Part of your baby growing into an independent person means developing his or her own tastes. While this is a great thing, it can make meals frustrating! Nearly all children will be fussy with their food at one time or another. The trick is not to let it become a habit.
Here are some tips for helping them develop a healthy attitude to food:
Get into a routine – Kids love routine. Plan meals for when your baby isn’t too tired. If they see other family members enjoying the same food as them it’ll help too.
Start small - offer small servings of familiar foods and introduce new foods gradually.
Be patient – if they don’t like a food, try offering a small amount again at another meal. It can help teach them to accept new foods. Sometimes they need to be offered a new food 10 to15 times!
Stick with it – if they won’t eat what’s on the menu, that’s OK. Try not to offer alternatives at the time as it’ll teach them that there’s always a better option.
Good habits - acknowledge good behaviors and ignore the naughty ones. They’ll learn that the good ones get a reaction. Just make sure you don’t use food as a reward though – this’ll teach them some foods are better than others.
Enough is enough – let them decide how much is enough. You don’t need to coerce a child into finishing all the food on their plate if they’ve had enough. Children are much better at knowing how much food they need, and they’ll regulate their own appetite if you let them.
Snack less – don’t fill them up with too much food between meals, or give them milk before a meal. Stay away from offering juice as it’s just sugar in liquid form. Give them fruit to eat instead.
Encourage them – children need to experiment. It’s fine to let them play with their food when they’re little. Try letting them feed themselves too.
