Free milk and healthy snacks at ELC

Drinking milk (or a milk alternative) and snacking on fruit and vegetables is a great habit for your child to get into. The Scottish Milk and Health Snack Scheme ensures children spending 2 hours or more in regulated childcare, including with childminders, are eligible for free milk, or milk alternative, and a healthy snack of fruit or vegetables every day they attend.

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What is the Scottish Milk and Health Snack Scheme?

The aim of the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme (SMHSS) is to support children's growth and development by getting them into health eating habits when they're wee.

The SMHSS provides regulated childcare settings who've signed up with the Scheme with the funding to offer every child who spends 2 hours or more in their care with a free daily portion of fruit and/or vegetables as well a free daily portion of milk, or a specified non-dairy alternative.

You can find out more about the Scheme on the gov.scot website.

Is my child eligible for the Scheme?

Your child will get free milk or a specified non-dairy alternative and a healthy snack if:

they spend 2 hours or more in a childcare setting, including childminders, registered with the Care Inspectorate, and
they haven’t started school yet, and
the setting or childminder they go to has registered for the Scheme.

Is this all they will get to eat and drink?

No, the free milk or specified non-dairy alternative and healthy snacks are just one part of the food your child will be offered during the day.

Children attending settings for a session that includes funded early learning and childcare (ELC) hours can also receive a free meal each day as part of their ELC day. This could be a breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can find out more about who can get funded ELC hours here.

Why is it important for my child to get healthy snacks?

The eating habits children get into when they’re little can influence the way they eat later on in life and affect their longer-term health and wellbeing. The aim of the SMHSS is to make sure that as many children as possible attending eligible childcare settings receive the nutritional benefit of free milk or a milk alternative and a healthy snack. This will help them develop healthy eating habits from an early age that can last into later life.

Trying different healthy foods is all part of your child’s early learning experience when they’re at a nursery or with a childminder, so while they’re there they’ll be offered a range of things to try. The Scheme makes sure that milk (or a specified non-dairy alternative) and fruit and vegetables are one of the things they’re given every day. Fruit and vegetable portions offered as part of the Scheme will include a variety of different types, colours, flavours and textures.

What’s included?

The Scheme funds a serving of milk or specified on dairy alternative (189mls (1/3 pint) and a healthy snack (a portion of fruit or vegetables) per child per day.

It includes:

plain fresh cow’s milk (for children over 12 months) or first infant formula (for children under 12 months for whom breast milk is not available); or
if your child can’t have cow’s milk for medical, ethical or religious reasons, they’ll be offered plain fresh goat or sheep milk; or
if they can’t have dairy at all they will be offered a specified unsweetened calcium-enriched non-dairy alternative. This includes a non-soya alternative for children that can’t have soya; and
a healthy snack (a portion of fruit or vegetables) for children over 6 months old. For a 2-5 year old a portion is roughly what they can hold in their hand.

What are the specified alternatives to milk?

Food Standards Scotland has advised that on the grounds of nutrition, plain cow’s milk should be offered to children under the Scheme in the first instance.

Settings should offer a specified alternative if your child can’t drink cow’s milk for medical, ethical or religious reasons. These include plain, fresh goat or sheep milk or an unsweetened, calcium enriched non-dairy alternative drink. The alternatives don’t include rice milk as this is not suitable for young children. If your child can’t drink milk or any of the alternatives, they’ll be offered water instead.

What if my provider isn't registered for the Scheme? Or isn't eligible?

All childcare providers who are registered with the Care Inspectorate are being encouraged to apply for the Scheme. You can ask your child’s nursery or childminder if they’ve applied to the Scheme, and encourage them to sign up if they’ve not.

What if my child is in childcare for more than 2 hours? Can they get this more than once?

The Scheme is intended to provide eligible children with one serving of milk and one healthy snack per day. If your child spends longer in childcare at one or more settings, other food and drink will be provided in line with the guidance in Setting the Table.

If your child attends more than one setting in the day, they’ll usually receive the milk and healthy snack servings at the first setting. But you can discuss these arrangements with the settings if this doesn’t suit.

What other support is available to help me access healthy foods and milk?

Best Start Foods helps eligible pregnant women and families with children under the age of 3 to buy healthy foods and milk. The payments are loaded onto a prepaid card that works like a regular bank card.

You may be able to get Best Start Foods if you or your partner, or someone you're dependent on, are getting certain benefits.

If you're under 18, you can be eligible for Best Start Foods during pregnancy and up until your child turns 1, even if you're not receiving these benefits.

You may also be able to get Best Start Foods for your child even if you cannot get certain benefits because of your immigration status.

You can apply from as soon as you know you're pregnant, up until your child turns 3 years old.

For more information and to apply go to www.mygov.scot/beststart or call Social Security Scotland on 0800 182 2222.