3 Years to 4 Years

Eating and Drinking

Your child now needs 600 IU of vitamin D per day.
- The vitamin D will can from vitamin D-enriched milk (cow, goat, almond, soy, pea, etc).
16 ounces per day of cow’s milk provides the required vitamin D your child needs.
Limit milk to 20 ounces per day. Drinking more than 20 ounces per day will negatively affect your child’s appetite, which can cause nutritional deficiencies.
- Receiving too much cow’s milk per day is a known cause of anemia.
Your child does not need juice, unless it's being used to treat constipation.
- If you do give your child juice, serve all-natural 100% fruit juice

Offer your child water freely throughout the day.
Don’t worry if they don’t want to drink, this simply means they aren’t thirsty.
- Please note that the amount of water needed daily may vary by individual and may need to be adjusted depending on levels of activity and environmental conditions like heat and humidity.

We recommend 3 meals and 1-2 snacks per day.
Avoid letting your child “graze” on food throughout the day.
- This will negatively affect the appetite and can worry parents that their child “doesn’t eat enough” at mealtimes.
Eat meals together as a family when possible.
Avoid distractions during mealtimes, which many parents use to get their child to eat more.
- We want your child to pay attention to their own hunger level, rather than eating out of distraction.
Common distractions to avoid: TV, screens (phone/iPad), pets, music.
If your child cleans their plate, offer more!
- Provided there are no distractions, you can trust your child to eat when hungry, and stop when full.
Often around this age it is okay to introduce foods that were preciously thought of as choking hazards—nuts, popcorn, hot dogs, grapes, and hard, raw veggies. Make sure your child is supervised, seated, and not distracted when introducing these foods. Remind them to take small bites and chew carefully and allow them to spit out food if needed.

Most caregivers will experience concerns about picky eating between 12 and 36 months of life.
See our article on picky eating for more information.

At 4 years old, your child can climb steps, alternating feet, without support, skip on one foot, and catch a lager ball most of the time

Your child can pour and serve themselves food with supervision
Your child can unbutton some buttons
Your child can hold a pencil between their fingers and thumb and draw some shapes

Your child will often pretend to be something/ someone else during play (dog, superhero, firefighter, teacher)
Your child will show more empathy and will comfort others who are hurt or sad
Your child will behave differently in different settings (home, school, playground)
Your child loves helping
- now is a great time to harness their eagerness and get them involved in simple household chores like clearing their plate from the table
Your child will avoids danger, like not jumping from tall heights at the playground

Tips for Emotional development

Encourage your child to use “his words” to ask for things and solve problems but show him how. He may not know the words he needs.
- For example, help your child say, “Can I have a turn?” instead of taking something from someone.
Help your child learn about others’ feelings, and about positive ways to react.
- For example, when he sees a child who is sad, say “He looks sad. Let’s bring him a teddy.”
Use positive words and give attention to behaviors you want to see (“wanted behaviors”).
- For example, say “You’re sharing that toy so nicely!” Give less attention to those you don’t want to see.
Tell your child in a simple way why she can’t do something you don’t want her to do (“unwanted behavior”).
- Give her a choice of what she can do instead. For example, “You can’t jump on the bed. Do you want to go outside and play or put on some music and dance?”

Sleep

Behavioral sleep issues may arise (or be persisting), such as:
- Delaying or stalling bedtime by asking for something i.e. “One more book” or “I need more water” (referred to as limit-setting behavioral insomnia)
- Requiring specific conditions (your presence, a certain stuffed animal, etc) in order to fall asleep, or fall back asleep after waking up overnight (referred to as sleep-onset association behavioral insomnia)
- This linked article has excellent information for parents that may need help managing these issues:
For information on other common toddler sleep problems and how to best handle them check out this article.

Apply a pea sized amount of fluoride-based toothpaste to a soft toothbrush.
- Press the toothpaste into the bristles to prevent your child from sucking the toothpaste right off of the brush.
Most toothpaste specifically labeled for “babies” does not contain fluoride.
- Please make sure you buy toothpaste that does contain fluoride, even if labeled for “children.”
Brush teeth once in the morning and once before bed.
Your child may seem capable of brushing teeth by themselves, however most dentists do no recommend allowing children to do so independently until 6-8 years of age.
Your child should regularly see the dentist

Colds become less frequent but are still common. Each cold can last for up to 3 weeks.
Vomiting and diarrheal illnesses are common as well.
Fever will accompany many of these illnesses.
Falls and head injuries are the rule, not the exception.

Keep your child’s car safety seat rear-facing until your child is 2 years of age or until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by the car safety seat’s manufacturer.
- Once they are forward facing they should remain in their forward facing 5 point restraint car seat until they reach the maximum height or weight allowed by the manufacturer, and at that point it is time to transition to a booster seat.
Please review our guide on water safety for young children. If your child has not taken swim lessons yet, now is the time to start! Here is some information on safety tips for kids learning how to swim.
Your child should wear a helmet when riding a bike or scooter (this also includes riding in bike trailers)
As children become more independent, it is important to teach them to be safe in public places. Age 3 is a great time to start teaching them their whole names and caregivers real names. For more tips, check out this article.

Most children achieve bladder control during the day by age 4. If your child has been dry and starts having daytime accidents here are some things we think about.
Most children will gradually stop urinating overnight on their own.
- If they have been consistently dry for several weeks you may transition to underwear at night if you choose to do so.
- In general, we do not worry about bed wetting until a child is around 6-7 years of age.
- Even if your child has been previously dry overnight, it can be normal to have occasional night time accidents until around age 6-7.
- Here is a helpful article with more information about bedwetting.