Toddler Nutrition & Navigating the 'Toddler Food Shifts'
Around the 12-month mark, many parents notice a sudden shift: growth naturally slows down, appetite fluctuates wildly, and independence takes centre stage. This is a crucial developmental window where food refusal, strong preferences, and "toddler battles" often begin. We help you navigate these normal—but often stressful—milestones with practical, evidence-based strategies.
We support families through common toddler challenges, including:
The "Toddler Strike" & Selective Eating: Understanding the difference between typical developmental picky eating and patterns that need extra support, ensuring your toddler gets what they need without the dinner table battles.
Nutritional Gaps & Deficiencies: Optimising intake for common nutrients of concern in the toddler years, including iron, zinc, and calcium, particularly for plant-based or highly selective eaters.
Managing Milk Intake: Helping toddlers transition from relying on bottles or large amounts of milk to embracing a variety of solid family foods.
Establishing Routines & Boundaries: Setting up predictable, positive mealtime schedules and environments that encourage toddlers to come to the table ready to explore.
Texture Progression: Supporting toddlers who are hesitant with mixed textures, chewy foods, or whole family meals, helping them progress safely at their own comfort level.
Clinical Nutrition Support for Paediatric Conditions
Growth and development are a primary focus during childhood, but certain medical and clinical conditions can make meeting those nutritional needs a challenge. We provide tailored medical nutrition therapy to support your child's health, manage symptoms, and optimize growth.
We routinely provide expert nutritional management for:
Faltering Growth & Weight Concerns: Supportive, weight-neutral strategies to optimize growth velocity and nutrient intake without pressure tactics.
Gastrointestinal Issues: Practical dietary management for chronic constipation, reflux, coeliac disease, and irritable bowel symptoms.
Food Allergies & Intolerances: Guidance on navigating complex elimination diets, ensuring nutritional adequacy, and safely expanding your child's diet (including RPAH elimination diet support and IgE-mediated allergy management).
Neurodivergent Nutrition Support: Specialised care addressing unique sensory food profiles, medication side effects impacting appetite, and selective eating patterns including Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).
Nutritional Deficiencies: Targeted strategies to address common macro and micronutrient gaps, such as iron deficiency anaemia, while keeping food enjoyable.
Our Approach
We focus on preserving your toddler’s innate autonomy while equipping you with the tools to structure mealtimes peacefully, ensuring your toddler stays connected to their body's natural cues.
Need help navigating your toddler’s feeding & nutrition?
Appointments with our Dietitian Lisa Watson can be made for both face-to-face consultations in Newcastle, or via teleheath (video call).
