Filling Those Preschool Tummies

     Do you get frustrated when trying to feed your busy little preschooler? It is common for a preschooler to only eat a few bites of his/her sandwich and says he/she is "full" and then goes off to play. We started to explore our options to see how to feed preschoolers in a more effective way and ran into the blog, Kids Eat Right- Size-Wise Nutrition for Toddlers. This blog posted information from the government website: Choosemyplate.org.  Kids Eat Right explained that the appropriate serving size for a toddler is about one-quarter of an adults serving size. For example, if one peanut butter and jelly sandwich were a serving size, then your little preschooler only needs 1/4 of that sandwich. Below is a chart that Kids Eat Right found on Choose My Plate:

Most 2- to 3-year-old children need to consume about 1,000 calories per day. Here’s how to distribute those calories in a healthy eating plan:

• Grain Group: About 3 ounces of grains per day, preferably half of them whole grains. That is about three regular slices of bread or one slice of bread plus 1/3 cup cold cereal and ¼ cup cooked rice or pasta.
• Vegetable Group: 1 cup raw and/or cooked vegetables per day. Like adults, young kids need variety: mashed sweet potatoes, broccoli with low-fat dip or tomato sauce for pasta.
• Fruit Group: 1 cup fresh, frozen, canned, dried and/or 100% percent juice per day. Emphasize whole fruits rather than juice. Kids love melon balls, Mandarin oranges (fresh or canned in juice) and frozen berries.
• Milk Group: 2 cups per day. Whole milk is recommended for children younger than 2. Older children can have lower-fat, calcium-rich choices such as fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese.
• Meat and Beans Group: 2 ounces total per day. Options include one ounce of lean meat or chicken plus one egg or 1 ounce of fish plus ¼ cup of cooked beans (black, pinto, etc.).
• Oils: 3 teaspoons or less per day of liquid oil or margarine.

 
     To help avoid the frustration and battle of eating and wasting food, think about proportioning your toddlers food into cupcake tins for the day! By doing so, toddlers have a choice of what they want to eat when they are hungry without the stress of making small meals for them in which they might not even eat. Since preschoolers are so busy and active at this time in life, they do not eat as much food as you may think. This means that when a toddler eats, parents need to make sure their toddler is getting the nutrients they need. Snacks/meals should be rich in nutrients for their little bodies to grow healthily. Research has also stated that "parents not only must provide quality food to meet their children's nutrient requirements, they must establish a positive and supportive eating environment so that children develop healthy food-related attitudes and behaviors" (Stanek, K., Abbott D., & Cramer S., 1990).
   This cupcake tin idea is an easy and effective way to feed kids in a positive way! Avoid the fighting and prepare little portions of food in the cupcake tins in the morning and pop it out of the fridge when your energized little bunny is hungry! 
   


We would love to hear how YOU have successfully fed your busy preschooler. Leave a comment below to share with the rest of us!  

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Hayes, D. (2014, January 1). Size-Wise Nutrition for Toddlers. Retrieved October 13, 2014, from http://www.eatright.org/kids/article.aspx?    id=6442459365 
Stanek, K., Abbott, D., & Cramer, S. (1990). Diet quality and the eating environment of preschool children. Food and Agriculture of the United Nations, 90(11).