Feeding your preschooler

Help Make Your Child a Healthy Eater

Meal times with your child should be a pleasant time without struggling to get your child to eat their food. Children are very aware of their hunger signals and will eat when they are hungry and stop when they are satisfied.

The amount that your child will eat will vary on a daily basis. Don't worry - your child is able to determine what they need. Both you and your child share the responsibility when it comes to eating.

You decide:

• When to eat - meals and snacks should be offered around the same time every day and between 2-3 hours apart
• Where to eat - at a table with an adult
• What to eat - a variety of foods from Canada's Food Guide

Your child decides:

• Whether to eat
• How much to eat

Tips for Parents and Caregivers

• Have regular meal and snack times
• Do not let your child have food or beverages (except for water) between meals and snack times
• Make eating times pleasant
• Never use food as a reward or a punishment
• Never pressure your child to eat, or to 'clean their plate'
• Model how children should behave at the table

What to Feed Your Child

By twelve months of age, your child should be eating a wide variety of foods from Canada's Food Guide. This will help your child get used to different tastes and textures and make sure they get the nutrition they need.

When feeding your child, remember to:

• Offer your child foods from each of the three food groupings in Canada's Food Guide every day
• Serve small portions of food and offer more if your child is still hungry
• Gradually introduce a variety of foods with different tastes, textures and colours
• Offer at least one dark green and one orange vegetable each day
• Don't limit fat in your toddler's diet - it provides energy and essential fatty acids needed for growth. After two years of age, you may switch to lower fat milk
• Serve whole grain products to provide fibre and to start a good lifelong habit

Picky Eating

Feeding children can be tricky especially when they are picky. Learning how to cope with these eating behaviours will help reduce meal time struggles.

NutriSTEP® Screening Local Results

NutriSTEP® is a valid and reliable nutrition risk screening questionnaire for preschoolers. In 2020-21, 218 local parents and caregivers filled it out through kindergarten registration processes or in community settings.

Our NutriSTEP® data from 2020-21 shows that many local preschoolers:

• Are not eating enough fruit, vegetables, milk and alternatives, and meat and alternatives
• Are not deciding for themselves how much to eat
• Get too much screen time

More Information

• Canada's Food Guide: Healthy eating for parents and children
• To speak with a Public Health Nurse, please call the Family Health Information Line at 705-474-1400 ext. 5351 or email healthy.families@healthunit.ca.
• Dial 811 to call Health Connect Ontario to speak directly to a registered dietitian about nutrition and healthy eating.