/daughter will come across different food groups along the way, by playing this game, you can discuss the food you find before crossing the finish line.

Game 2: This activity is about fruits and vegetables. Your son/daughter will need to differentiate between fruits and vegetables.

Game 3: This activity is about grains and dairy, the game is to decide which food belongs to grains category and which belongs to dairy category.

Game 4: This activity is about proteins, remember protein sources are animal and plant food.

Key Message

By this blog, you should be able to create a healthy plate for your son/daughter. Incorporating the 5 food groups to ensure optimal growth. Remember, you are only human, no one is asking you to be perfect, mistakes are not inevitable.

Stay healthy,

Wellbene, your wellness companion

Written By :

Mirabelle

December 27, 2022

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