Nursery nutrition guidelines are changing – what parents need to know about hot meals and packed lunches

September has arrived, and along with the start of a new school year, it marks the start of some positive changes across nurseries and early years settings, too. From now on, these childcare settings across England will be expected to follow new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) nutrition standards, with the aim of offering young children a balanced diet that is more in line with government advice. This means stricter limits on the use of sugar, salt and processed foods, along with a change to the recommendations on meal structure – with less emphasis on puddings and sweet foods.

We asked nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed to explain more about what these changes mean for parents and young children, along with her verdict on the guidelines that are being implemented – and it is certainly a move in the right direction.

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“These updated nursery food guidelines are a really welcome and long-awaited step forward. For years, many of us working in early years nutrition have been calling for clearer, more practical guidance to support nurseries in offering balanced, varied meals,” Charlotte says. “I think this new framework does exactly that – it provides a realistic, evidence-based approach that, if implemented well, could lead to real improvements in both the nutritional quality of foods offered and the eating behaviours children develop at this critical stage.”

Nurseries should be ditching desserts

There is one element that the How to Feed Your Toddler author is particularly happy about – and that is the shift away from always offering pudding, which meant that in some nurseries, children and toddlers as young as one have been served things like chocolate cake and sweet yoghurts on a daily basis.

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“I’m especially pleased with the shift away from a traditional ‘main meal + dessert’ model, which was often interpreted to mean a sweet pudding was offered every day (sometimes twice a day) at nursery settings. Instead, the new approach in the guidance promotes a more balanced, flexible way of serving food at mealtimes that encourages more variety and less focus on sweet options,” Charlotte says.

Room for improvement

Despite there being lots of positive changes that will benefit parents and children, along with nursery staff, Charlotte feels there is still some room for improvement and shared her suggestions on what else could change in the future. “I’m really pleased with the guidelines, and I think they offer really clear insight for staff. However, I would love to have seen more emphasis on the mealtime environment itself; how we offer food is just as important as what we offer. Encouraging interaction and engagement around meals, having staff sit and eat with children, creating low-pressure, enjoyable environments, and involving little ones in food prep and exploration around food are all crucial to building positive lifelong relationships with food,” Charlotte explains.

“I would have liked to have seen more emphasis around this in the guidelines. I also think there’s a real opportunity to better support nursery staff in this area, through training and education to help them feel confident and informed about feeding young children. I do appreciate these elements may be beyond the scope of the current nutrition guidelines, but I do think nursery is a really important place to help ensure children are raised to enjoy and accept a healthy, balanced diet that can last a lifetime!” the nutritionist concluded.

Common parental concerns

The new nutrition guidelines address some common parental concerns, including the regular offering of high-fat and high-sugar puddings, but Charlotte says that another complaint she often hears is about the practices used by staff at nursery around mealtimes. The nutritionist shares the example of using food as a reward, explaining: “Whether that’s withholding dessert until a main meal is finished, or offering stickers for clearing a plate. These approaches aren’t in line with current evidence or best practice in child nutrition. In fact, they can undermine children’s ability to regulate their own appetite and listen to their own internal signals. Supporting children to listen to their own bodies and removing pressure from mealtimes is far more conducive to fostering lifelong positive eating habits.”

Tips for balanced nursery packed lunches

Meanwhile, if your child takes a packed lunch to nursery, you may want to consider following the new guidelines to ensure they are getting a balanced, nutritious meal. 

“Packed lunches can be a tricky area to navigate, but for parents providing them, I would really encourage aiming for the same balance and variety outlined in the new nutrition guidelines. Many nurseries already have a food policy in place that includes guidance on packed lunches, and ideally, these should be reviewed and updated to reflect the current standards,” Charlotte says. “This helps to ensure that all children – regardless of whether they’re eating nursery-provided meals or food from home – are being offered similar food groups, nutritional balance, and opportunities to build positive mealtime habits.”