Is Your Child’s Diet Affecting More Than Their Growth?
As a coach, nutrition is something I’ve spent a large part of my adult life thinking about.
As a dad, it has taken on a completely different meaning.
When we talk about nutrition as adults, the conversation tends to revolve around weight loss, muscle gain, calories, protein or performance.
With kids, I think we need to zoom out.
They’re building a body.
Their bones are growing.
Their brains are developing.
They’re learning, playing, recovering, sleeping and developing habits and preferences that could follow them for the rest of their lives.
That makes childhood nutrition incredibly important.
But there’s another reason I wanted to write this series.
I don't think every parent has been taught what good nutrition actually looks like.
Most of us are simply trying to get through breakfast, daycare or school drop-off, work, afternoon activities, dinner and bedtime.
Add a fussy eater into the equation and sometimes getting anything into them feels like a win.
So, this isn't about judging parents.
It's about understanding that what our children regularly eat can affect much more than how big or small they are.
And sometimes the things we're noticing in our kids; their energy, concentration, appetite, bowel habits or even aspects of their behaviour, are worth looking at through a nutritional lens as well.
A child can be growing and still have a poor-quality diet
This is probably one of the most important things for parents to understand.
We naturally look at our kids and think:
"They're growing. They look healthy. They're fine."
And hopefully they are.
But growth alone doesn't tell us everything about nutritional status.
The Royal Children's Hospital specifically warns that normal growth parameters do not exclude micronutrient deficiency.
A child can consume enough total energy to grow normally, and can even be overweight, while eating a diet restricted enough in variety to leave them deficient in important vitamins or minerals.
That doesn't mean we need to start worrying about every meal our children eat.
It means we should look at the pattern.
What does their diet look like over a week?
How much variety is there?
Where are their nutrients coming from?
Are they regularly eating protein-rich foods?
Are they eating fruit and vegetables?
Are they getting iron-rich foods?
Dairy or appropriate alternatives?
Wholegrain and other carbohydrate sources?
Or has their diet gradually narrowed to a handful of highly palatable foods that provide plenty of energy but relatively little nutritional variety?
That distinction matters.
Kids have a lot of growing to do
The Australian Dietary Guidelines make an important point: relative to their body weight, children have greater energy and nutrient requirements than adults.
Childhood isn't simply adulthood with smaller portions.
Their nutritional intake needs to support growth and development, and the Guidelines specifically recommend providing sufficient nutritious foods from across the five food groups.
That's one reason I don't particularly like applying adult diet culture to my children.
Kids generally don't need us teaching them about calories.
They don't need to hear us constantly talking about getting fat.
They don't need carbs unnecessarily removed because Mum or Dad happens to be following a low-carbohydrate diet.
They need enough energy and enough nutrients to grow.
The goal shouldn't be to create children who are scared of food.
It should be to create children who are well nourished and comfortable around it.
Could nutrition be affecting their behaviour or concentration?
This is where we have to be careful and zoom out.
A tired child doesn't automatically have a nutritional deficiency.
A child having a meltdown isn't necessarily reacting to something they ate.
A child struggling at school isn't necessarily deficient in iron.
Children are children.
Sleep, development, temperament, illness, environment, neurodevelopment, stress and plenty of other factors can affect behaviour and concentration.
Nutrition is one possible piece of a much bigger puzzle.
But it shouldn't be ignored either.
Iron deficiency is a good example.
The Royal Children's Hospital lists possible features of iron deficiency in children, including fatigue, irritability, behavioural disturbance, decreased memory and impaired learning and concentration.
That doesn't mean:
"My child can't concentrate, therefore they need iron."
It means:
"If my child is persistently tired, irritable or struggling to concentrate AND their diet contains very few iron-rich foods, perhaps that's worth discussing with our doctor."
That's a much more useful way to think about it.
Things I push parents to pay attention to
None of the following diagnoses a nutritional problem by themselves.
But if they're persistent, particularly alongside a very limited diet, they're worth noticing.
Persistent tiredness or low energy
Kids obviously get tired.
But ongoing fatigue, listlessness, weakness or reduced energy can occur with conditions such as anaemia and iron deficiency.
Look at the bigger picture.
Is your child sleeping adequately?
Eating enough overall?
Getting regular meals?
Eating foods containing iron?
Have they suddenly become less active than normal?
One symptom doesn't give you the answer, but patterns give you useful information to take to a health professional.
Irritability or difficulty concentrating
Again, there are dozens of possible explanations.
But nutrient deficiencies can sometimes contribute.
The Royal Children's Hospital lists irritability among possible features of deficiencies including iron, vitamin B1 and B12, while iron deficiency can also be associated with impaired learning and concentration.
The lesson isn't to start buying supplements.
It's to make nutrition part of the conversation rather than assuming food has nothing to do with how a growing brain and body function.
A diet that is becoming extremely restricted
Fussy eating is incredibly common in childhood.
There's an important difference, however, between:
"My kid doesn't like broccoli."
and:
"My kid now eats six foods."
The Royal Children's Hospital recommends considering micronutrient deficiency in children whose diets are highly restricted in variety and notes that deficiencies can occur despite adequate calorie intake and apparently acceptable growth.
That is something I'd want parents to know.
If your child's food selection keeps getting smaller, whole food groups are disappearing, textures are becoming impossible, or mealtimes are becoming a significant source of distress, getting professional help early makes sense.
Constipation and bowel changes
What goes in affects what comes out.
A child's diet that contains very little fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and other fibre-containing foods can make it harder to maintain healthy bowel habits.
Hydration matters too.
It's another reason I prefer thinking about nutrition in terms of dietary patterns rather than obsessing over one nutrient.
Unusual cravings or eating non-food items
Eating things that aren't food, known as pica, is something parents should take seriously.
Pica can be associated with iron deficiency and is specifically listed by the Royal Children's Hospital as a possible clinical feature.
That's something to discuss with a health professional rather than trying to diagnose or treat yourself.
Poor growth or changes in their normal growth pattern
Growth remains an important indicator of childhood health.
The Australian Dietary Guidelines emphasise providing sufficient energy and nutrients to support normal growth and development.
If you're concerned about your child's growth, appetite or food intake, that's a conversation for your GP, child health professional or paediatric dietitian.
But remember the opposite point too:
Growing normally doesn't automatically prove that the diet is nutritionally complete.
Both ideas can be true.
The bigger problem isn't one bad food
I see some parents can get unnecessarily frightened by individual foods.
Sugar.
Seed oils.
Food colouring.
Bread.
Breakfast cereal.
Chicken nuggets.
McDonald's.
Whatever food social media has decided we're scared of this month.
I'm much more interested in what the child's overall diet looks like.
An ice cream doesn't make a child unhealthy.
Neither does birthday cake.
A takeaway meal doesn't undo an otherwise nutritious week.
The issue is what happens when discretionary foods stop being part of the diet and begin displacing the foods children need.
Australian dietary evidence has previously shown just how significant this can become.
A peer-reviewed analysis of Australian Government survey data found that discretionary foods and drinks accounted for approximately 39% of total daily energy intake among Australian children and adolescents.
Think about what that potentially means.
Kids only have so much appetite.
If a large amount of that appetite is regularly being filled by foods high in energy but relatively poor in nutritional value, there are fewer opportunities left for:
fruit,
vegetables,
wholegrains,
meat, eggs, fish and other protein sources,
legumes,
milk, yoghurt and cheese,
and the vitamins and minerals those foods provide.
That's the problem I'd rather parents understand.
Not:
"Never give your child a biscuit."
But:
"Make sure the biscuit isn't replacing their diet."
Milk can be another surprising example
Milk is nutritious.
But more of something good isn't automatically better.
The Royal Children's Hospital identifies excessive cow's milk consumption as a risk factor for iron deficiency in infants and toddlers and recommends increasing iron-rich foods while reducing cow's milk intake when treating dietary iron deficiency.
This is a good example of why childhood nutrition needs a little more thought than simply categorising foods as "healthy" or "unhealthy".
A child filling themselves with milk all day might have less appetite available for iron-rich foods and other parts of a varied diet.
Context matters.
What about vegetarian and vegan children?
Children can absolutely eat different dietary patterns.
But removing entire categories of food means parents need to understand what nutrients those foods were providing and where they're now going to come from.
The Royal Children's Hospital identifies vegetarian and vegan dietary patterns among potential risk factors for deficiencies, including iron and vitamin B12, depending on what the child's diet actually contains.
That isn't an argument against raising a vegetarian child.
It's an argument against assuming that simply removing animal products automatically creates a nutritionally complete diet.
The more restrictive a child's diet becomes, whether that's because of family choices, allergies, sensory issues or the child's own food preferences, the more deliberate we need to become about what replaces those foods.
Please don't diagnose your child from this article
This point matters.
If you read this and think:
"My kid is tired and doesn't eat much meat. They must be iron deficient."
That's not what I'm saying.
Don't start giving children high-dose iron or other supplements because of something you read online.
Symptoms overlap enormously between nutritional deficiencies and many other childhood conditions.
If something concerns you, talk to your GP or an Accredited Practising Dietitian.
Proper assessment might include looking at their diet, growth, symptoms and, when appropriate, medical testing.
Nutrition should be considered.
It shouldn't be guessed.
So what does a good childhood diet actually look like?
This is where I think the conversation becomes much more positive.
Because feeding healthy kids doesn't require:
expensive supplements,
perfect lunchboxes,
macro tracking,
never eating takeaway,
or becoming a nutrition expert.
What I'm trying to do with my own kids is actually much simpler.
I want nutritious food to be normal.
I want them to grow up seeing protein on their plate.
Fruit available.
Vegetables served.
Water being drunk.
Carbohydrates fuelling active little bodies.
Treat foods enjoyed without guilt.
Family meals.
Parents eating the same foods we're asking them to eat.
And movement being something we do because our bodies are designed to move, not something we do to "burn off" dinner.
I'm not trying to raise children who eat perfectly.
I don't think that child exists.
I'm trying to create an environment where good nutrition is simply what they've grown up around.
Because eventually I won't be standing there deciding what's for breakfast.
They will.
And perhaps that's one of our biggest jobs as parents.
Not controlling every mouthful they eat today.
But helping build the habits, preferences and understanding that influence what they choose when we're no longer choosing for them.
This article provides general educational information and isn't individual medical or nutrition advice. If you're concerned about your child's growth, development, eating behaviour, nutrient intake or health, speak with your GP, paediatrician or an Accredited Practising Dietitian.
Comments