Feeding children: a dietician answers your questions

Q: Our little girl (five yrs) seems to have gone off vegetables. She does eat fruit, we keep treats to a minimum and she is very active, will she be getting enough nutrition from just fruit?

Frankie says: Fruit and vegetables contain different vitamins and minerals, and the best way to get plenty of these is to have a wide variety – i.e. eat a rainbow!

Have you tried raw vegetable sticks? These can be quite appealing, especially with a dip like soft cheese or hummus. Try different coloured peppers and cucumber sticks, even raw broccoli and cauliflower. Even better why not ask her to choose and prepare the vegetables with you and use them in cooking for example to put on top of a homemade pizza?

Whatever you do – avoid getting into a battle about it – just offer and let her decide what to eat… but do keep offering!

Q: I cannot get my eight-year-old to eat fish. How critical is this? What is she missing and should I be substituting?

Frankie says: Fish is not critical to the diet, but it does provide some really valuable nutrients, in particular the oily fish varieties – these include salmon, mackerel and sardines. These fish provide omega-3 fats, which are important for development, including cognition, as well as a healthy heart and circulation. If she doesn’t enjoy eating fish whole, perhaps she might try fish cakes, which you can make using potato with just a little salmon. Or try making a fish curry where the flavour is masked by the aromatic herbs and spices. If it’s still a no-go, then ensure there are other sources of omega-3 fats such as seeds and nuts, as well as omega-3 fortified foods such as eggs, soya products and spreads.

Want some recipe ideas? Try our salmon recipes for kids.

Q: How can I avoid my children having too much salt in their diet and how do I calculate it? They're four and six.

Frankie says: In the UK we have guidelines for how much salt (or sodium) children of different ages should eat. For four- to six-year-olds it should be no more than 3g of salt per day – that’s including the salt already present in many processed foods. Most food labels now say how much salt is in a product, so you should be able to work it out quite easily, but as a rule of thumb, never add salt to children’s food, and avoid eating very salty foods such as bacon and other processed meats, smoked fish and cheese and savoury salted snacks too often.

For more information read what is a low-salt diet?

Q: My son is six. I worry about portion control for him as he can eat as much as me on some nights after having already had an afternoon meal/snack at his afterschool club. How much should he be eating? He isn’t overweight at all but is very tall for his age.

Frankie says: Children’s appetites vary. Some days they seem to eat hardly anything, and others they seem to have hollow legs! If your son is otherwise growing well and his weight and height are roughly in proportion then it’s likely he’s getting about the right amount of food to grow, without getting overweight. Children this young often need snacks to keep up with the demands of activity and growth, but there are no hard and fast rules on portion size.

If you think he might be eating too much just put slightly less on his plate, and let him know that he can have a second helping if he’s still feeling hungry. Keep him active too and that will help him to grow and stay healthy while having a good appetite, and on those days when he doesn’t seem to eat much, just go along with it. Much as it may pain you to see food wasted, don’t make a child finish a plateful of food if they aren’t hungry.

Q: What's a balanced diet for a nine-year-old?

Frankie says: Adults and children over the age of five should all aim to achieve a healthy balanced diet. For adults, there are clear guidelines on what makes a balanced diet defined by the NHS Eatwell Guide. This guidance shows how to include all of the main food groups (grains and starchy carbs, fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy, meat, fish, beans and pulses, fats and oils). You don’t have to achieve this at every meal, but it’s good to include something from each food group across the main meals breakfast, lunch and dinner, with others offered to children in snack form. Eating the same healthy meals together is a way to ensure that the whole family stays healthy. For children, it really helps to see parents eating a varied, balanced diet too. And don’t forget that being physically active every day is part of getting that overall balance right.

Take a look at these healthy family recipes

Q: A child in my class has an extremely limited diet. He drinks a chocolate flavour protein drink and eats pretzels every day for lunch. In the afternoon he has the same. He eats grilled chicken for supper, no veg or carbs. Very occasionally he will drink a fruit smoothie. He likes chocolate. He will not handle food in cookery sessions, let alone eat it. Any suggestions?

Frankie says: I’m guessing you are a teacher, so it may be worth having a chat with the child’s parents to see if they have any concerns about their child’s food intake. I’m unclear what age the child is or if there are any growth issues, but there may be some underlying problem that needs to be addressed by professionals if this is indeed all that he is eating – as you rightly say, it is very limited. Some children struggle with sensory aspects of food, especially if they have not been introduced to a range of textures and tastes early in the weaning process. Please refer to the parents and, if necessary, ask them to reach out to their GP or health practitioner.

Q: My daughters don't eat beef, though they do eat pork and chicken. Are they missing something? And the six-year-old eats more than the eight-year-old but there isn’t much height difference between them, is that normal?

Frankie says: It’s fine not to eat beef if your daughters prefer eating other meats – they will still achieve a similar range of nutrients. Appetite can vary between children, and is also dependent on activity levels. Provided both of your girls are growing normally and are keeping active, they may simply be growing and developing at slightly different rates, so don’t worry about this, your eight-year-old might be about to start a growth spurt, which will make her taller than her sister again.

Got more than one child on your hands? You might also be interested in reading Frankie Phillips Q&A for teenagers and babies and toddlers.

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This page was updated on 21 August 2024 by Kerry Torrens.

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