The Bittersweet Business of Feeding Toddlers

First published on Facebook on 08 Sep 2019.

It’s lunch time at the childcare centre where I do casual work as an assistant educator. Kellan (not his real name), a two-year-old, refuses his lunch, pushes away the bowl with spaghetti Bolognese which, by the way, smells divine! One of the other educators wouldn’t accept the fact that he wouldn’t eat “…lunch that mummy made specially for you”. Someone else says “But, you have to eat something, sweetie, or your tummy will hurt later”. Kellan simply frowns and tries to leave the table. He is asked to stay and eat his lunch. Well, long story (drama, actually) short… Kellan ends up falling asleep after a long cry. Spaghetti Bolognese untouched!

Does it sound familiar?

Parents and carers will usually do anything to get food, any food, down the children’s gobs for the fear of them going hungry or worse, malnourished. If not pasta Bolognese, at least vanilla custard or a vegemite sandwich must disappear into that little mouth so we make sure they have eaten something.

Because kids need to eat something at every meal, right?

Well, not quite… Most toddlers are good in self-regulating their appetite and energy demands, thus the amount they eat can vary considerably from meal to meal or day to day, so it is more realistic to assess the quality of their diet over the period of a few days or a week than from a single day’s intake. So, it can depend simply on the amount of activities the child went through in the morning to determine how much, and at times what, they are going to eat at lunch or at dinner.

But, how much food does a two-year-old really need?

It’s very tricky to give a straightforward answer to that question…

In its first year of life, a baby roughly triples its weight, but, during its toddlerhood (1-3 years), that growth rate is super reduced to 2-3kg per year, a gain of around 200g each month. And this is the first observation that puzzles and terrifies parents and carers. At times, a toddler just doesn’t need as much food as a baby does.

The current Australian Dietary Guidelines, recommend boys and girls, 2-3 years-old, should eat in a day roughly ½ cup of vegetables, ½ cup of grain foods, 1 cup of fruit, 1 cup of meat or alternatives, and 1 cup of dairy or alternatives. Not all in one meal, but throughout the day. Which is quite difficult to measure really, specially if your child goes to childcare or school and you can’t monitor precisely what he or she eats during the day.

So, before you start panicking because your child eats half of the daily recommendation or skips vegetables altogether for a couple of days or, on the contrary, eats twice as much grain foods (pasta or bread) in a single meal, remember that most young children are able to self-select an appropriate amount of food depending on their energy needs. This is called hunger self-regulation.

But, how can you know your child isn’t missing out on important nutrients?

Children’s growth is a reliable predictor of their nutritional status, health and psychosocial environment. So, consulting with your health nurse, gp or paediatrician for your child’s growth assessment is a good first step to finding out about his/her nutritional and health status. They will ask for additional tests if there is any concern regarding your child’s growth or will refer you to a qualified nutritionist. Now, if your child is growing as expected and has no major health issues, there is really little to worry about.

It is not an easy job, I know!

Associate Professor Kaye Mehta and her team of researchers at Flinders University published in July 2019 their findings of a study of working mothers of children under 13 years. They found that most mothers value nutrition and strive to provide nutritious meals to their children, but do feel stressed due to their time-poor lives and also feel guilty for maybe providing a less than an optimum diet to their children. So, when Kellan’s mother, a working mother, hears from the childcare room leader that he hasn’t had his lunch, it is important also to let her know that he spent the day very engaged with puzzles and building blocks, indoors, and had spent very little time in the playground, running and climbing. My bet is that he is gonna devour his dinner that night!

I see parents and carers, including childcare educators, quite confused about how to handle the challenge that it is feeding children who are striving to master their emerging independence and autonomy. Especially when life gets in the way. In 2016, Nestlé commissioned a couple of studies that found that even though 60% of parents would like to have more information about nutrition to provide a healthy diet to their children, 37% admitted they didn’t have the energy nor time to seek it.

And that’s why I devote my time and energy helping parents and educators to overcome the challenges in their way to providing thoroughly nourishing meals to the children under their care.

Visit the page Early Learning to learn more about our workshops.

References

1.     Croxford, S., Itsiopoulos, C., Forsyth, A., Belski, R., Thodis, A., Shepherd, S., & Tierney, A. (2015). Food & Nutrition Throughout Life. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

2.     National Health and Medical Research Council. (2013). Eat for Health - Australian Dietary Guidelines - Summary.

3.     Reed, E. (2019, March 14). Working effectively with common childhood eating challenges workshop.

4.     Mehta, K., Booth, S., Coveney, J., & Strazdins, L. (2019). Feeding the Australian family: challenges for mothers, nutrition and equity. Health Promotion International. doi:10.1093/heapro/daz061

5.     Nestlé. (2016, July 4). Australian parents not nutrition savvy when it comes to teaching their kids about healthy eating.