Children are born as ‘competent eaters’, with the ability to gauge their body’s need for food. They will
respond to hunger and fullness and responsively feed while both breast and/or bottle feeding. Most
children can regulate their own appetite, although over time they often learn to ignore these signals.
Children have small stomachs and will eat regular small amounts to meet their requirements. Helping
children to tune into their appetite, and also stop eating when they are full will help develop good
eating habits.
Recognising hunger and fullness and eating to appetite will help a child to develop good eating habits.
Top Tips
• Try new foods.
• Base most of their diet on whole foods.
• Give more vegetables, fruit, fish, nuts* and seeds.
• Switch to rapeseed or olive oil.
• Include some high fibre wholegrain foods.
• Limit red and processed meat.
• Cut down on sugar and salt.
• Offer 6-8 glasses of water, milk or sugar free drinks a day.
• Try not to label food as good or bad, try ‘every day’ and ‘sometimes’ food instead. Forbidding certain food can make it more desirable.
* Warning: do not give whole nuts to children under 5 as there is a choking risk.
