Meal times can be tricky if you have a fussy toddler and are a busy mum.  Nutrition is linked not to just good health but behaviour and concentration as well.

  So getting a small child's nutrition badly wrong can cause problems on many fronts.  Added to that the time pressures many mums are faced with, it is no wonder that small children's eating habits are just one more thing to stress about.

So when I was contacted recently to mention the Ten Steps for Healthy Toddlers programme I thought it would definitely be worth a mention.  So take a read of the article below - hope it helps.

In a typical week, almost 30% of toddler’s meals and snacks and aren’t prepared by parents. If you’re a busy mum, that figure,  probably isn’t so surprising. Nurseries, families and other carers are essential when you’re bringing up a child, especially if you’re working.

But what’s more revealing is that, when they aren’t preparing it themselves, a third of parents worry that their child isn’t getting a balanced meal. How can you be sure that you, and your child’s carers, are all offering your toddler a good range of foods?

Helping parents and carers at Meal times

As a result a new initiative has been launched called Ten Steps for Healthy Toddlers. The Ten Steps are an easy-to-use guide on what food to offer toddlers and how best to manage mealtimes. 

The Ten Steps can be given out to childminders, nursery staff or grandparents, so that everyone is offering your toddler the same care.

Judy More, a leading paediatric dietitian in the UK, and a key author of the Ten Steps says. “They’re designed to be used or disseminated within playgroups and within the home, so that everybody is singing from the same song sheet,”

 “Toddlers do need a varied and balanced diet for their growth and their development but they also need time to learn to like the food that parents and carers offer them,”

Despite its importance, toddler nutrition is a subject that is often overlooked. Advice on what to feed toddlers can seem inconsistent or confusing,.

To read all of the Ten Steps for Healthy Toddlers along with other information and handy tools on feeding toddlers, visit www.littlepeoplesplates.co.uk/ten-steps.html. The Steps are also available to order or as a download.