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A new study conducted by the Infant and Toddler Forum revealed shocking statistics about how much food parents feed their young children.
A shocking one in ten parents feeds their preschool children adult-sized portions, and 80% of children between ages one and four are given more food than they actually need.
The Infant and Toddler Forum (ITF) uses the results of their 1,000-parent survey to warn parents against this tendency, saying that overfeeding children can significantly increase the chances of these children later becoming obese.
These parents aren’t, however, just offering their children more food than necessary. The ITF study also suggested that parents are more likely to offer their children larger meals of unhealthy foods chicken nuggets, chips, or other popular meal items.
And yet, 73% of parents are still concerned that their child isn’t getting enough food.
Gill Harris, a psychologist at the ITF, encourages parents to rethink their children’s food choices. “It’s never too early to start promoting healthy eating habits,” he says, “Most toddlers are naturally better than older children and adults at regulating their food intake. …how much [a parent] offer[s] often determines how much your child will eat and habits learned in early life generally tend to persist.”
A pediatric dietitian of the ITF, Judy More, encourages parents to visit their website to properly educate themselves on proper toddler portion sizes, “With new evidence linking larger portion sizes to excess weight gain, it’s clear parents need practical advice now.”
