Nutrition for children is important to ensure the optimum development of tissue and organs at a time of rapid growth. However, our nutritionist can help you with a proper diet.

To start, during infancy, there is a rapid rate of growth. The result is that growth declines significantly through early childhood and continues to slow prior to the spurt of puberty. Therefore, nutrient needs correspond with these changes in growth rates.

Energy and nutrient requirements are high relatives to body size during the first five years of life due to tissue and organ maturation, with more calories required relative to body weight during infancy in comparison to early childhood. Infants and young children need an adequate supply of nutrients such as protein for muscle growth, calcium for the development of bones and teeth, and iron to prevent anaemia.

Above all, good nutrition for children is critical to optimising each child’s potential for success. In other words, meeting nutritional requirements in their diet throughout the stages of childhood is essential to promote children’s well-being and full intellectual development.

On the other hand, children require sufficient energy and essential nutrients each day to concentrate on accomplishing learning tasks. Even mild undernutrition and short-term hunger are barriers to learning. 

An inadequate or unbalanced nutritional intake may not only affect growth and development in childhood but may also impact health problems, such as heart disease and obesity later in life. 

It’s crucial to limit your child’s intake of sugary foods and beverages throughout the day and, if at all feasible, limit it to mealtimes. As sugar consumption increases in both quantity and frequency, the likelihood of getting dental decay rises.

Choose reduced sugar options and dilute fruit juices if you want to avoid damaging your teeth with free sugars found in soft drinks like carbonated beverages and squashes. These beverages may also be acidic, which might harm teeth’s protective enamel.

Encourage your child to drink milk or water to help protect their teeth, and remind them to save soft drinks for mealtimes.

When it comes to nutrition for children, foods like sweets, cakes, cookies, chocolate, and salty snacks like crisps that contain free sugars should be avoided between meals because they can cause dental decay. If your child consumes these snacks, try not to make them a regular part of the diet to avoid obesity; instead, provide them just rarely and in moderation. Maybe choose one day of the week to allow certain items only on that day.

Make sure your youngster uses fluoride-containing toothpaste at least twice daily for at least two minutes at a time and takes regular trips to the dentist.

To promote a consistent message about healthy eating to kids, schools are encouraged to offer healthier foods all day long. This means that all of the meals and snacks you receive during the day should be wholesome and of high quality. Most schools are required by government laws to offer a broader variety of healthier snacks and balanced, wholesome meals.

Before you pack your child’s lunch, be sure to familiarise yourself with the policies that many schools have implemented regarding packed lunches.

In nutrition for children, the daily maximum amount of salt your child should be eating varies with age:

• 4 to 6 years – 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
• 7 to 10 years – 5g salt a day (2.0g sodium)
• 11 years and over – 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium)

These are maximum levels so ideally, your child should be eating less. Limiting salt in the diet will also help to ensure that your child does not develop a taste for salt.

There is no need to add salt to your child’s food. Salt is in many processed foods so always read the food label to check how much salt it contains and choose lower salt versions.