The first few years of a child's life are vitally important to determine what kind of person that child grows up to be. Building healthy lifestyle habits starts before a baby is even born, so families need all the support they can get in order to bring up the next generation to be Healthy Little Foodies.

The Healthy Little Foodies project was born out of this idea and aims to give the families of Edinburgh the knowledge and skills needed to feed their children a healthy balanced diet. It takes a village to bring up children and in these times, that 'village' often comes in the form of services and support rather than neighbours and the local community.

We have developed various groups and workshops, both online and in-person, to cover different aspects of nutrition in those first crucial years:

Weaning workshop - online

Aimed at parents and carers who are introducing foods to their babies for the first time, this workshop looks at:

• signs of readiness to look out for
• what first foods to start with and how to progress through food groups and textures
• tips for preventing fussy eating in later life
• lots of recipes to try
• chat with other parents and carers with babies the same age

More info and sign up here

Healthy Little Foodies Sessions

In-person sessions with parent and toddler groups around the city run in partnership with various organisations such as The Health Agency, Dr Bells Family Centre, Kin Collective, Crossreach Perinatal Counselling service, Pilton Community Health Project, Multicultural Family Base and Stepping Stones. Sessions are tailored to the age range and needs of the group and include a fun food activity. These can be a one-off or a series of sessions arranged directly with our Early Years Nutrition specialist. If you would like to arrange a session contact Sema via email or phone:

[email protected]

0131 467 7326 

         

  

Fussy Eaters' Workshop - online

Aimed at parents of children around 1-6 years experiencing difficulties around stressful mealtimes and their child's restrictive eating behaviours.  This workshop covers:

• Why do children develop fussy eating behaviours?
• Planning for a positive mealtime – what can I do in advance?
• Control and choice – getting the balance right.
• At the table – techniques to use during mealtimes.
• Appetite and portion sizes
• Talking about food – how our language plays a part.
• Early years nutrition

More info and sign up here

Eat Well for Oral Health – Edinburgh Community Food and LINKnet Mentoring

Edinburgh Community Food and LINKnet Mentoring are delighted to be delivering a new joint project called Eat Well for Oral Health.  This is a community-based food skills and nutrition project to support oral health improvements for all families living in areas of high deprivation but with a specific focus on those families from Minority Ethnic backgrounds across Edinburgh and the Lothians.

The project is designed to improve child, family - and targeted communities’ – oral health by sharing diet and nutrition knowledge and enhancing cooking skills and confidence using a community-based approach.

Now working in partnership, this project draws together learning and experience form Edinburgh Community Food and LINKnet Mentoring’s successful Community Challenge Fund Projects from 2019-2022.

To find out more or if you have a group of participants who you think would be interested in taking part in this project, please contact, [email protected] or 0131 467 7326.

More info and sign up here