What’s a Serving Size Anyway?

Ever since my daughter began eating solid foods I have done my best to go by the recommended serving sizes for fruits and vegetables.  According to the list from my pediatrician she is supposed to have at least four servings of fruits and veggies a day.  To me, that translated to pretty much try to get one down her throat per meal.  Recently an article in Parenting magazine cleared something up for me that I wish I would have known six months ago!  That is – a serving of fruits/veggies for children is a tablespoon per year of age.  In other words, a one year old’s serving size is simply one tablespoon and it increases to two when they’re two, three when they’re three etc.  At five years old you are safe to use an adult serving size, which is typically about 1/4 cup.  Definitely a good tip to know – and now knowing it maybe it doesn’t seem so hard to get in all those fruit and veggie servings after all!