“How do I know if my child is eating enough? It seems like he’s barely eating anything and it’s making me nervous!”
Feeding our children can be a feat for the best of us! Little kids, toddlers especially, are known for their picky eating; mind-changing around what they want to eat in the moment; changing preferences for what they want to eat in general; refusal to eat; distractibility from eating; and their rapidly changing pleas from “I’m staaaaaarving” to “can I be done now??” after just a bite or two. Parents go through the ringer trying to keep their cool and make sure their child has a sufficiently balanced diet despite all these ongoing obstacles.
It’s little wonder that a common question parents of young children often ask is “how do I know if my child is getting enough food?” Let’s dive into that and give you some direction and hopefully some peace of mind.
Disclaimer: This information is generic and for your guidance only. Always make sure you’re discussing your individual child’s health and diet with your health care provider. They can help ensure that your child is gaining weight appropriately for their age and genetic make-up and is getting the required nutrients for all their unique needs.
Questions to ask yourself when pondering your toddler’s food consumption
- Does my child have sufficient energy to play throughout the day?
- If your toddler has enough energy to play vigorously all day long with a typical meal pattern of wake, meal, snack, meal, nap, snack, meal, snack, bed then you’re in a good place
- Is my child waking up ravenous in the middle of the night?
- Your child might be waking up for innumerable other reasons in the middle of the night, but being hungry shouldn’t be one of them unless they’re having a growth spurt or exerted an unusually high amount of energy that day
- Make sure their last snack of the day is full of healthy fats paired with some carbs to help tide them over to the morning (think peanut butter toast, avocado slice and crackers, whole fat yogurt and fruit, oatmeal with whole milk)
- Is my child having regular bowel movements?
- A healthy number of bowel movements for a toddler can range from 1 per day to 1 every several days. However, the exact number of bowel movements is less important than their consistency. Bowel movements should be soft and easily passed with little sign of straining or constipation
- Do I have a good meal routine?
- Children (and adults) eat more when there are consistent meal and snack times than when grazing little bits of food all day long. It seems counter-intuitive but it’s true. Since you’re concerned about their lower consumption, you might be inclined to encourage them to eat whenever they request food. Resist. They’ll have more of an appetite when given food at set meal or snack times. (For a toddler, those meals/snacks should be 2-2.5 hours apart)
- Sitting together at the table for a meal without media distractions, even if it’s just you and your child, encourages more eating
Now, about those toddler portion sizes
After asking yourself those questions, some of you might find there’s some work to be done or a visit to your doctor is in order. However, for most of you, I think you’ll find some peace from knowing that your child is doing decent in those four areas. (Decent, not perfect. We don’t need perfection, just make sure you’re generally hitting those targets).
That leaves us with the lingering question of “but it still seems like she’s barely eating anything! You’re sure this is ok?”
As mentioned in the disclaimer, always run questions like that by your health care provider to ensure that all is well but let’s also look at toddler portion sizes to further put your mind at ease.
How much is a healthy toddler supposed to eat?
A quick and easy rule of thumb: a toddler serving size is one tablespoon per year of age.
This looks like, one serving for a one-year-old is one tablespoon. One serving for a two-year-old is two tablespoons. And one serving for a three-year-old is three tablespoons. (This general rule doesn’t continue on into preschool years and beyond).
| Age in Years | Tablespoon/Serving |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
That’s what a serving size looks like. Not much, huh? However, a meal isn’t made of just one serving. If you think back to the food pyramid and other similar guides, you need multiple servings of each food group throughout the day.
According to Healthy Children, your toddler needs 6 servings of grains; 2-3 servings of vegetables; 2-3 servings of fruit; 2-3 servings of dairy; 2 servings of protein; and 2 servings of legumes. In our tablespoons guide, that would mean that in a typical day a two-year-old should eat 12 tablespoons of grains; 4-6 tablespoons of vegetables, fruit, and dairy; and 4 tablespoons of protein and legumes.
| Food Group | Suggested Servings per Day | Tablespoons for 1-year-old | Tablespoons for 2-year-old | Tablespoons for 3-year-old |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grain | 6 | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| Vegetables | 2-3 | 2-3 | 4-6 | 6-9 |
| Fruit | 2-3 | 2-3 | 4-6 | 6-9 |
| Dairy | 2-3 | 2-3 | 4-6 | 6-9 |
| Protein | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Legumes | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Daily Total | 16-19 | 16-19 | 32-38 | 48-57 |
A sample meal for a two-year-old might include 4 tablespoons grains (2 servings), 2 tablespoons vegetables (1 serving), 4 tablespoons fruit (2 servings), 1 tablespoon dairy (1/2 serving) for a total of 11 tablespoons. That’s just over half a cup of food! Again, not much!
Keep in mind that these are guidelines. Some meals your child will eat more. Some meals less. Some whole days might be more or less. You should be seeing an average across a week that equals out to these amounts.
I’m a Visual Learner. You lost me.
I might have lost some of you with all those numbers. (I almost lost myself!) And you might be saying “but some foods are hard to measure or visualize in tablespoons!” This is true. Some things are just better visualized than written out. So, here are a few other resources for you.
I referenced Healthy Children above. Check out their page. They have a table that gives other ways of thinking about portion sizes such as in cups or ounces or comparisons to familiar objects. Check them out!
If you’re truly a visual learner, you absolutely must check out Portion Sizes for Toddlers from the Infant and Toddler Forum. They have delightful photos of actual toddler serving sizes in a variety of different foods for each food group. They also have notes to remind you how many times you should be serving these foods to your children. As a note, they have this as a reference for 1-4-year-olds. So, if your child is younger, lean towards the lower end of the range they provide. Also, my American readers might not be familiar with all the foods listed or terminology used in this reference since it’s based out of London, England. However, I think you’ll get the gist of the idea and still come away enlightened.
Hopefully you’re feeling better about how much your little bird, I mean your toddler, is (or isn’t!) eating. Their portion sizes are often much smaller than we realize! (And they throw us off by eating twice as much one sitting and half as much another!) And, as always, if you’re truly concerned, please discuss your child’s meal habits with your health care provider.
Happy Parenting! xoxox, Briana
Looking for some help with toddler and preschooler dishes? These are ones that we’ve enjoyed in my home!
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