Your child may not get all the nutrients he/she needs when they eat their dinner. However, healthy snacks can give them those nutrients to ensure they grow up fit and strong.
In mere minutes, your toddler can have a well-prepared healthy snack, loaded with the vitamins and minerals they need, that they are going to love. Children under two years of age should be given full-fat dairy unless your child’s pediatrician tells you otherwise. They should also eat whole grain cereals and bread.
Parents today often hear their mothers say that snacks would ruin your appetite. However, that’s not true. Toddlers need snacks in their diet. Toddlers have small stomachs and don’t eat near as much as dinner as people would think they would. Plus, toddlers who do eat more tend not to want to sit down for a long period of time. After all, toddlers want to play, not eat.
This is why it’s important to give your toddler a nutritious snack to close the nutritional gap and keep them full. And, if you need another reason to feed them healthy snacks, here’s another “food for thought”: fewer meltdowns due to their hunger.
How Often Should Your Toddler Eat A Snack?
You may be wondering what meal plan is best for your toddler. After all, what you come up with helps your child learn when he/she is hungry and not hungry, giving them the groundwork to stay a healthy weight all their life.
In the past, people were told to eat three meals a day with no snacks in-between. However, it’s better to think along the lines of six mini-meals – foods every to two or three hours so their energy and blood sugar levels are well-maintained, and their stomachs are content.
Have a schedule for their meals – breakfast, mid-morning healthy snack, lunch, afternoon healthy snack, dinner and one more healthy snack before bed. It’s important your child doesn’t graze on food throughout the day since this can lead to weight gain.
