Clear, evidence-based guidance on what foods and beverages children and adolescents should consume—and in what amounts—is foundational for promoting healthy growth and preventing diet-related chronic disease across the life course. Yet many children and adolescents in the US continue to have diets of poor nutritional quality. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), issued every 5 years by the US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, provide the nation’s primary food-based nutrition guidance and shape federal nutrition policies and programs, including school meals and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Health care professionals also rely on the DGAs for incorporating evidence-based recommendations into nutrition counseling for children and families. Although the 2025-2030 DGAs, released in January 2026, have generated substantial discussion, their implications for pediatric populations remain largely unexamined. This Viewpoint highlights strengths, concerns, challenges, and government policy actions needed through the lens of pediatric health care professionals and child nutrition researchers.