Your toddler-nado is a whirl of high energy at this stage in their development, so it’s a good idea to give your little one three meals a day. Toddler snacks are a good idea if they are at regular times and aren’t given too often or just before meals.

Stick to healthy foods and don’t let your child graze throughout the day. We are a nation of fussy eaters, and continuously giving children snacks and not allowing them to get hungry is part of the problem.

Good snacks include fruit or vegetable slices, baby rice cakes, dried fruit, bread sticks and cheese. It’s a good idea to have some of these ready in the fridge, so you have something to hand when you’re faced with a hungry toddler. If you cut up a few carrots and put them in cold water in an airtight container, they will last for several days.

Good snacks include fruit or vegetable slices, baby rice cakes, dried fruit, bread sticks and cheese. Have a snack stash prepped in the fridge so you have something to hand when hunger strikes.

Enjoying regular healthy snacks is a good habit to get your child into and can instil a love of healthy food early on. That isn’t to say that chocolate and biscuits should be banned; forbidding something can make more tempting. But if your child isn’t used to having regular sugary snacks, she isn’t likely to miss them if they aren’t there. Plus, if you don’t have these things in the house as standard, they become much more of a treat – it also stops you from eating them! Children pick up habits from their parents, so if they see you feasting on chocolate, they will want some too.