The Food Standards Agency and Department of Health have concluded that peanuts and peanut containing foods such as butters, spreads and puffs can be introduced into the diet of children after the age of six months.

In high risk children (i.e. children who have a family history of allergy or children who already have a food allergy to another food), peanuts and food containing peanuts can be introduced after the age of six months after discussion with a GP, health visitor or medical specialist that it is safe to do so. Whole peanuts should not be given to any child under the age of 5 years due to the risk of choking.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has warned parents against giving children processed meats. The Infant & Toddler Forum, drivers of the Little People`s Plates initiative for healthier eating for the under threes, have the facts behind the headlines:

“Processed meats are nutritious foods containing a good source of iron which is often very low in toddlers diets, in fact one in eight UK toddlers are deficient in iron. As part of balanced nutritious family meals, quality processed meats are fine for the under threes a couple of times a week. On other days include fresh lean red meats, fish, chicken, hummus or eggs instead. A bigger problem for toddlers is too many salty and high fat snacks such as crisps, we’d urge parents to steer clear of these altogether.

“There is, in fact, little to no evidence that toddlers or children eating small amounts of processed meats will get cancer. The WCRF report showed only that adults who eat large amounts of processed meats every week are slightly more likely to get bowel cancer than those adults who only eat small amounts.”

New data from Southampton University published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism indicate that infants weaned on healthy homemade foods grow up leaner than those fed on commercial baby products1.This adds to an increasing body of evidence that there is no substitute for using fresh, nutritious foods to guarantee a healthy start in life. Current guidance on how to feed toddlers is built upon this evidence. However, we do need to consider the barriers to following this advice and acknowledge that not everyone follows the ideal of healthy home cooked foods. Information should be available to help parents using convenience foods as part of their child’s diet to make the best choices.

The Issues

Guidance

While there are clear national nutrition guidelines available on feeding infants under the age of one year and school-age children, there are currently no consistent nutrition guidelines for children between one and three years. Most information available to parents on toddler nutrition is often vague and lacks clear practical advice such as exactly which foods, how much of them and how often they should be eaten.

Knowledge and understanding

Toddlers need nutritious food for rapid growth and development in the pre-school years but a recent survey highlighted parents are confused, simply do not understand their child’s unique nutritional needs and want more information on how to feed their toddlers: The I&TF survey2 showed that 95% of parents said they were following the government guidance to feed their toddler like the rest of the family – but for 44% of mums that means using pre-prepared adult convenience foods which may contain too much salt, sugar and fat for the under threes.

Terminology

There needs to be greater clarification of terms, such as ‘home cooked’ or ‘family foods’ as very often ‘home cooked’ or ‘family foods’ are assembled from prepared ingredients or are based on adult ready meals. This fact was supported in the findings of the I&TF survey which reported that: · Only 35% claim to cook most meals for their toddler from scratch, with fresh ingredients especially for their toddler. 30% of under 3s are mostly offered a meal cooked with pre-prepared ingredients (e.g. ready-made pasta sauce or stock cube, Oxo) · 19% are mostly offered takeaways or adult convenience foods / ready meals both of which often contain high levels of salt, fat and sugar.

Conclusion

There is a great need for more practical information on healthy eating for the parents of toddlers – to provide them with clear interpretations of the guidance and to equip them with the knowledge that will allow them to make the best food choices for the health of their children – whether the food is home cooked or pre-prepared. The Infant & Toddler Forum are committed to the delivery of this information. They have launched ‘Little People’s Plates’ to translate the evidence based, practical information on toddler nutrition produced for healthcare professionals into an accessible and intelligible form for parents. All information is available at www.littlepeoplesplates.co.uk

1. Siân M Robinson, Lynne D Marriott, Sarah R Crozier, Nick C Harvey, Catharine R Gale, Hazel M Inskip, Janis Baird, Catherine M Law Keith M Godfrey, Cyrus Cooper, Southampton Women’s Survey Study Group. Variations in infant feeding practice are associated with body composition in childhood: a prospective cohort study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009 May.

2. Infant & Toddler Forum poll of 1,000 mothers with children aged between nine months and three years.

Food and nutrition for the under threes highlights results of a survey of what parents are feeding their toddlers. It reveals a heavy reliance on convenience foods and takeaways which can often be inappropriately high in salt, fat and sugar, but low in some key nutrients. Nevertheless many parents still feel that they are providing a healthy diet for their child. With increasing levels of obesity and its associated health problems, it is more important than ever that parents have a clear understanding of what constitutes a healthy diet for their young children. This can be a challenge, especially because much nutritional information on food labels can be confusing. The recently published Which? Cereals Report-Going Against the Grain confirms this problem, pointing out that despite making health claims many cereals are still very high in sugar. In addition, it questions the use of cartoon characters to advertise cereals which are high in sugar and salt. It is preferable to add fruit rather than sugar to cereal, to give it some sweetness for toddlers.

More support and information are needed to help parents choose foods that are nutritious for their children. Parents also need help to understand food labels so that they can easily identify `hidden` salt, sugar or fats.

A diet with excessive amounts of salt, saturated fat and sugar can increase the risk of obesity and of developing high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes in later life. We also know that overweight and obesity start in the preschool years and obese children are more likely to become obese adults.

The Infant & Toddler Forum believe that clear nutritional guidance for parents and carers of all children should be a key public health strategy to ensure children are able to meet their full potential to grow into healthy adults. To help parents and carers make informed food choices, the Forum are committed to providing reliable, practical information on how to make the right food choices using either home-cooked or pre-prepared food.

A national strategy is needed to improve the monitoring of child growth, because excessive weight gain in early life is an indicator of the risk of obesity in later life, specialists urged today at the launch of a new educational initiative on charting child growth and development.

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Responding to the challenge to halt rising obesity levels and related illness amongst adults and increasingly young people, the Infant & Toddler Forum is focusing its 2008 programme, ‘Early Nutrition for Later Health’, on the long term benefits of establishing good nutritional habits in early childhood.

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The importance of monitoring the growth of young children has never been more acute. The prevalence of childhood obesity and the government‟s commitment to halt its rising levels by 2010 has thrust health and childcare professions into the frontline of the battle to halt this epidemic. Equally, it is important to identify the early signs of poor nutrition and inadequate growth.

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