Diet gun

Recommendations for children’s nutrition are not like those for adults with specific, precise amounts of grams, they are mainly educational and research in nature because, like adults, babies do not all have the same body size, the same needs, the same metabolism.

There is no clear scientific documentation on the exact amount of protein or meat that a child should consume by age.

The amount of food that a young child should consume should be based on the principles of responsive feeding. This means that the parent should read the child’s hunger and satiety signals and respond to them as best they can, but they should ensure that the energy density and frequency of the child’s meals are sufficient to meet their needs.

Parents decide the “where”, “what” and “when”.

The child decides the “how much”.

The amount of food that a child consumes at any given time is their own business and depends on how they feel at the specific moment, whether they are sleepy, whether they have been breastfed, whether they are teething which may be bothering them, whether they have a cold, whether there are disturbances in the family, whether they are under pressure to eat, whether a toy is distracting them, etc.

If we force the child to eat, it can change their self-regulation for the worse, resulting in overeating in a docile or gluttonous child, increasing the risk of chronic obesity, or in an independent and/or reactive child, ending up malnourished, resulting in them becoming underweight or developing permanent eating difficulties.

The correct tactic for parents is to put small portions of food on the child’s plate initially, and to give the young child the opportunity by asking if he wants to add more. This avoids visual satiety in the child.

Protein is not only found in meat. Eggs, yogurt, cheese, fish also have very good quality protein for a young child, while there is also enough in legumes, ground nuts.

For a young child who is still breastfeeding, we should not emphasize protein foods in the diet because there are enough proteins in breast milk. If the child is healthy and does not have an iron deficiency, he does not have such a great need for protein foods.

A young child who is not breastfed has greater needs for food, calories and proteins because he may have reduced intestinal absorption and a higher metabolism.

For a child over one year old, there is no need to add formula, as long as he continues to breastfeed at least 3 times a day and receives a diet that includes cheese and yogurt.

A child who frequently eats cheese and yogurt does not need more than 200ml to a maximum of 500ml of fresh whole milk, depending on the amount of dairy products he consumes.

The general rule for the age of 6 months to 2 years is to give something from the following protein every day: red meat, white meat, fish or eggs, and of course not all or many of them in a single day.

The nutrition from 6 months to 2 years with 2 times a week red meat, 1 time a week white meat, 2 times a week fish, 3 times a week eggs, 1 time a week legumes, often during the week cheese and yogurt, combined with breastfeeding if requested, is ideal for most children of this age.

The nutritional recommendations for children over 1 year old do not differ significantly from the general recommendations that apply to older children and adults.

Our criterion should not be what proteins the child eats at each meal or during the day, but what he eats during the week and the month. As long as the child seems healthy and lively, then grows well physically and mentally.

If the child does not eat well for several weeks, we encourage more frequent feeding and provide foods with greater energy density.


Nutrition education, the introduction to the family table in the pleasant social process of meals, not forced counting in bites, not trickery, not pressure, not violence will help parents to be effective because they will also function as role models.