{"id":12774,"date":"2025-09-22T11:28:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T11:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/?p=12774"},"modified":"2025-09-22T11:28:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T11:28:57","slug":"feeding-growing-bodies-and-busy-little-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/childrens-health\/feeding-growing-bodies-and-busy-little-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeding growing bodies and busy little minds\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-profile-box round ab-has-avatar ab-font-size-14 ab-block-profile ab-profile-columns\"><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-avatar-wrap\"><div class=\"ab-profile-image-wrap\"><figure class=\"ab-profile-image-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"ab-profile-avatar wp-image-12775\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/22112414\/vicky-1758540253-1651007984553.jpeg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/22112414\/vicky-1758540253-1651007984553.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/22112414\/vicky-1758540253-1651007984553-125x125.jpeg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-content-wrap\"><h2 class=\"ab-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Aileen Cox Blundell<\/h2><p class=\"ab-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Founder, Baby Led Feeding<\/p><div class=\"ab-profile-text\"><\/div><ul class=\"ab-social-links\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Feeding children feels overly complicated. Social media trends, conflicting advice and pressure to \u2018get it right\u2019 leave many parents second-guessing every mealtime decision.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;As a busy mum, I know this feeling well. Over the past six years, I have been studying nutrition while working full-time, raising my children and trying (some days more successfully than others) to manage my own food and physical activity. I know just how hard it is to juggle it all. Here are some of my favourite easy wins to take the pressure off feeding your little ones.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-keep-lunchboxes-simple-nbsp\"><strong>Keep lunchboxes simple&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Lunchboxes do not need to be Instagram-worthy to be great. Aim to include a portion of fruit or vegetables, a slow-release carbohydrate such as whole-grain bread, wrap or pasta, alongside a portion of protein, such as cheese, yoghurt, hard-boiled eggs or meat. Some days, a lunchbox will be demolished entirely. On other days, it will come home with just a few bites taken out of a sandwich, and that is okay. Keep offering, as exposure is what really matters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-make-fibre-easy-nbsp\"><strong>Make fibre easy&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most children, like adults, are not eating enough fibre. Make changes slowly, such as swapping out white bread, rice and pasta for whole-grain alternatives. Sprinkle seeds (ground for smaller ones) on yoghurt and cereal. Add beans or lentils to a pasta dish or serve fruit instead of juice.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Most children, like adults, <br>are not eating enough fibre.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-prep-once-eat-twice-nbsp\"><strong>Prep once, eat twice&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cooking an easy double dinner is the ultimate timesaver. It can be as easy to make a double batch of pasta sauce or roast an extra chicken as it is to cook one. These leftovers can be turned into lunchbox fillers or frozen for a convenient dinner the following week with minimal stress.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-little-eyes-watch-everything-nbsp\"><strong>Little eyes watch everything&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As busy parents, the way we eat teaches our children about food more than anything else. Sitting down together, serving and eating a variety of foods and keeping mealtimes calm is incredibly important.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With simple meals, consistent routines and looking after yourself along the way, you are giving your little one exactly what they need and the best start in life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feeding children feels overly complicated. Social media trends, conflicting advice and pressure to \u2018get it right\u2019 leave many parents second-guessing every mealtime decision.\u00a0 &nbsp;As a busy mum, I know this feeling well. Over the past six years, I have been studying nutrition while working full-time, raising my children and trying (some days more successfully than &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/childrens-health\/feeding-growing-bodies-and-busy-little-minds\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":12776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3099],"tags":[5981],"class_list":["post-12774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childrens-health","tag-childrens-health-wellbeing-2025"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/22112710\/vicky-1758540429-AdobeStock_558712970-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/09\/22112710\/vicky-1758540429-AdobeStock_558712970-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"henryphillips","author_link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/author\/henryphillips\/"},"vicky_index_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12777,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12774\/revisions\/12777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}