Feeding preschoolers

Like adults, your preschooler will have hungry days and other days when s/he’s not that interested in food. This usually depends on how active s/he is on a given day, if s/he’s tired or focussing on acquiring a new skill.

You may also find that your preschooler will only eat the same two or three foods for weeks at a time. This is quite normal at this age and won't last forever – after nine months of wanting to eat nothing but baked beans, bananas and peanut butter toast, s/he may wake up one morning and never want to see them again.

Offer a variety of healthy foods each day, but don’t be concerned if s/he doesn’t eat something from all the food groups every day.

Find recipes for preschoolers on the Kidspot Recipe Finder.

Each day s/he should eat:

• Vegetables - two to four serves
• Fruit - one to two serves
• Dairy foods (milk, cheese, yoghurt) – three serves
• Meat, eggs, fish, lentils etc – one to two small serves
• Breads, cereals, rice and pasta – three to five serves
• Eggs – limit to one a day

TIP!

Go easy with the fibre. Some young children have trouble digesting high fibre food which can give them a stomach ache and possibly diarrhoea.

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This article was written by Ella Walsh for Kidspot. Sources include SA Government’s Parenting and Child Health