The method, in plain words
We do the homework before you shop. Every pick has been through the same six checks, and a paediatric dietitian signs the rules before anything reaches a parent as advice. This page is the whole method. No black box, no fine print.
The six checks
every product · every timeWe collect the label facts
Ingredients, sugar, salt and fat, gathered from food databases and the maker's own label. Each capture is saved with its date and never edited, and the pack always wins over the internet.
Every food sits in one category
Yoghurt is judged against yoghurt, never against sausages. There is no single score for all food, because that is not how feeding a small kid works.
Safety gates run first
Honey under 12 months, choking risks. A safety fail always shows you its plain reason. Alongside it runs a data gate: if we cannot verify a product's nutrition panel, it is not scored at all, and we say so.
The rules score what matters for the age
The same yoghurt gets a different answer at 8 months and at 3 years, because the rules change with the age band, not the food.
A paediatric dietitian signs the rules
Every threshold, every safety line, every category. Nothing reaches you on our judgement alone, and nothing changes quietly after she signs. Until she signs, everything on this build is a draft and says so.
We keep watching
Recipes and labels change. Our automatic checks will watch for changes every month once live, the maker's own label gets re-read at least every season, and if a product changes or parents report a problem, it comes off the list while we look again.
Why the same yoghurt gets a different answer at a different age
The rules are dials, set per age band by the dietitian. Fat is the clearest example.
Full fat is required
First foods. A reduced fat yoghurt is excluded at this age, not just ranked lower.
Full fat is preferred
Full fat ranks higher, and added sugar stays excluded.
Fat goes neutral, sugar leads
From age two, reduced fat is fine. Sugar becomes the thing that decides.
What we want you to know
the honest parts most apps leave outAustralian labels do not declare added sugar
So we find it by reading the ingredients list against a signed list of sugar names, from cane sugar to rice malt syrup. If a new name appears, we add it and re-check. The list belongs to the dietitian, not to us.
The shelf is the truth, not the internet
Before a pick goes live, a person checks the physical pack. If the pack and our data disagree, the pack wins and the data is fixed. The products in this draft build are not pack-checked yet, and every page says so.
When we are not sure, we do not show it
A product with a missing or unverified nutrition panel is not recommended, and we tell you that is why.
Every answer can be traced
Each recommendation carries the exact rule version and data version that produced it, and every reason you see traces to one named rule. Ask us about any pick, in six months if you like, and we can show you the exact rule that fired and the same answer it gives.
RULE no-added-sugar: "CONTAINS ADDED SUGAR" · RULES V1-V3 (DRAFT) · DATA 2026-07
The promises
No placement, no sponsorship, no free samples. If that ever changes, Pipling has failed and you should delete it.
That conversation belongs with your GP or child health nurse.
The rules are written sentences a person can read, not a model no one can question.
If the label says it is there, we say it is there, even when our other data disagrees.
A birth month and any allergy flags. Never a name, never a photo, never a full date of birth.
Who signs the rules
[Dietitian name], Accredited Practising Dietitian
Her name, credentials and a short bio sit here the day she signs. Until then the amber stamp below stays, and nothing on this page reaches a parent as advice.
This page is part of the pack our paediatric dietitian reviews and signs. The wording above may tighten when she does, and the amber stamp flips only when the rules are signed.