Ryan Giebel was overweight as a baby. Now that he's a toddler, his mom is consulting a nutritionist to keep the baby fat away.

"He was getting too much of the sugars and potato chips and kind of the junk food," says Kim Giebel.

She quickly learned from nutritionist Judy Caplan that the first lesson comes in the cereal aisle.

"You do like cereal, right?," Caplan asks Ryan.

"Yeah!" he shouts.

The two bowls Ryan ate this morning were too much. Rule number one - don't feed a toddler too many carbs. "One bagel for instance is four servings of carbohydrates, so if a kid eats a whole bagel in one day, a cup of cereal and eight pretzels, that's all the carbohydrates they need in a day," says Caplan.

New studies have found as many as one out of five U-S toddlers is obese. So nutritionists say parents need to keep tabs on toddler's portion sizes.

"Children become fat not because they're eating massive quantities here and there. It's often times they're eating a little too much day after day after day," explains Caplan.

Fight mindless eating by not letting kids snack while doing other things, says Caplan, "Instead of giving it to them while they're running around on the playground, say, 'Let's sit down and have a snack.' "

Many dieticians recommend giving your kids "snack packs"... they're just 100 calories and do a pretty good job of filling them up. Another tip from them... don't put the entire serving bowl of food on the table... instead, give your kids small plates with small food portions. Meals should be 300 to 400 calories and snacks about 100.

After a day with an expert, Kim's learned a lot and she knows Ryan will be healthier for it.