How do you know if your child is getting enough nutrition?

Growth over time is the reliable indicator, not any individual meal — which is why the growth chart matters more than the anxiety of a day when they ate almost nothing. Children's appetites vary enormously day to day and often self-correct across a week. Practical markers: tracking height and weight along their own curve rather than against other children, energy and activity levels, and whether the overall weekly diet includes protein, iron sources and a range of vegetables. Worth testing for in India specifically: haemoglobin, since iron deficiency in children is very common and affects concentration and growth.