Why it’s easier right from the start

Early childhood is an important time when parents have considerable contact with health and early years’ services and may be especially receptive to learning, making changes and offers of support. Ensuring early years practitioners have the necessary skills and knowledge to support families and confidence to raise potentially sensitive issues - together with appropriate interventions - can make a real and lasting impact to the future health and life chances of children.

Forming healthy habits early

Early childhood presents a window of opportunity to support families to provide children with the foundations for good health for the rest of their lives. Habits are formed early in childhood and can often be sustained throughout life; it's important therefore to establish healthy habits around food, eating and mealtimes, physical activity, oral health, handwashing, screen time etc. Introducing babies to solid foods is a crucial opportunity to develop a baby’s liking for a wide variety of tastes, building the foundation for healthy eating habits and helping to prevent later fussy eating. See findings from our Starting Solids intervention

Research has shown that it’s much easier to develop good habits early than it is to try to break poor habits later on.