What is a portion?
A portion is the amount of food that your child actually eats. Your child may eat only half of what you served or may ask for more than what you served.
Why worry about portion size?
Portions can be bigger or smaller than the serving size, which is the recommended amount of food to be served. If your child eats small portions, he/she may get undernourished. On the other hand, large portions can put your child at risk of overweight.
Give small amount of food to your child at a meal . If the child is hungry, he or she will ask for more. Let your child decide how much food is enough for him or her.
How can you control portion size?
Portion size should be age appropriate. As a parent, you may overestimate the amount of food children need, and feel that your child is eating less.
Child-sized portions will encourage your child to accept new foods.
- Offer one-fourth to one-third of the adult portion size.
- Alternatively, use this interesting formula: 1 tablespoon of each food for each year of your kid’s age.
- Provide with small portions of variety of foods like vegetables, chicken or pulse and rice at a meal.
- Offer less than you think your child will eat. Let your child demand for more. As a mother you may find hard practicing this. But try it!
Keeping portions under control will help you to provide your child with a healthy balanced diet.
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