What to feed your toddler: A runny egg’s fine but not wholemeal bread
FEEDING children can be a minefield for many parents with conflicting views on what is best.
Now, new NHS guidelines have been issued for under-fives – and the nutritional advice is surprising.
Runny eggs are back on the menu for the first time in decades but wholemeal bread has been deemed ‘too filling for small tummies’.
Vegan families are warned soya milk – increasingly popular as a dairy-free alternative – has a high sugar content and may not provide young children with enough protein or calories.
And exotic seafood such as swordfish, shark and marlin should not be given to under-16s due to concerns over high levels of mercury.
The updated Setting the Table guidelines were published last week after new scientific evidence and changes to government policy.
They include key amendments from a National Advisory Group, set up by the Scottish Government and NHS.
The update notes 40 per cent of babies are given solid food too soon and the nutritional content of early diets ‘could be improved in many cases’ – with too much ‘reliance on commercial foods’. The document also states that 22.9 per cent of children in Primary 1 were classified as overweight or obese last year, but says young children should not be given low-fat foods.
Instead, they should get small amounts of foods with ‘lots of calories and nutrients’.
Babies and toddlers under two should be given less wholemeal bread as ‘too much fibre can be too filling for small tummies, making them too full to eat other foods to provide necessary nutrients’.
Because of improved food safety, babies and young children can now eat runny eggs if they are stamped with the British Lion standard.
Following recommendations from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, the NHS says all infants should be given vitamin D from soon after birth, unless they are being given 500ml or more of formula milk a day.
To avoid choking, babies should be encouraged to feed themselves finger food as early as possible, rather than being spoon fed.
The guidance states soya-based infant formula should only be used on the advice of a paediatrician and should not replace breast, formula or whole milk in the first two years because it ‘may not contain enough protein or calories’. It goes on: ‘Soya infant formula is high in sugar so should generally be given as part of a meal rather than between meals.’
The guidance adds: ‘Evidence suggests that a healthy diet, being physically active and maintaining a healthy weight may substantially reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers.
‘There is more and more evidence to show that their origins are partly established in childhood.’
‘Too filling for small tummies’