What do toddlers need to eat?
Toddlers should be served the same foods as the whole family, with a variety of textures and flavours for balanced nutrition. Offer a variety of food from the following groups: • Fruits and vegetables • Breads and cereals • Meat, fish, chicken, eggs, legumes • Full cream milk, cheese and yoghurt. Children will learn to eat what the family eats if they are given the same food and encouraged to try it. Who is in charge at mealtimes? Eating and mealtimes are a team effort, with control being shared between parents and their children. Children can sense how much food their bodies need and will eat enough to match this, but they can lose this natural ability to sense when they are hungry or full, if forced to over-eat or finish all the food on their plate. Parents and children have different mealtime roles within the family: The parent’s job is to decide: • Which foods to offer children • When to offer food. The children’s job is to decide: • Whether they will eat • How much they will eat.
