Ten+Steps+for+Healthy+Toddlers

With many parents in full- or part-time employment, the responsibility for what their toddler eats does not rest with just one person. Childminders, playgroup, pre-school and nursery staff alongside grandparents and other family members, all play an important role in providing meals and snacks for toddlers.

This complex support network of carers may be typical of today’s modern lifestyle, but it may also have an impact on the wellbeing of toddlers if the quality and quantity of meals provided are inconsistent and unbalanced and if positive attitudes to food and exercise are not systematically encouraged.

To approach feeding toddlers with confidence, healthcare professionals, carers and parents need consistent, simple and sound advice that can be applied everywhere toddlers are fed. The Infant & Toddler Forum have developed exactly this in the form of the Ten Steps for Healthy Toddlers, this easy-to-use guide for parents and carers provides direction on what food to offer toddlers, what behaviour to encourage and how best to manage mealtimes.

In developing the Ten Steps, the Infant & Toddler Forum has worked in collaboration with healthcare professional bodies and stakeholders and is continuing to work with partners to ensure the widest dissemination to parents, carers and healthcare professionals.

If you are a healthcare professional or involved in early years care, the Ten Steps provide a useful guide for you to follow and a practical tool for parents to use at home. This resource is available in an A3 poster, an A4 flyer, as well as the ‘Introducing the Ten Steps for Healthy Toddlers’ document which provides supporting rationale on this initiative.

You can download free copies of these resources by clicking on the links below.

Ten Steps for Healthy Toddlers A4 flyerTen Steps for Healthy Toddlers A3 PosterIntroducing Ten Steps for Healthy Toddlers