The ITF’s toddler food tracker, Tot It Up, has found that children who were at home while their nurseries were closed tended to eat bananas, apples, grapes and berries as snacks. Dough-based items, including scones, bagels and buns, were not served as much as a snack.

There was also good news at breakfast time with a third (33 per cent) of young children starting their day with wheat biscuits, such as Weetabix. Sugar or chocolate coated cereal was only being served six per cent of the time.

Other findings include:

• Bread slices and bread rolls were the most served lunch item, served 12 per cent of the time.

• Pizza was one of the most popular meals served for either lunch or dinner but 55 per cent of the time it was given in bigger portion sizes than recommended.

• A fifth (20 per cent) of meals served at dinner were spaghetti Bolognese, making it the most popular meal

• Shepherd’s pie was close second, making up 18 per cent of dinners served.

Unfortunately, data collected from more than 256 Tot It Up users revealed that some foods are more likely to be served in the incorrect portion size than others. Almost half (48 per cent) of meals or snacks served to toddlers are either too large or too small. Crisps, for example, were served in too large a portion 75 per cent of the time.

Lucy Upton, ITF specialist paediatric dietician and nutritionist, said that the Tot It Up tracker can help to support parents with practical information on children’s food.

‘It’s great to see an increase in the popularity of fruit as a snack option for toddlers as it can be easy to fall into a pattern of opting for convenient packet snacks, many of which are often higher in fat and sugar,’ she said.

‘From looking at the data however, it’s clear we need to shed more light on toddlers’ nutritional requirements and further guidance is needed on appropriate portion sizes to support the growth, development and nutritional needs of toddlers.’

Parents can keep track of their child's nutritional intake by using the Tot It Up meal planner (pictured below) to log what they eat at mealtimes. The free resource also gives guidance on what to serve one-to four-year-olds to meet their nutritional needs.

This article was first published on Nursery World, see the original here: https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/fruit-is-toddlers-snack-of-choice-in-lockdown