Blimey, I think I overfeed my children. Anybody else constantly telling their kids to ‘finish that food’ or ‘will you just eat it all’? Seems perhaps there is a reason they never want to finish that giant bowl of pasta or only want a few mouthfuls of their casserole. Yep, kids need a lot less food than you think.

I guess it’s only right given how small their tummies are but the whole team seem to be guilty of giving their kids rather large portions. Leo recently demolished a whole burrito, three year old Lyra regularly tucks in to the same size plates as her mum and Molly can demolish a man sized bowl of pasta in minutes.

Obviously if your kids want to eat that amount of food that is absolutely fine but if they don’t then do not worry. I have spent far too long waiting for the girls to painfully finish their food but actually they probably didn’t need it at all. I’ve battled with them and torn my hair out wondering why they won’t eat their food. I’ve fretted that they must be hungry and tried to feed them all manner of things to get them to eat a more. I’m guessing a lot of you will be in the same boat as making sure our children are nourished is such an important thing.

However, the team are now all realising perhaps we got it a bit wrong. It seems that small portions are the way forward and apologies if team RMF are a bit late to the party on this one.

We’ve put together a handy pin to show you exactly how much your little one’s need to eat. I’ve said need as if they do want to eat more then that is fine. Obviously you don’t want them to overeat but I do think it is all relative to how much they are doing. I’ve noticed Alice is much hungrier on her pre-school days and if they have been tearing round the park or off at swimming they come back ravenous.

If you are worried about how much, or how little, your toddler is eating then below are some simple recommendations on portion sizes. Each food group is different so there is no hard and fast rule to how much you should be serving but this should serve as a bit of a guide to help you judge if they have, in fact, had enough to eat. We’ve included ranges rather than exact amounts as each child is different.

Who knew five pieces of pasta was enough or a quarter of a bagel? And one broccoli floret is the way forward so I now feel a bit guilty for piling their plate full of greens that they refuse to eat.

Hope this gives you a bit of reassurance.

{Pin The Guide}

Toddler Food Portion Sizes

Information taken from Infant & Toddler Forum.