Children's Nutrition and Eating Habits

🍚The basics of balanced eating

After the first birthday, family meals are the center of a child's nutrition. Spread grains; meat, fish, eggs and beans; vegetables; fruit; and milk and dairy across the day's meals and snacks. As Korea's "food balance wheel" from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korean Nutrition Society shows, the basic picture is eating a variety of food groups, drinking enough water and staying active.

Young children have small stomachs and cannot eat much at once. Serving at set times — three meals and one or two snacks — helps them notice hunger and fullness. Treat snacks as part of the diet and choose nourishing ones such as fruit, dairy, sweet potato or a boiled egg. Intake can swing from day to day but often balances out over a week. Following their growth curve is the best sign that a child is doing well.

🩸Iron, calcium and vitamin D

• Iron: especially important after six months. Offer red meat, egg yolk, fish, beans and tofu, and iron-fortified cereals often. Eating them with vitamin C from fruit and vegetables helps absorption.
• Drinking too much milk can crowd out food and hinder iron absorption, leading to iron deficiency. For ages one to two, about 2 cups (roughly 400–500 mL) a day is plenty.
• Calcium: found in milk, yogurt and cheese, small fish eaten with the bones, tofu and leafy greens. If your child cannot have milk, include other calcium foods and talk to a doctor.
• Vitamin D: comes from sunlight and some foods (oily fish, egg yolk, fortified foods). Breastfed babies are prone to low vitamin D, so the AAP and others recommend supplementing from early infancy. Ask your pediatrician whether and how much.
• Salt: a diet heavy in soups, stews and kimchi is especially salty for children. Set aside your child's portion before seasoning, and serve the solids rather than the broth.

🥕Handling picky eating

Refusing new foods is a very common developmental phase from toddlerhood through the preschool years. Children often need to meet a new food many times (sometimes more than 10) before accepting it. Forcing food, or rewards like dessert for a clean plate, can make children dislike that food even more.

• Put one food your child likes on the plate alongside a small amount of something new.
• One or two bites is enough. If it is not eaten, do not scold — just offer it again another day.
• Involving children in shopping, washing and plating raises interest in unfamiliar foods.
• Let your child see the whole family enjoying the same food.
• End meals after about 20–30 minutes, and do not hand out milk or snacks all day between meals.
• Turn off screens at meals and talk instead.

🥛Drinks and sugar

• The basic drinks are water and plain milk. Offer water for thirst.
• Do not give fruit juice before the first birthday, and whole fruit is better afterward too. The AAP recommends only small amounts by age, such as no more than about 120 mL a day at ages 1 to 3.
• Soda, fruit-flavored drinks, flavored milk and sports drinks are not needed. Water is enough unless there is long, sweaty exercise.
• Do not give children energy drinks or caffeinated drinks such as coffee.
• The WHO recommends keeping free sugars below 10% of daily energy, and ideally below 5%. Some guidance advises no added sugar before age 2.
• Frequent sweet drinks and snacks raise the risk of both cavities and obesity. Get in the habit of checking sugars on nutrition labels.

💊Supplements only when needed

Most children who eat a variety of foods and grow well do not need a multivitamin. Supplements may be needed for vitamin D in breastfed babies, premature babies, mostly plant-based diets, very picky eating, iron deficiency or certain conditions. In those cases, confirm the need (for example with a blood test) and decide the type and amount with a pediatrician or pharmacist.

More is not better. Iron pills and vitamins can look like candy and can cause dangerous poisoning if a child swallows many, so always keep them out of reach. Look carefully at the evidence behind products advertised for height, immunity or brain power.

🎒Eating habits in school-age children

In elementary school, breakfast, school lunch and after-school snacks make up a big part of the day's nutrition. Prepare even a simple breakfast so it is not skipped, and agree together on alternatives so snacks between after-school classes do not settle into sweet drinks and chips. If weight is a concern, changing the whole family's eating and activity habits is recommended over putting a child on a diet. Do not tease or compare children about their body or weight. Use the Korean children's growth charts with a doctor to see where height and body mass index fall among peers.

💬FAQ