The baby and toddler years present an ‘ideal window of opportunity' for obesity prevention, a paediatric dietician has said.

According to Dr Roslyn Tarrant of Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin, an obese two-year-old is twice as likely to become an obese adult as a non-obese two-year-old.

As a result, ‘there has never been such a need to convince and educate parents of the importance of complying with toddler healthy eating guidelines', she explained.

Dr Tarrant noted that recent research indicates that many parents focus on a child's ‘like or dislikes' and this affects levels of compliance with a healthy diet.

"The toddler will exert their independence and choose what they want, however it is the job of the parent or caregiver to provide a healthy diet allowing the child to choose from this," she said.

Dr Tarrant pointed out that the most frequent dietetic referrals regarding toddler nutrition relate to food refusal, an issue which can require long-term dietetic and psychological support.

However, if the child is continuing to grow normally, ‘no further action is needed'.

"The parent of the toddler who refuses important food sources such as meat or milk should be reassured that these are usually passing phases and are developmentally normal. Force feeding is not at all recommended," she explained.

She pointed out that in such cases, toddlers quickly learn that mealtimes are ‘ideal attention-seeking time points, which cause major parental anxiety and stress'.

She said that in such cases, parents should dedicate 30 minutes to each main meal and 15 minutes to each snack.

"After repeated timely episodes of taking away their meals once uneaten, the toddler will quickly learn to associate mealtimes with eating rather than attention seeking," she insisted.

In such cases, ‘grazing' between meals should not be allowed. Furthermore, parents need to be reminded that it is ‘very unlikely the child will starve and if anything, they will be sufficiently hungry for their next meal'.

Dr Tarrant added that it can take up to 12 times of offering a new food to a young child before they will even try it.

"Persistence, patience and repeated exposures are likely to lead to eventual acceptance."

Dr Tarrant made her comments in the journal of the Irish College of General Practitioners, Forum: Clinical Challenge.