![Toddler Menu Planner](https://infantandtoddlerforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/shopsidebar-mini.jpg)
Use our Toddler Meal planning tool to ensure your 1-4 years old receives a balanced diet every day.
Find out more >![](/media/upload/small-images/tot-it-up-link.png)
Use our toddler food tracker to check that your 1-4 year olds are getting a good balance of foods and activity
Find out more >![](https://infantandtoddlerforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/oct-23-blog.png)
This educational programme for frontline professionals contains a range of practical resources on infant feeding.
Find out more >
Guidance & Tips for Parents
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/0006_red-bread_1.png)
BREAD, CEREALS AND POTATOES
Serve at each meal and offer some as snacks. For example:
- Breakfast – cereal and/or bread, toast or chapatti.
- Lunch and evening meal – potatoes, rice, pasta, couscous, bread, yam or plantain.
- Snacks – bread, bread sticks, rice cakes or crackers, other foods based on flour such as pancakes, tea bread and scones.
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/0005_red-fruit.png)
FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
Serve at each meal so that your toddler learns they are a normal part of each meal. Aim for about five servings a day.
- Serve fruit at breakfast and at least one vegetable and one fruit at lunch and the evening meal.
- Set a good example by eating fruit and vegetables yourself.
- Cut raw fruit and vegetables into slices, cubes or sticks as toddlers find these easier to eat than a large whole fruit.
- Toddlers often prefer the flavour of vegetables that have been stir fried, roasted or baked rather than boiled.
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/0004_red-cheese_1.png)
MILK, CHEESE AND YOGURT
Serve three times a day. Toddlers need less milk than babies and you should aim to replace bottles with beakers and cups by your child’s first birthday. One serving is:
- About 120ml (4oz) glass or cup of milk.
- A 120g pot of full fat yogurt or fromage frais.
- Cheese in a sandwich or on top of a pizza slice.
- A serving of custard or another milk pudding made with whole milk.
- A serving of food in a white cheese sauce such as macaroni cheese.
- Some toddlers may continue with breastfeeds.
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/0003_red-meat-fish-and-eggs_1.png)
MEAT, FISH AND VEGETARIAN ALTERNATIVES
Serve once or twice a day for non-vegetarians and two or three times a day for vegetarians. Always serve a high vitamin C food with vegetarian meals to ensure good absorption of iron.
- Most toddlers prefer softer cuts of meat such as chicken, minced meat, sausages, pate or slowly baked meat. Some will refuse hard, chewy textures.
- Serve oily fish such as mackerel, salmon and sardines in fish cakes or fish pie up to twice a week for girls and four times a week for boys.
- Vegetarian alternatives include eggs, ground or crushed nuts and pulses such as beans, chickpeas, hummus, lentils and dhal.
- High vitamin C foods include tomatoes, peppers, citrus fruits, kiwi, pineapple and fruit juices high in vitamin C.
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/0002_red-cake_1.png)
FOODS HIGH IN FAT AND SUGAR
Allow some each day with, but not instead of, the other food groups.
- Olive oil, soya oil, walnut oil and rapeseed oil give a good balance of omega 3 and 6 fats. “Pure vegetable oil” is often rapeseed oil.
- Include cake, biscuits or ice cream with fruit as a pudding sometimes.
- Allow sweets, chocolate and confectionery occasionally as part of a pudding. However too much sugary food may harm your child’s teeth.
- Dilute sweetened drinks and serve in beakers or cups, not bottles, to reduce the risk of dental decay.
- Only rarely offer salty snacks such as crisps.