What Is A Healthy Diet For
My Child?
Children under the age of 2
years are growing rapidly, but have small stomachs and are un-able to eat big
portions in one sitting. For this reason it is important to provide your child
with nutrient-rich meals and snacks. Try to offer 3 meals and 2-3 snacks per
day. You can gradually reduce the number of snacks to once or twice a day by
the time your child is 5 years old.
By now your child should have
progressed on to eating chopped family meals. It is important to keep offering
your child a range of tastes, colours and textures as this will help your child
to learn to enjoy a wider variety of foods. Aim to include food from the four
main food groups, listed below, within your child‟s diet daily. This will help to ensure your child receives the balanced
supply of energy and nutrients needed for healthy growth and devel-opment.
The Four Main Food Groups:
1. Bread, rice, potatoes,
pasta and other starchy foods – serve these with all main meals
These foods include
breakfast cereals, bread, pasta/cous cous, chapatti, potatoes, yam, plantain,
noodles and grains (such as rice, millet, quinoa) and provide energy,
nu-trients and some fibre.
Aim
for vitamin and iron enriched breakfast cereals e.g. Corn-flakes, Rice
Krispies, Shreddies, Weetabix, or Cheerios.
Try
to alternate white bread, with higher fibre alternatives such as rye, granary
or wholemeal to provide some fibre in your child‟s diet.
Potatoes, sweet potatoes and
butternut squash are easy to cook and are great for boiling, mashing, or
baking.
2. Meat, fish, eggs,
beans and other non-dairy sources of protein – serve twice a day (include with
main meals)
Food from
this group will provide your child with protein and minerals such as iron and
zinc, required for healthy growth and development.
Minced meat such as beef, chicken, turkey, pork or lamb work
especially well with chil-dren. These work well in Shepherd‟s pie, spaghetti bolognaise,
meatballs and pasta or a slow cooked stew.
Easy sandwich fillers include tuna, mashed sardines, cold
meat slices, pates, smooth pea-nut butter and houmous.
Pulses such as chickpeas, red kidney beans, baked beans and
lentils work well in curries and casseroles.
Include oily fish such as fresh tuna, tinned or fresh
mackerel, salmon, pilchards and sar-dines once or twice a week (ensure all
bones are removed). Try fish added to sauces and fish pies.
Avoid giving young children shark, swordfish or marlin due to
their high mercury content.
Raw shellfish
and raw or undercooked eggs may cause food poisoning in young children and so should
not be offered.
3. Milk and
dairy foods – Offer 3 servings of dairy daily [1 serving of dairy is a small
glass of milk (about 120 ml or 4 ounces), 1 slice of cheese, 1 average pot
(~125ml) of yoghurt or 2 small pots of fromage frais]
Dairy foods
are an important source of calcium, required for strong bones and teeth.
After 1 year
of age, children do not need to drink large volumes of „milk‟ (for example full-fat cow‟s milk or formula milk), if they are
having other calcium rich dairy sources like yo-ghurt or cheese during the day.
The goal is to aim for 3 servings of a calcium rich dairy food a day.
Use full-fat/whole milk for children under 2 years. After 2
years semi-skimmed milk is fine to give to your child however skimmed milk
should not be given to children under 5 years of age.
Milk is an excellent drink for children, and can be used on
breakfast cereals or in pud-dings and sauces.
Yoghurt, yoghurt drinks or fromage frais work well as a
pudding or as a snack between meals.
Melt grated cheese in main dishes (e.g. jacket potatoes,
spaghetti, macaroni cheese) or try adding natural yoghurt to curries.
If your child
is allergic to cow‟s
milk, ensure the dairy alternatives you choose are enriched with calcium and
vitamin D. Please discuss which dairy alternatives are suitable for your child,
with a paediatric dietitian.
4. Fruit and vegetables – Offer 5 servings of fruit
and vegetables daily (One fruit or vegetable serving is approximately
equivalent to the amount that will fit into your child’s hand)
Fruit and
vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre, which will help to keep your child
healthy.
Fruit and vegetables may be eaten raw or cooked
Try sliced
salad vegetables in sandwiches or offer vegetable sticks (e.g. carrots,
peppers, cucumbers) with a dipping sauce as a snack
between meals.
Frozen, dried or tinned vegetables, are just as nutritious as
fresh vegetables. Try serv-ing these on pizzas, in soups or casseroles or with
main meals.
Fresh, frozen, dried or tinned fruit are equally nutritious.
These make great puddings, fruit salad, crumbles and pies (when buying tinned
fruit choose the varieties tinned in juice rather than syrup).
Try offering
fruit cut into small pieces as a healthy snack.
Drinks (Offer 6 – 8 drinks from an open cup
daily)
Fluids are an
important part of a healthy diet. It is important to ensure you provide your
child with suitable drinks from appropriate containers.
By the age of
1, your child should no longer be taking drinks from a bottle as this can be
damaging to teeth. Ideally a lidded beaker should have been introduced at
around 6 months of age. Encourage your child to pro-gress from a lidded,
free-flow beaker to a cup as soon as he or she is ready. Remember to offer child-size
servings (120-150ml or 4-5oz) when offering drinks.
Water and
plain milk are the best drinks for children as they do not dam-age teeth. But
too much milk can reduce iron absorption, so remember to give no more than 3
servings of milk (or dairy foods) per day.
Young children
do not need juice if they have plenty of fruit and vegetables in their diet.
However if you would like to include juice avoid giving “fruit drinks” or
“juice drinks” as these tend to have additional ingredients such as added sugar
and additives. Better options would be “100% juice” or “fresh fruit juice” but
these should be diluted since they contain natural sugars.
Squashes,
fizzy drinks and flavoured milk drinks are not recommend for young children.
They can lead to poor appetite and cause tooth decay due to their high sugar
content and/or acidity. Tea and coffee are also unsuitable, especially at
mealtimes as they can reduce the amount of iron your child absorbs.
Encourage your
child to eat his/her meal before having a drink, as drinks can be filling;
which may cause children to eat less food at mealtimes.
Fresh, chopped fruit e.g. apple or pear slices, banana,
satsumas, seedless grapes, slices of mango, melon or pineapple.
Fruit kebabs are a fun way to encourage 5-a-day.
Vegetable sticks with Greek style yoghurt or houmous dip
Plain rice cakes with peanut butter
Cheese cubes and crackers
Chapatti/bread sticks with a vegetable salsa dip
Toasted bread fingers with cream cheese, houmous or smooth
peanut butter
Eggy bread fingers
Fruit bread fingers
1 Oatcake
A handful of plain cereal (i.e. not frosted or honey-coated)
like rice krispies, cornflakes or cheerios. (Remember to also choose the brand
with the lowest salt content)
Home-made plain popcorn
Yoghurt or fromage frais
Homemade fruit
yoghurt smoothies
Healthy
Snack Ideas
Remember to
offer children under 2 years old a meal pattern of 3 meals and 2-3 snacks per
day. Aim to offer snacks such as the ones listed below instead of sugary/fatty
snacks:
Remember to
keep offering your child a variety of different tastes, colours and textures.
This will help your child to learn to enjoy a wider variety of foods, and
he/she is more likely to get the nutrients required for healthy growth.
Does my child need a vitamin supplement?
The Department
of Health recommendations state all children between the age of 1-5 years may
benefit from taking vitamin drops containing Vitamins A, C & D. This is
especially impor-tant for children who do not spend much time outdoors, those
who wear clothes that cover up most of their skin when outdoors and fussy
eaters. Vitamin D in particular is not widely available in the foods we eat.
Some foods such as oily fish, eggs, fortified margarines and some fortified
breakfast cereals do contain vitamin D but the primary source is sunlight. Your
health visitor can advise you on how to get healthy start vitamins free of
charge if you qualify. Otherwise, you can purchase suitable alternatives with
advice from your dietitian or local pharmacist.
How much
salt can my child have in his/her diet?
The amount of
salt your child can have in his or her diet will depend on age. Children 1-3
years of age should have no more than 2 grams per day and 4-6 year olds no more
than 3 grams per day. Salt is widely found in processed foods, including those
needed for a healthy diet (e.g. bread, breakfast cereals, baked beans). For
this reason it is important that you do not add salt when cooking or at the
table. Try to compare different brands of food and choose brands with the lower
salt content.
Is it ok to
give my child honey?
Once your
child is a year old, his/her intestines are mature enough to prevent the growth
of
bacteria found
in honey, which can sometimes cause infant botulism, so it is safe for chil-dren
over the age of 1 year to have honey. However, honey is a type of sugar and can
pro-mote tooth decay, so you should still limit honey in your child‟s diet.
What if my
child becomes constipated?
A healthy diet
and regular activity can help to prevent constipation. Ensure your child‟s fluid intake is adequate. Aim for 6
– 8 child size cups (4-5oz/120-150ml) daily. Include 5 servings of fruit and
vegetables into your child‟s diet everyday. Offer some wholemeal/wholegrain
cereals such as wholemeal bread, Weetabix, Shreddies, Porridge, Shredded Wheat.
Do not add bran to food or give bran-enriched breakfast cereals to young
children as this may in-terfere with iron absorption. However, if you think
your child is already constipated (i.e. straining to pass stools and/or passing
hard pellet-like stools) you should discuss this with your GP.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if my child is gaining too much weight?
Check your
child‟s
weight and height in his/her red book. If your child's weight is moving significantly
above his/her usual weight centile discuss your concerns with a Health Visitor
or GP who may refer your child to a local dietitian in your area. Please also
inform the EAT Study team. En-courage more exercise, reduce non-active hobbies
(e.g. TV watching or computer games) and reduce intake of fatty and sugary
foods and drinks.
What if my
child is not gaining weight?
Have a look at
the growth charts in your child‟s red book. As long as your child‟s weight and height continue to
follow his/her usual weight and height centiles, then your child is likely to
be growing well. However, if you are concerned that your child is not gaining
weight sufficiently discuss this with your Health Visitor or GP, who may refer
your child to a local dietitian in your area. Please also inform the EAT Study
team. Make sure you continue to offer your child well balanced meals but you
may also need to fortify these meals using energy dense foods (for ex-ample by
adding extra full-fat milk and margarine to mashed potatoes or sprinkling extra
cheese on pasta dishes). Encourage your child to have small nutritious snacks
between meals.
I suspect
my child may have a food allergy, what should I do?
If you think
your child may have a food allergy please contact the EAT Study team. Possible
signs/symptoms of an allergy may include; a runny or blocked nose, red and
itchy eyes, dry, itchy throat and/or tongue, swelling of the lips and throat,
coughing, wheezing and short-ness of breath, itchy skin or rash; diarrhoea and
/or vomiting.
