How Much Should My Child Be Eating?

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How much should my child be eating? Many times we think kids aren’t eating “anything” when they are eating the appropriate portion sizes for their age. Feeding picky toddlers and kids can be a challenge, but when your expectations are in the right place, it helps.

Find out what appropriate portion sizes for young kids really are. It’s so hard to know what is enough and we worry our kids are not getting the nourishment they need. Children’s stomachs are not as big as an adult. A muffin tin cup is enough fruit or vegetable for a child’s portion sizes, and protein and grain are even less.

Portion sizes for kids

Kids go through phases where they grow in spurts and are very hungry and sleep a lot. Then they have times when they are not growing fast and are just not hungry. Remember what appropriate portions sizes are for them and you will be much less likely to worry about it. I promise you, they will eat when they are hungry.

Serving sizes for toddlers

1. Milk is food. If kids are drinking a ton of milk or juice, they aren’t going to be hungry because they are getting the nutrients from their drinks and their stomachs are full.
2. Don’t make a big deal out of eating. They are less likely to want to eat if it is making you emotional. Just offer them food and don’t worry if they don’t eat. They will eat when they need to. And remember if they are picky eaters, there are a lot of reasons for that, so don’t stress, you’ll figure it out.
3. Don’t feed them a lot of snacks. Giving kids a few crackers or cookies may fill them up and make them avoid more nutritious foods at mealtime. Fresh fruits and vegetables are great snacks that aren’t too filling.

Toddler Portion Sizes

These guidelines will help you understand what are reasonable portion sizes. For most kids, these meals are more than they want to eat, but it gives you a guide of how much to cook to make available to them if you’re a childcare provider on a food program.

• Daycare Menus, Breakfast, Lunch, and Snack Ideas
• Lunch Ideas for Picky Eaters

Breakfast: (Select all three components for a reimbursable meal)

• Fluid Milk
• Ages 1-2               4 ounces              (1/2 cup)
• Ages 3-5               6 ounces              (3/4 cup)

(Think about most sippy cups. They hold about 12-16 ounces. Remember if you fill that with milk, you are giving young children 2-4 servings of milk for that one meal. That is all they need for an entire day! That will fill them up.)

Portion size chart

• Vegetables, fruits, or portions of both
• Ages 1-2               ¼ cup
• Ages 3-5               ½ cup

If you are unfamiliar with what these sizes look like, use a measuring cup to measure out portions for a while until you get the feel for what they look like. If you want to serve fruits and veggies for this meal, you can do half of the portion of one, such as 1/8 cup of one and 1/8 cup of the other.

Grains

• Bread
• Ages 1-2               ½ slice
• Ages 3-5               ½ slice
• Bread product
• Ages 1-2               ½ serving
• Ages 3-5               ½ serving
• Check the package for serving sizes.
• Cereal or grain
• Ages 1-2               ¼ cup
• Ages 3-5               ¼ cup
• Dry Cereal
• Ages 1-2               ½ cup
• Ages 3-5               ½ cup

Whole grain requirement tips

Serving sizes for children

Lunch and Supper (Select all five components for a reimbursable meal)

• Fluid Milk
• Ages 1-2               4 ounces              (1/2 cup)
• Ages 3-5               6 ounces              (3/4 cup)

Meat/meat alternates Lean meat, poultry, or fish

• Ages 1-2               1 ounce
• Ages 3-5               1 ½ ounce

Tofu, soy product, or alternate protein products

• Ages 1-2               1 ½ ounce
• Ages 3-5               2 ounces

Cheese

• Ages 1-2               1 ounce
• Ages 3-5               1 ½ ounce

Large egg

• Ages 1-2               ½
• Ages 3-5               ¾

Cooked dry beans or peas

• Ages 1-2               ¼ cup
• Ages 3-5               ⅜ cup

Peanut butter or soy nut butter or other nut or seed butters

• Ages 1-2               2 tbsp
• Ages 3-5               3 tbsp

This is a LOT of nut butter and it’s hard to serve kids this much. I like to add cheese on the side or other protein to supplement.

Vegetables

• Ages 1-2               ⅛ cup
• Ages 3-5               ¼ cup

Fruits

• Ages 1-2               ⅛ cup
• Ages 3-5               ¼ cup

Grains

• Bread
• Ages 1-2               ½ slice
• Ages 3-5               ½ slice
• Bread product
• Ages 1-2               ½ serving
• Ages 3-5               ½ serving
• Check the package for serving sizes.
• Cereal, grain or pasta
• Ages 1-2               ¼ cup
• Ages 3-5               ¼ cup

Snack (Select two of the five components for a reimbursable snack)

Fluid Milk

• Ages 1-2               4 fluid ounces
• Ages 3-5               4 fluid ounces

Meat/meat alternates Lean meat, poultry, fish, cheese

• Ages 1-2               ½ ounce
• Ages 3-5               ½ ounce

Tofu, soy product, or alternate protein products

• Ages 1-2               ½ ounce
• Ages 3-5               ½ ounce

Large egg

• Ages 1-2               ½
• Ages 3-5               ½

Cooked dry beans or peas

• Ages 1-2               ⅛ cup
• Ages 3-5               ⅛ cup

Peanut butter or soy nut butter or other nut or seed butters

• Ages 1-2               1 tbsp
• Ages 3-5               1 tbsp

Yogurt

• Ages 1-2               2 ounces or ¼ cup
• Ages 3-5               2 ounces or ¼ cup

Fruits or Vegetables

• Ages 1-2               ½ cup
• Ages 3-5               ½ cup

Bread

• Ages 1-2               ½ slice
• Ages 3-5               ½ slice
• Bread Product
• Ages 1-2               ½ serving
• Ages 3-5               ½ serving
• Cereal or grain
• Ages 1-2               ¼ cup
• Ages 3-5               ¼ cup
• Dry Cereal
• Ages 1-2               ½ cup
• Ages 3-5               ½ cup
• Granola
• Ages 1-2               ⅛ cup
• Ages 3-5               ⅛ cup

You can see this is not a lot of food compared to what we think of as a portion. Serving sizes for all of us keep getting bigger and bigger and so do we. It’s much easier to get the variety you need for your diet if you break down the portion sizes like this.

If you are worried about what your family is eating, click here to see simple ways you can make changes for a better and more healthy future.

Printable CACFP Portion Sizes for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Printable portion sizes for toddlers and preschoolers cacfp

Don’t stress if it seems like your child is not eating enough. Kids will eat when they are hungry. Hang in there and relax so mealtime can be laid back for your child and you. And there are a few tips that can help you get your child to eat healthier, check them out here. Portion sizes are a guideline and kids won’t eat all of these things at once sometimes. These can just help give you a general idea of what’s appropriate for the average child.

For more help feeding kids, check out this picky eater food list.