Here's why you should worry less about your bub's unachieved milestones. more
Fussy little eatersTired of having your toddler-appropriate culinary creations spat out, howled at or just refused? It can be frustrating and concerning when your child refuses to eat anything vaguely nutritious. Here's how to get through this trying stage and raise a culinary adventurous child. Read on..
There's actually a firm definition on what constitutes a fussy eater - according to parenting experts, it's a toddler who refuses to try a new food at least half of the time. Which means, at some stage, we are all parents of fussy eaters.
It can be so frustrating for parents - you cook a nutritious meal and arrange it creatively on a plate only to have your youngster refuse to eat it. They spit it out, refuse to swallow, scrape the offensive food off their tongue, run away from the table, threaten (or actually) vomit or just scream. And the dinner table suddenly becomes a battleground.
We're told constantly that children need 5 serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit a day. They need protein, essential fatty acids, calcium and all sorts of other vitamins and mineral to make sure their bodies and brains grow. Yet your little one will only eat white food and the occasional grape.
- Ask your child to help you make dinner: They're more likely to eat a meal they have helped to make it.
- Have mealtime routines: seat your child at the same place and use “her own” cutlery and crockery.
- Be a good role model: Apparently fussy eating parents are more likely to have fussy kids so make sure your kids see you eat a wide variety of foods, and have regular family meals.
- Keep it colourful: Not only is it healthy to eat foods of lots of different colours, little ones may possibly appreciate the rainbows on their plates and will pick and choose what they want to eat.
- Let them be food explorers: From an early age encourage self-feeding and food exploration - and try to ignore the mess.
- Don't feel rejected: Australian research found that a toddler may need to be presented with a food 10 times before they'll even try it, so persist.
- Make it a happy event: It may be hard to smile through another rejected food offering but children are more likely to want to repeat an event they enjoyed.
Looking for some recipe inspiration? Kidspot has collected recipes that even the fussiest kids might try. Browse our recipe finder.
- Fussy eaters
- Picky eaters
- Top tips for fussy eaters
- Pica - non food eating
- Teaching toddlers healthy eating habits
- Toddlers and fussy eating
- Toddlers refusing water
- Top tips for feeding toddlers
This article was written by Fiona Baker, former editor in chief of Mother & Baby, Pregnancy & Birth and Wondertime magazines for Kidspot, Australia's best resource for pregnancy and parenting.
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