Healthy eating for toddlers

Keeping your toddlers diet varied and interesting will help them develop an interest in healthy foods.

• Create foods that will appeal to toddlers, use a variety of textures, colours and flavours.
• At the ages of 1-3 your child should be enjoying 3 meals a day with two healthy snacks. Including a variety of food groups for your child will help to avoid fussy eating and create a balance of all the necessary nutrients your child needs to grow healthily. 
• Avoid adding salt or sugar to their food or cooking water. Children shouldn't eat salty foods as it’s not good for their kidneys and sugar can cause tooth decay.
• Try to eat as a family as often as you can to help them understand how everyone eats.
• Having home cooked foods is often more nutritious. Give them what you’re having, just smaller portions cut up. Feeding your child this way is also more cost effective than buying them separate foods. 
• You can continue breastfeeding for as long as you both want. As your child eats more solid foods, the amount of milk they want will decrease. Once they're 12 months old, first infant formula, toddler, growing up or goodnight milks are unnecessary, they can start to drink normal milk.

Remember to always wash your hands before preparing foods.

Fruit and vegetables 

• Offer a variety of fruit and vegetables to your child from a young age, some may need to be part boiled or steamed for softening. 

• Fruit and vegetables contain various vitamins, minerals and fibre so the more your toddler eats the better. 

• Don't worry if they'll only eat one or two types at first. Keep offering them small amounts of other fruit and vegetables so they can learn to like different tastes. 

• You may have a child that doesn’t like cooked vegetables, try offering raw as you're cooking, or roasting them in the oven.

• Fruits are often appealing to toddlers with they're rainbow colours; the change 4 life website can help you create fun ideas with fruit that entices your little one into trying them. 

• Keep fruit available in your home, offer fruit as snacks as opposed to sugary or processed foods. 

• There are many different types of fruit: fresh, frozen, canned or dried, providing a variety of shapes and textures. Be sure to cut up fruits, such as grapes and cherry tomatoes, length ways to avoid choking.

Starchy foods/ carbs

• Bread, breakfast cereals, potatoes, yams, rice, couscous, pasta and chapattis provide energy, nutrients and some fibre.  
• After age two you can gradually introduce more wholegrain foods, such as wholemeal bread, pasta and brown rice.

Protein

• Aiming to provide a source of protein at least twice a day within meals is recommended to help your toddler grow and provide them with iron. 
• Beans, fish, pulses, eggs, tofu, hummous, soya mince and meats are excellent sources of protein.
• Be mindful to offer girls no more than two portions of oily fish a week and boys no more than 4, this is due to low level pollutants that can build up within the body. The health benefits of eating oily fish are greater than the risk as long as the recommended amounts are not exceeded. 
• Nuts are also a great source of protein, however whole nuts and peanuts are a choking hazard to children under five and should not be given. If your child already has a diagnosed food allergy, or there's a history of allergies in their immediate family (including asthma, eczema or hayfever), talk to your health visitor or GP before offering them foods containing peanuts or nuts for the first time.
• If your child doesn't eat meat or fish, they'll get enough iron if you give them plenty of other iron-rich foods, such as fortified breakfast cereals, dark green vegetables, broad beans and lentils. Iron from non-meat sources is absorbed better when eaten with foods containing vitamin C, such as fruit, vegetables or fruit juices.

Dairy 

• If your child has a dairy allergy or intolerance, speak to your GP or health visitor who can advise you on suitable alternatives. 
• Whole milk and full-fat dairy products are a good source of calcium, which helps your child develop strong bones and teeth and healthy eyes. They're also a good source of Vitamin A helping to resist infections.
• From the age of two, semi-skimmed milk can be introduced into your child’s diet. Skimmed or 1% fat milk doesn't contain enough fat, so isn't recommended for children under five. You can use them in cooking from the age of one.
• The NHS Choices website suggests aiming to give your child at least 350ml (12oz) of milk a day, or two servings of foods made from milk, such as cheese, yoghurt or fromage frais. This may be divided into part of a meal such as mashed potatoes, porridge or cauliflower cheese. 
• Soya, almond and oat drinks can be given to your child as part of a healthy balanced diet, but rice drinks are not recommended due to containing arsenic. 
• Young children shouldn't eat mould-ripened soft cheeses, such as brie or camembert, ripened goats' milk cheese like chèvre, and soft blue veined cheese like Roquefort due to the bacteria they have. However if they're cooked the bacteria is killed.

Salt

• Limit the amount of salty foods your toddler eats. Foods such as crisps, ready meals, some breakfast cereals, ham, baked beans, sauces, olives and smoked fish can contain added salt so check the food labels or buy low salt versions.
• Your toddler should eat no more than 2g of salt per day. For example, one packet (25g) of plain crisps contains between 0.3-0.6g of salt, one slice of ham contains about 0.3g of salt and two tablespoons of baked beans contains about 0.5g of salt. 

Children can be brought up healthily on a vegetarian or vegan diet as long as they’re receiving the nutrients they need to grow and develop such as energy and protein. It's also important that vegetarian and vegan children get enough iron, calcium, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.

Other good protein sources include eggs, dairy products such as milk and cheese, soya products, pulses and beans, nuts and seeds. The NHS Choices FAQ on vegan and vegetarian diets and NHS vegetarian and vegan baby and toddler meals are both great sources of information.

Food allergies

An allergy is when the body reacts to something it thinks may be harmful. 

An allergic reaction can consist of one or more of the following:

• diarrhoea or vomiting

• a cough

• wheezing and shortness of breath

• itchy throat and tongue

• itchy skin or rash

• swollen lips and throat

• runny or blocked nose

• sore, red and itchy eyes

In some cases, foods can cause a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) that can be life-threatening. Get urgent medical advice if you think your child is having an allergic reaction to a particular food.

Don't be tempted to experiment by cutting out a major food, such as milk, because this could lead to your child not getting the nutrients they need. Talk to your health visitor or GP, who may refer you to a registered dietician.

Food intolerances

A food intolerance is difficulty digesting certain foods and having an unpleasant physical reaction to them.

Some symptoms you may notice after your child has eaten a food they are intolerant to are:

• tummy pain

• wind

• bloating 

• loose bowel movements (diarrhoea)

•  a rash or itching on your child’s skin

Keeping a food diary and recording what your child eats, any symptoms they have and the time they have the symptoms can help a doctor identify potential foods that triggers the intolerance.

Don’t restrict your child’s diet as this can be harmful; seek advice from a medical professional such as a GP or dietician in order to have allergy diagnostic testing. In some cases, where a child is having allergic reactions to high risk foods or have multiple allergies, an adrenaline auto injector (epi pen) is needed in emergencies.

NHS Change 4 life - nutrition advice and recipes

NHS eat well guide

NHS start 4 life weaning recipes and ideas

NHS food intolerances

NHS questions and answers for vegetarian & vegan diets

NHS baby and toddler meal ideas for vegetarians & vegans

First steps nutrition