Episode 68: 5 Most-Asked Questions About Feeding Kids – Answered!

Episode 68: 5 Most-Asked Questions About Feeding Kids – Answered!

Hi lovely people, Karina here. In this episode of The Easy Feed Podcast, I’m diving into five of the most common questions I get from parents navigating the world of kids’ nutrition. Whether you’ve got a picky eater, a milk-obsessed toddler, or you’re simply wondering about multivitamins and organic food, this episode is for you.

We’re cutting through the noise of online advice, and getting back to what’s evidence-based and actually works in real family life. Because feeding our kids shouldn’t be a constant battle – it should be simple, realistic, and supportive.

Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.138)
Fussy Eating, Milk, Veggies & More: Your Top 5 Kids’ Nutrition Questions Answered (01:56.866)
Will My Child Grow Out of Fussy Eating? Here’s What Really Makes the Difference (04:19.04)
Helping Kids Eat Better: Fussy Eating, Milk, Veggies & More (06:38.26)
Why Too Much Milk Can Mean Less Iron, Fibre, and Veggies (08:59.662)
Fussy Eating Fixes, Milk Myths & 5 Ways to Get Kids Loving Veggies (11:16.034)
Do Kids Really Need Supplements? The Intentional Approach (13:42.114)
When Supplements Help Your Child — and When They’re Not Needed (15:46.754)
5 Fun & Stress-Free Ways to Get Kids Eating More Veggies (18:08.972)
Your personal shift toward organic (20:17.856)
Kids’ Supplements, Organic Swaps, and Practical Nutrition Tips: Your Questions Answered (22:36.686)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Here’s what I cover in this episode:

1. Do Kids Grow Out of Fussy Eating? A deep dive into what actually helps kids expand their diet – and why some don’t just grow out of it on their own.

2. How Much Milk is Too Much? Why excess milk can impact your child’s appetite, fibre, and iron – and what a paediatric dietitian really recommends.

3. Getting Kids to Eat More Vegetables Simple strategies that go beyond “just make it fun” – practical advice that fits into everyday life.

4. Do Kids Really Need Supplements? When they’re helpful, when they’re not, and how to make smart, intentional choices for your child’s nutritional needs.

5. Should You Buy Organic? My evolving thoughts on organic food and how I balance it realistically in my own home.

I also share a super handy resource – my Healthy Supermarket Snacks Guide, packed with 80+ dietitian-approved options to save you time and stress. Grab it here: https://nourishwithkarina.com/healthy-recipes-for-kids

Show Notes:

More about Karina and Nourishing Kids!

📒 Grab Karina’s Time Saving Healthy Supermarket Kids Snacks Guide now for the INTRO offer https://karina-savage.mykajabi.com/offers/GkPU49mj

Karina's popular Nourishing Kids lifts the "food stress" load, giving mums a clear plan to get kids trying new healthy foods and guidance on how to feed their family more easily! Learn more here https://nourishwithkarina.com/nourishingkids

Her Podcast The Easy Feed dives into popular topics - check it out here https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-easy-feed/id1710594874

Karina is a regular on Channel 7, Sunrise. Check out her segments here: https://nourishwithkarina.com/press

For online consultations & personalised support. Click here https://nourishwithkarina.com/nutrition-consultation

Karina's popular Kids Food Reviews are here https://nourishwithkarina.com/food-reviews

If you have a Fussy Eater, register for Karina's online training and learn the 3 Essential Steps required to end fussy eating. https://nourishwithkarina.easywebinar.live/endfussyeating

Introduction (00:00.086)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 68, Common Questions Parents Ask Me About Feeding Kids.

Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed podcast.

Hello and welcome back. It's great to have you here. Today I wanted to talk about five common questions that parents ask me. And look, we talk about these types of questions all the time inside Narration Kids because, you know, these questions come up. But I just wanted to share a little snippet of five of these common questions with you, because I think it's important to try to cut through the clutter of the online world.

There is so much information out there online, whether it's on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, you name it. There is information everywhere. And we know that over 50 % of the information out there is often misleading or incorrect. And so it's really important to find a couple of professionals that give you evidence-based advice and you just follow them and you just.

Ignore all the rest because otherwise you're doing a different thing each week based on different information that you find, or it's just really confusing and it makes you second guess what you're doing or it can make you second guess because you see one thing and you're like, maybe I should do it that way. Then you see something that's contradicting. You're like, maybe I should do that. So I think it's really important to just focus on one or two people, follow them and try to ignore most of the rest because it's really confusing otherwise.

Fussy Eating, Milk, Veggies & More: Your Top 5 Kids’ Nutrition Questions Answered (01:56.866)
So my five questions today commonly pop up and some of these definitely popped up in my recent Five Days to Healthier Kids Challenge, which is my free week long event. And some of you will have participated in that who are listening. Thanks for being involved. It was a really fun week. And so these questions relate to fussy eating. Do kids grow out of fussy eating? How much milk should children be drinking? How can you get your kids to eat more vegetables, multivitamins and supplements? Does my child need one? And also organic.

food and what I think about those. So we will dive into those in just a minute, but before we do, I just wanted to bring your attention to something that will be super helpful for you. It's super low cost, less than the price of a coffee. And with school going back this week, it's something that's going to cut your shopping time in half. It is a supermarket guide of over 80 kids' snacks.

muesli bars, crackers, ice creams, breakfast cereals that are additive and preservative free. They are low in sugar. They are low in salt, free from nasties and they are a good option for your pantry, for your fridge, for your child's lunchbox. So I'll pop the link in the show notes. It's my healthy supermarket kids snacks guide and it's $4.79 at the moment. It's an intro offer.

And it's something that will be super helpful for you with kids going back to school. So I'll pop the link down in the show notes and you can grab that there. Okay. Let's dive into it. So let's start off with the first question. Do kids grow out of fussy eating? I think this is a great question. And it's the question that so many parents have because there are so many fussy eaters and look, I've experienced my own fussy eater and it's certainly something that varies according to the child.

Themself. So children are fussy for a whole host of reasons. There's 10 or more underlying reasons why a child might be fussy. And that underlying reason will somewhat dictate the length of time that it takes to outgrow the fussy eating. But what also significantly influences that length of time is the parent's ability to understand and get on top of the child's fussy eating. So look.

Will My Child Grow Out of Fussy Eating? Here’s What Really Makes the Difference (04:19.04)
Some children will naturally become more adventurous and will become more varied and will eat a much greater variety of foods over time without any changes made by the parents. And that's the great scenario. And there will be children that do that, which is fantastic. But then there will be children that will get narrower over time. And that's a parent's concern, especially if parents are just grappling with fussy eaters for

years and years and they do, they see their children get narrower and narrower and they feel like they lose all confidence to manage this fussy eater because everything they've tried doesn't work. And they're at a real loss, which is the whole reason why I created my Fussy Eating Program in the first place, because we really need to stop and understand why the child's fussy first to then be able to put a plan in place to fix them.

So children can grow out of fussy eating. Absolutely. And some do naturally resolve themselves, but others require some changes to be made really depend on what part of the child's, what I call a feeding ecosystem needs work. it the parent and the parent's approach? Is it the child and the fact that the child might have sensory issues or have deficiencies or have other gut issues which are influencing their appetite or is it the environment? Okay. So I talk a lot about these three factors.

contributing to the child's feeding ecosystem. And it's about making sure that you understand what component of that is not working as well as it should be. And then fixing that will tend to really resolve fussy eating a lot quicker than those parents that don't understand that. And as I said, that is the backbone of what you learn inside my fussy eating program. And that's why it's really important to understand that. So.

Kids can absolutely outgrow fussy eating, but it's really about how well they're supported to do. And by that, I'm not meaning that you just throw extra vegetables on their plate or you make a funny face out of their food, or you take them shopping and get them to pick out. Because you know, those basic strategies don't always work. And look, sometimes they do. And don't get me wrong. Sometimes these activities definitely do help to plant seeds, but we also need to

Helping Kids Eat Better: Fussy Eating, Milk, Veggies & More (06:38.26)
understand that you've got to get to that root cause first. So yes, my answer is they do go out of fussy eating, but we also need to look at the big picture and take that 30,000 foot view to work out what's going on and make that outgrowth of fussy eating happen a lot quicker. We also need to remember that children take time to grow and develop and learn about everything in life.

And if they're not eating all the colors of the rainbow by the age of eight, who cares, right? Like it's, they've got 18 years or more to become adults and learn about maturing and learning about everything in life. so food and eating is no different. So it takes time. A lot of kids do outgrow it. I still meet adults that have fussy eaters themselves now and they're still fussy. And so some kids won't grow out of fussy eating and they will stay fussy into adulthood.

They may slowly expand their intake of foods, but it may be that they're fussy as an adult. Now look, I guess our goal, and when I work with parents is to put strategies in place and create an effective feeding plan so that children do grow out of fussy eating. We plant all the seeds that create a real fertile environment so that they grow and expand and bring more foods into their repertoire. Because like a plant, a seed's not going to grow into a beautiful flower in really

You need a really fertile, healthy soil and you need a really healthy feeding environment for that seed to grow and that child to start eating a greater variety of these foods that we want them to eat. So yes, they can outgrow it, but we just have to put the right strategies in place for them. It's definitely a journey. It's definitely a work in progress. Often we need to lower our expectations as parents because if our level of expectation of where they should be is too high.

And where they're actually at is too low. That mismatch creates a lot of stress and anxiety and pressure on us as parents. And so we need to really try to reset our expectations. And that really helps. Okay. Moving on to question number two, how much milk should kids be drinking? I've seen a lot actually in clinic over the past few weeks that are drinking way too much milk.

Why Too Much Milk Can Mean Less Iron, Fibre, and Veggies (08:59.662)
I've seen kids that are drinking over a litre of milk a day and I've really had to highlight to the parents, that's why they're not eating enough of the other foods that are rich in fibre or iron. Now, of course, little ones are going to be drinking more milk because they're babies and toddlers. But by the age of three, children should have a maximum of a cup or just over a cup of milk per day. 350 mils maximum.

And the reason I say this is because past the age of three, children really don't need milk. Really, we are the only species that consume milk beyond weaning. No other species does this. And in fact, we're not even consuming our own.

human milk, breast milk, we're consuming another animal's breast milk, cow's milk. Really at the end of the day, we don't need to be drinking any milk, but if we are drinking it, we need to make sure that our children are not drinking too much milk because milk is very satiating and what that means, it makes us feel very satisfied. It's rich source of protein, fat and carbohydrate and it tastes good to a lot of children. And so they drink it down and that can really knock off their appetite. So if you have a child that is drinking...

500 meals, 750 meals, two to three to four cups of milk a day. That will definitely knock off their appetite and that will definitely impact their iron levels, their fiber intake and their intake of plant foods because the more they're filling up on milk, the less they're eating these other foods and that can increase risk of iron deficiency, constipation and risk their gut health because we know that plant foods are so important for gut health.

So if you have a milkaholic, just do a bit of a double check on their total volume. And I'll also at this point say if your child is then having extra cheese and extra yogurt during the day, that also contributes to them feeling very satisfied. And if at this point you're worried about the calcium intake, let me say this, there's plenty of other sources of calcium that we can provide that are good sources of fiber and iron.

Fussy Eating Fixes, Milk Myths & 5 Ways to Get Kids Loving Veggies (11:16.034)
that can substitute dairy. For example, chia is a brilliant option. It contains fibre, it contains iron and it's a rich source of calcium. So a great substitute. We've got tahini, we've got sardines, we've got plenty of other foods that contain calcium. We've got edamame, a beautiful option for children. So there's plenty of other options that will increase calcium and also increase iron and fibre. So just be mindful of the milk.

Okay. Moving on to number three, how can I get my child to eat more vegetables? So here's five top tips for you. Number one, make it fun. Okay. I'm not saying now throw capsicum around the room, but make it fun. Grab a piece of raw capsicum, crunch into it, squirt them with the juice, get them to do the same thing to you. Making it fun, changing their mindset will make a whole world of difference because let's be honest, their whole world revolves around having fun. And if you can make.

food a little more fun. And I'm not saying mess around with food and throw spaghetti bolognese up against the wall, but if you make it a bit more fun, children are much more likely to be engaged and eat food. Okay. Number two, incorporating it into snacks. It takes the pressure off dinner. Okay. So incorporating veggies into snacks, morning tea, afternoon tea, platters, incorporating into pesto dips or hummus, all of those opportunities.

are opportunities to get more vegetables or plant foods into your children. Number three, get them involved in food preparation. This will help to plant seeds over time. The more they touch, smell, look at food, the more they're likely to engage in eating that food over time, but it might not be for months or years. So be ready for the long haul. Number four, don't make a fuss. The more you push, the more they'll run. The more we talk about it, the more of a thing it becomes and the more they will not.

Do it. It's human nature. Okay. So there's my clear message there. Number five, good role modeling will always make a difference. So always eat healthy vegetables yourself. Show them that you're enjoying it. And this is really important. And over time, this will help their acceptance. Absolutely. And if you found those top five tips helpful, please know that I've got a bucket load more inside my fast eating program because it's designed to...

Do Kids Really Need Supplements? The Intentional Approach (13:42.114)
get children eating more good plant foods and taking that stress out of mealtimes. Moving on to question number four, does my child need a supplement?

We have lots of conversations about this inside Narachan Kids. And look, my answer to this is it really depends. It really depends on your child. Sometimes I do recommend specific supplements or specific gummies or specific liquid, this or that, for a specific need. And I think that's probably the most important thing to note here. We need to be very intentional with supplements based on an identified

Need. Yes, you can just give a child gummy as a bit of broad spectrum cover. That's fine. And maybe that's okay if, you know, you're worried about your child's fruit and vegetable intake. That's fine. But generally if children are eating something from each of the five food groups, theoretically they shouldn't need a supplement. But it's very common for parents to worry that the children aren't getting enough. And to be honest with you.

It's very common that children aren't getting enough. As I said before, 40 % of children don't meet their fibro-requirements. 20 % of young children don't get enough foods containing iron. So, you know, it is a real concern for a lot of parents. So we understand why the supplement industry in the gummies world is absolutely blowing up because we do it to give ourselves peace of mind. So I think there's some validity in that, but at the same time.

We need to be careful not to overdo it because sometimes you can give too much. And there's certainly been many situations when the parents told me about the number of omega-3 supplements they've given their child or the number of, no, the amount of magnesium or the amount of vitamin A. you can absolutely overdo it. And some of these can be toxic, especially iron. And so it's really important to be guided properly when giving specific

When Supplements Help Your Child — and When They’re Not Needed (15:46.754)
supplements, especially in larger doses. The other thing we need to be mindful of is gummies that have artificial sweeteners in them, gummies that have artificial colors or preservatives in them, especially those that may already have an underlying diagnosis of ADHD. Cause we know that children with ADHD react or can react more adversely to artificial colors or preservatives. Now look, if your child's had a blood test and they are clearly

iron deficient, then we absolutely need to supplement them with an appropriate iron supplement. But again, that's where you really want to seek professional advice from someone like myself. In terms of general multivitamins, they're relatively safe, but I would just proceed with caution and just question why you're doing. If a child's sick, I think it's a valid time to give like an immune booster, but do it for a finite period of time and then stop. I think that's

probably a better scenario than the day in day out malty. But in a situation where there is not one fruit or vegetable that passes your child's lips, then vitamin C is at risk. And I certainly see many kids like that. And we do really then need to look at vitamin C to make sure that minimum daily RDI is met. And that's also when we may say, yeah, take a general malty that's got some vitamin C. But most of the time kids are eating at least one or two fruits, even if they're not eating any vegetables.

The amount of vitamin C you actually need to meet your daily RDI isn't huge, but there are some kids that will not take any fruits or vegetables. So they do pose a bit more of a challenge. And again, that's an indication where you would be very intentional and give a specific supplement because of that risk of deficiency, I should say. So in summary, a general multivitamin or a gummy is likely not going to hurt your child and will

probably provide them with a bit of background cover, so it's fine. If your child eats something from all the five food groups, there's probably not the need for it. But if there are definitely food groups missing, then yes, we do need to intentionally give them specific vitamins or supplements to fill that nutrient gap. When kids are sick, immune support, rich in vitamin C, zinc, echinacea, elderberry, angiographus, those.

5 Fun & Stress-Free Ways to Get Kids Eating More Veggies (18:08.972)
supplements can be helpful with a caution around andrographis. There has been an allergic reaction to that. So now they have warning statements on immune supplements containing andrographis. Okay. Moving on to question number five, Karina, what are your thoughts on eating organic foods? To be honest with you, I think things are changing. I think we used to be told, it's not really that much different. The level of residue of

pesticides and all the nasty sprays and whatnot that's on our regular fruits and vegetables is in such minute quantities. It's safe for us to consume. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's really what we've always been told. And don't get me wrong. A lot of the food and fruits and vegetables that are in my fridge or in my house are still regular foods, not organic. But, and this is the big but, I am moving to purchase more and more organic.

products wherever possible, because I believe that in the future, we are going to find out more and more about the negative effects of the sprays that have been used and are still used on our crops and for our animals. And that concerns me. So looking, I do buy organic meat because I know that 40 % of our meat in Australia is still

with growth hormones, that's the cattle, I should say, like the beef. And I buy organic chicken because I believe the less an animal is treated with antibiotics or growth hormone, the better it's going to be for those consuming it. Having said that, I'm almost vegetarian. My daughter's vegetarian. we...

chicken in our house, I would very rarely eat beef. In fact, every time we go out for dinner, my husband orders a steak because we basically never have it. We Google a of tofu these days for my daughter, my husband and my son will generally have chicken. But yeah, I really try to buy mostly organic meat. We use lactose free milk. It's harder to find organic lactose free milk, but...

Your personal shift toward organic (20:17.856)
I drink soy milk anyway, and that is actually an organic soy milk, the calcium plus, vital soy calcium plus. That's my favourite soy milk. And then with fruits and vegetables, it has the dirty dozen, which you can look up and they're those foods that are most likely to be higher in pesticides and sprays. But I try to buy organic carrots and organic.

Baby spinach, that's pretty easy to find in Woolworths, mostly shop at Woolworths. I'd buy organic apples now. And I buy organic bananas too, they're pretty easy to get. Um, I find mandarins harder. I buy just regular mandarins and oranges. It's harder I find to find organic fruit, but organic pumpkin you can buy. I've just started buying actually these organic unwashed potatoes in Woolies. I quite like those.

But again, a lot of the potatoes we would buy are regular potatoes, onions, same thing, regular mostly, but I did actually recently try a bag of organic onions with things like broccoli and zucchini and cucumber. Most of the time they're just your standard. I don't buy the organic versions, but I'm really trying. And especially when the price isn't that much different, I'll try and buy the organic because I believe that food.

grown in a fertile, rich environment is going to be better food for us than those that are mass produced where chemicals have been sprayed on the crops and the soil is more deplete. So I think really it should be a no brainer for us to buy organic if the price is reasonable.

It's just the problem that the price is usually double or triple for a lot of food. So I think where possible, buy organic, but if it's not possible, just wash your food very well. And I've been seeing some stuff on social media lately about bi-carb or baking soda being a great way to remove a lot of those residues and pesticides that may be in invisible amounts on your fruit or vegetables. So soaking it in that and water to remove those.

Kids’ Supplements, Organic Swaps, and Practical Nutrition Tips: Your Questions Answered (22:36.686)
I haven't done a deep dive into that, but that's definitely something that I've been seeing hop up a lot. So that could be something that you can consider just washing your fruit and vegetables really well so that we're removing anything that's sitting on the side. The other one is eggs. I'll always try to buy organic eggs where possible. And again, they're more expensive, but if you can do it great. And if you can't then do your free range rather than caged. Okay. I'll wrap it up there.

I hope today's Q and A session has been helpful for you. If you've got any questions, then please reach out to me either on Instagram is nourishwithkarina, my handle or email me hello at nourishwithKarina.com. I'm always open to ideas or suggestions for podcast episodes. I'm always interested to know what you want to know more about and happy to answer your questions in future podcasts. I wish you a beautiful week. Bye for now.