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Feel confident feeding your child from first foods to family meals.
Feeding children can feel overwhelming. You might receive conflicting advice, have mealtime battles, a fussy eater, or worries about if your child is eating enough.
You’re not alone.
PICNIC helps parents and carers feel more confident, supported, and informed when feeding their babies and children.
What is PICNIC?
PICNIC is a free NSW Health feeding support program for parents and carers of babies and young children. Developed by expert Dietitians and informed by parents, PICNIC provides practical, evidence-based guidance to help families feed their children with greater confidence and less stress.
At the heart of the program is responsive feeding, where parents and children connect and build positive relationships through food. Rather than relying on pressure, persuasion, or mealtime battles, PICNIC supports parents and carers to recognise and respond to their child’s hunger, appetite, and fullness signs. This builds trust, supports children’s learning about food and their bodies, and makes mealtimes more enjoyable for the whole family.
PICNIC is about more than nutrition and knowing what foods to offer. It also helps parents understand how to feed their child in ways that support learning, confidence, and enjoyment around food.
It’s normal for babies and young children to have changing appetites, be cautious with new foods, or eat different amounts from day to day. Parents often describe these behaviours as fussy eating. PICNIC helps parents understand what is typical, and how to respond in ways that build positive feeding relationships and reduce mealtime stress.
All PICNIC information is evidence-based, practical, and designed to be easy to understand, use, and share with other parents and carers.
PICNIC is available across multiple NSW Health regions, with options available for families outside these areas when joining.
How can PICNIC help me?
Every family is different, so you can choose the level of support that works best for you.
Whether you’re starting solids, navigating fussy eating, or simply looking for reassurance, PICNIC provides practical tips, expert guidance, and support from other families who understand the joys and challenges of feeding young children.
What you’ll gain with PICNIC
Parents, carers and grandparents who join PICNIC often tell us they gain:
- more confidence feeding their child
- less stress and worry at mealtimes
- practical tips they can use straight away
- a better understanding of what’s normal for their child’s age and stage
- trusted, current evidence-based information
- support your child’s lifelong relationship with food
- connection with other parents and carers
- supportive and judgement free encouragement
- more positive and enjoyable mealtimes!
What you get when you join PICNIC
PICNIC will give you access to:
Workshop
Choose online or in person (where available). Interactive sharing of information by our Dietitians – from starting solids to fussy eating and beyond. If you have a group of friends with babies or toddlers we can arrange a face-to-face group workshop.
Monthly live chats
Join a live chat with our Dietitians, where you can ask questions, listen to other parents’ experiences and feel supported in your child’s feeding journey.
Online parent community
Join your local private PICNIC Parents Facebook group. Receive frequent tips and short bursts of feeding information to keep topics familiar. Ask questions or share ideas with the group, guided by our Dietitians.
Dietitian support
Our Dietitian team are available to discuss your specific challenges and assist with local referrals for more tailored support.
Website
The PICNIC website contains all our helpful feeding information, divided into age specific categories to be easy for busy parents.
Social media
Our Facebook and Instagram pages provide ongoing tips and reminders. You can easily share the info with family members and friends.
PICNIC parents and carers say…
Parents told us they wanted information that was easy to share with their family members and friends to also benefit. PICNIC is designed to support these peer-to-peer conversations. It is clear, consistent and easy to use!
“The PICNIC program is a real gift. Following the initial session within a few days we had a complete 180 at mealtimes. I can’t tell you the number of times people have said “WOW he’s a great eater!” since then. It’s a massive win to know he’s well fed and getting such broad nutrients. But what’s more, our anxiety around meals is completely gone.”
“The PICNIC Project is still the best thing we’ve ever done in our parenting journey. My mind goes to it daily and I’m constantly sharing your site with other parents.”
“The program was great! I did it for my first child who is now almost 3 and it helped a lot being a first-time mum! I also now have a 1-year-old and it has been such valuable knowledge to have and made our feeding journey a breeze!”
Join PICNIC
Join a growing community of parents and carers who are building feeding confidence, reducing mealtime stress, and creating positive feeding experiences for their children.
Register for a PICNIC workshop today.
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