Pre-school children

From around age 2 children should gradually move to eating the same foods as others in the proportions shown in the Eatwell Guide, unless advised otherwise by a parent/carer or health professional. For advice on children under the age of 2 years, visit Parent Club.

Offering different foods at each meal and snack time can help your child get a range of nutrients while getting them used to a variety of flavours and textures.

Eating and enjoying food together with the family can help encourage your little one to try new flavours and textures. Young children’s appetite can change day to day, but eating with them as often as you can will make it much easier for them to develop good eating habits.

•  Aim to provide at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day – tinned, frozen, dried and fresh all count- as a rough guide, one portion of fruit and vegetables is the amount they can fit into the palm of their hand.
• Just like adults, children should aim to eat oily fish like salmon, trout and mackerel at least once each week. However, it is important that girls eat no more than 2 portions and boys no more than 4 in one week because some oily fish contain low levels of pollutants that can build up in the body over time.
• Starchy foods like bread, rice, pasta, cereals, and potatoes are important and should make up around one third of your child’s plate.
• Start to include wholegrain foods for children over 2 years of age.
• Breast milk, pasteurised whole or semi-skimmed cow’s, goat’s or sheep milk, along with water, should be the main drinks for children aged 1 up to 5 years.
• If your child does not drink pasteurised cow’s, goat’s or sheep milk, then unsweetened (without sugar or sweeteners), fortified soya drinks, can be given. These should ideally be fortified with calcium, iodine, vitamin B12, riboflavin and vitamin D. Some products may also contain added vitamin A, although this is less common.
• Pasteurised skimmed and 1% milk aren't suitable as a main drink for children under the age of 5 years, but you can use them in cooking from age 1.
• Rice drinks should not be given to children up to 5 years of age due to concerns about the levels of arsenic in the milk.
• Any yoghurts and fromage frais given to children aged 1 up to 5 years should be plain and unsweetened.
• Limit intake of foods high in fat, sugar and salt.

If you have a child under 3, you may be entitled to get help to buy healthy food and milk through Best Start Foods. This is a prepaid card that you can use in supermarkets and online, to buy items like milk, fruit, vegetables, and infant formula.

When preparing meals for the family, salt should not be added to foods given to children. On average, children aged 1 to 3 years should aim to have no more than 2g of salt per day, and children aged 4-6 years no more than 3g of salt per day.

Ways to reduce salt intake in pre-school children

• Avoid adding salt when you're cooking or serving food, and try to limit foods that contain salt, like crisps and other snacks.
• Salt can be hidden in everyday products such as bread, pasta sauces and breakfast cereals.
• Checking the label can help when comparing similar products to find the options lower in salt.
• Some foods like cheese, stock cubes, processed snacks, processed meat and potato products can also be particularly high in salt, so try to limit the amount you give to your child.

In Scotland, the top contributors of sugar intake in children of this age group are breakfast cereals, fruit juice, and snacks, like biscuits and sweetened yogurts. Eating too much sugar increases the risk of future tooth decay.

• Avoid providing food or drinks sweetened with free sugars or sweeteners to young children under the age of 5 years.
• Free sugar' is any sugar added to a food or drink, or that is already in honey, syrup and fruit juice.
• Sweeteners are ingredients often used to replace sugar, so are commonly found in low-sugar or sugar-free products.
• It might not always be clear which products contain sugar or sweeteners, so it’s best to check the label.
• Choose plain and unsweetened products such as switching from flavoured to plain, unsweetened yogurt.

Sugary drinks, diet/no added sugar drinks, fizzy drinks and flavoured milk drinks are not suitable for young children. Swapping them for water, pasteurised whole or semi-skimmed cows', goats’ or sheep’s milk is best. You could also try adding your kids' favourite fruit to water to make their very own flavoured water.

If you do give your child fruit juice, try to limit this to mealtimes. They should be unsweetened, served in a small glass (150ml), or diluted with water (1 part juice to 1 part water is a good guide). This helps reduce the risk of tooth decay, but water and pasteurised whole or semi-skimmed milk remain the best choices.