DIETARY GUIDELINES IN SUMMARY:
SALT – Less than 1 gram daily (up to 12 months)
– No more than 2 daily (1-3 years)
– No more than 3 grams daily (4-6 years)
SUGAR – No more than 5 sugar cubes daily (4-6 years)
FIBRE – Ideally 15 grams daily (2-5 years)
WATER – 3-4 cups daily (1-3 years)
– 5-6 cups daily (4-8 years)
FRUIT JUICES/SMOOTHIES – No more than 150ml daily.
Welcome to our first ever forum chat! We are ready for any questions you may have about the dietary guidelines and putting them into practice with your little ones. This is the first time we are doing this, so will be a bit of a trial and we welcome any feedback too 🙂
Good question Kim. Yes during weaning make sure you don’t add any salt to baby’s foods at all and even as they age, avoid adding too much salt then too. You want to also check labels and look for green traffic lights where salt is concerned for kids. Lots of every day foods contain salt such as bread, milk, butter, and especially ready meals and more processed foods including pasta sauces etc. So do keep an eye out for those and just think about offering variety in your child’s diet. Obviously cooking from scratch is ideal, but many baby and toddler foods are made without adding salt – just keep an eye on the ingredients list!
Hope that helps a little! Lots more top tips from me, if you want them?? Just say! C
Hey Heather, this is really interesting actually because there is actually quite a lot of recent research about this. We now know that babies taste the flavour of a mother’s food through the amniotic fluid that surrounds a foetus. So the flavour of what mum eats will be passed onto baby via the amniotic fluid. Lots of research suggests that babies have a preference to the types of foods their mothers ate after they are born. This is just one reason why a healthy and varied diet during pregnancy is a good idea. It’s also good not to get baby used to the flavours of sugar and salt too much as it may increase their liking for it and develop food preferences before they are even born. A well balanced diet is always the answer 🙂
Thanks, that’s good to know. Very interesting to know that babies tastes are developed so early! You always hear about healthy eating for the mother’s wellbeing but not a lot on how sugar and salt affect babies preferences and the weaning process. Thanks!
Start with green veggies Shelly! It may sound odd but actually a lot of the latest research points to the bitter and sour flavours that are present in vegetables as being ideal for helping baby to expand their palate. It’s all about a gradual introduction and moving through flavours and textures at a nice gradual pace that suits an individual baby. Try to stick with smooth veggies initially and then move on to sweeter veg and plain foods such as rice, pasta, potatoes and gradually get these to a thicker texture. By around 7 months you want to have baby trying soft cooked finger foods too with meals. This is just an intro but we have lots of other useful info available if you’re interested or if you have any further questions on this
Good evening ladies.
I’m really concerned about my little one choking on foods. Do you have any advice or tips to stop me from being so worried?
Thankyou.
Just be aware that babies have an excellent gag reflex and you’ll find they use it A LOT, especially in the first year of life. The most important thing is to gradually move baby through textures. Start soft but gradually add textures and soft lumps and then eventually just mash foods. At the same time, start with some super soft finger foods such as avocado, banana and really well cooked veggies. As your baby gets used to finger foods and develops more of a bite you can start offering strips of bread and egg and cooked pasta too. It’s all about taking your little one through it gradually so that she gets used to it. Always sit with her too so you know that she’s OK. Lots of research shows that children are less likely to gag IF they have experienced lots of finger foods so keep going with these and offer them regularly.
As a rule of thumb:
Grapes and large oval foods such as cherry tomatoes or large berries should be sliced (downwards rather than across)
Nuts should not be given to children under 5 years – nut butters are great to use though.
Remove any touch skins of veg and steam these to soften.
Never give them hard round sweets or jelly cubes.
And it goes without saying. Always watch them eating and never leave them to eat in the back of the car or pram when you can’t see them.
You can also check out our earlier Instagram infographic post on this.
Hope this helps and offers some reassurance ! x
I have 3 children under 6 and they are very fussy, I find if I involve them in the making process they eat more but I am running out of ways to make food fun. Any thing you can suggest?
This is a great question Isabelle. Just today I having been making berry kebabs with my daughter who loved it!! Have you also checked out our Let’s Play tab? Food art can be great fun too.
Thanks to everyone who joined in tonight’s chat 🙂 We hope you found it useful and hope to run another chat forum very soon. We welcome any ideas for topics that you’d like to see discussed. Catch up soon E & C x
Welcome to our chat about “DIETARY GUIDELINES IN A NUTSHELL”.
So, what exactly are the Dietary Guidelines?
DIETARY GUIDELINES IN SUMMARY:
SALT – Less than 1 gram daily (up to 12 months)
– No more than 2 daily (1-3 years)
– No more than 3 grams daily (4-6 years)
SUGAR – No more than 5 sugar cubes daily (4-6 years)
FIBRE – Ideally 15 grams daily (2-5 years)
WATER – 3-4 cups daily (1-3 years)
– 5-6 cups daily (4-8 years)
FRUIT JUICES/SMOOTHIES – No more than 150ml daily.
So, we are looking forward to seeing what questions come through later tonight 🙂
Welcome to our first ever forum chat! We are ready for any questions you may have about the dietary guidelines and putting them into practice with your little ones. This is the first time we are doing this, so will be a bit of a trial and we welcome any feedback too 🙂
I am trying to ensure I give my child a healthy diet, any advise on choosing lower salt foods?
Good question Kim. Yes during weaning make sure you don’t add any salt to baby’s foods at all and even as they age, avoid adding too much salt then too. You want to also check labels and look for green traffic lights where salt is concerned for kids. Lots of every day foods contain salt such as bread, milk, butter, and especially ready meals and more processed foods including pasta sauces etc. So do keep an eye out for those and just think about offering variety in your child’s diet. Obviously cooking from scratch is ideal, but many baby and toddler foods are made without adding salt – just keep an eye on the ingredients list!
Hope that helps a little! Lots more top tips from me, if you want them?? Just say! C
Hey guys, is there any evidence about sugar and salt levels during pregnancy affecting the baby negatively at all?
Hey Heather, this is really interesting actually because there is actually quite a lot of recent research about this. We now know that babies taste the flavour of a mother’s food through the amniotic fluid that surrounds a foetus. So the flavour of what mum eats will be passed onto baby via the amniotic fluid. Lots of research suggests that babies have a preference to the types of foods their mothers ate after they are born. This is just one reason why a healthy and varied diet during pregnancy is a good idea. It’s also good not to get baby used to the flavours of sugar and salt too much as it may increase their liking for it and develop food preferences before they are even born. A well balanced diet is always the answer 🙂
Thanks, that’s good to know. Very interesting to know that babies tastes are developed so early! You always hear about healthy eating for the mother’s wellbeing but not a lot on how sugar and salt affect babies preferences and the weaning process. Thanks!
No worries, just glad it was useful 🙂
Any tips on hidden sugar? Any particular foods to avoid for my little ones?
Hi there Ella – yes we have a sugar swaps video that you can check out on our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTvYzMX-DJU
Biscuits –>Rice cakes
Fruit yoghurt –> Plain natural yoghurt
Sweetened cereals –> Porridge oats are all good for starters.
I’m getting ready to wean my baby – where should I start?
Start with green veggies Shelly! It may sound odd but actually a lot of the latest research points to the bitter and sour flavours that are present in vegetables as being ideal for helping baby to expand their palate. It’s all about a gradual introduction and moving through flavours and textures at a nice gradual pace that suits an individual baby. Try to stick with smooth veggies initially and then move on to sweeter veg and plain foods such as rice, pasta, potatoes and gradually get these to a thicker texture. By around 7 months you want to have baby trying soft cooked finger foods too with meals. This is just an intro but we have lots of other useful info available if you’re interested or if you have any further questions on this
Good evening ladies.
I’m really concerned about my little one choking on foods. Do you have any advice or tips to stop me from being so worried?
Thankyou.
Ah Alice this is a really common concern and, honestly it’s totally normal to be nervous. Firstly, there is a great overview here:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/foods-to-avoid-baby/
Just be aware that babies have an excellent gag reflex and you’ll find they use it A LOT, especially in the first year of life. The most important thing is to gradually move baby through textures. Start soft but gradually add textures and soft lumps and then eventually just mash foods. At the same time, start with some super soft finger foods such as avocado, banana and really well cooked veggies. As your baby gets used to finger foods and develops more of a bite you can start offering strips of bread and egg and cooked pasta too. It’s all about taking your little one through it gradually so that she gets used to it. Always sit with her too so you know that she’s OK. Lots of research shows that children are less likely to gag IF they have experienced lots of finger foods so keep going with these and offer them regularly.
As a rule of thumb:
Grapes and large oval foods such as cherry tomatoes or large berries should be sliced (downwards rather than across)
Nuts should not be given to children under 5 years – nut butters are great to use though.
Remove any touch skins of veg and steam these to soften.
Never give them hard round sweets or jelly cubes.
And it goes without saying. Always watch them eating and never leave them to eat in the back of the car or pram when you can’t see them.
You can also check out our earlier Instagram infographic post on this.
Hope this helps and offers some reassurance ! x
I have 3 children under 6 and they are very fussy, I find if I involve them in the making process they eat more but I am running out of ways to make food fun. Any thing you can suggest?
This is a great question Isabelle. Just today I having been making berry kebabs with my daughter who loved it!! Have you also checked out our Let’s Play tab? Food art can be great fun too.
On the learning side Usborne books do some fantastic books to help children understand food:
https://usborne.com/search-results/?excludeSiteSearch=1&searchText=food
And this vegetable maths masters app is brilliant:
http://vegetablemathsmasters.co.uk/
Thanks to everyone who joined in tonight’s chat 🙂 We hope you found it useful and hope to run another chat forum very soon. We welcome any ideas for topics that you’d like to see discussed. Catch up soon E & C x