Your children's choices in cuisine can be frustrating and confusing to you. One week, they'll eat only cheese, beets, and French fries. The next wekk, they insist on putting catsup on everything, including their cereal. So be it.
Many children are picky eaters. Experts agree: You don't need to worry about your child (or grandchild) not eating enough food, or the right kind of food. Little Johnny will eat enough for adequate growth and nutrition needs.
If you're concerned your child isn't developing normally, make an appointment with the pediatrition. Once you're certain your child is healthy, you can begin implementing strategies to expand his or her dietary horizons, while keeping mealtime pleasant.
- Keep mealtime pleasant and social. Dine as a family. Eliminate distractions such as TV, pets, or games. This is a time for pleasant discussions. Don't criticize your child for what they aren't eating. Some families agree that if a child doesn't complain about a certain food, it can be quietly left on the plate. Others decide that a child must eat a small portion before consuming the foods they like (for example three peas, before another helping of macaroni and cheese).
- Be a good example. Let your child see you eating a variety of foods. It helps if they observe you trying new foods – or re-trying foods you don't like.
- Make it fun. Instead of serving a peanut butter sandwich with a banana and some berries on the side, serve the sandwich open-faced, using the fruit to make a face. Instead of serving plain steamed broccoli, make broccoli tree casserole (stack broccoli in a casserole dish, crown side up, and drizzle with sauce). Have fun and be creative.
- Serve sample portions. You children don't need much food to stay healthy. Serve them one tablespoon per year (for example, a three-year-old would get three tablespoons of potatoes). If it's a food they've never tried before, give them a minuscule size to try. If the sample is taken from your plate, it might make the food more appealing.
- Include food your child likes. Instead of fixing two different meals, plan one meal that includes at least one food your child will eat. For example, if your child eats apples, serve a plate of sliced apples along with your Cajun dinner.
- Offer variety. If your child eats French fries, try baking them covered with sesame seeds next time. If they insist on chips, try serving corn chips or sweet potato chips.
- Disguise it. Some parents have successfully incorporated the "don't like" foods by finely dicing them up and mixing them in with eaten foods. For example, you can use minced onions and grated carrots in your meat loaf. A blender can disguise almost any food.
- Keep new foods accessible. Make sure you have plenty of tempting kiwis, oranges, and other fruits in bowls close at hand.
- Limit snacks. At most, your preschooler needs two snacks a day. Keep them small, nutritious, and at specific times. Grazing, even if it's on nutritious food, will hinder your efforts to get your child to eat at mealtimes.
- Cut down on milk and juice. Many picky-eater children will fill up on milk or juice at mealtime. Only allow them one cup of milk or juice at mealtime, and one cup of milk or juice at snack time. But encourage your children to drink all the water they want between meal times.
- Introduce new foods away from the table. If your child won't eat berries, go berry picking together. Take dried apricots on your next family hike. Serve banana shakes on the patio.
- Allow your child to experience consequences. Rather than fuss and fume, let your child leave the table without eating. They'll experience the consequences of going hungry until the next regularly scheduled meal or snack. Even going to bed a little hungry isn't going to harm your child. They aren't starving, much as they want you to think they are. And there will be plenty of nutritious food for them at breakfast time.
- Clearly communicate expectations, and follow through. If you decide whining is not acceptable at the dining room table, make sure your child knows — in advance — the policy and the result. For example, "Melissa, if anyone complains about the food that is served, they will be excused to their room until mealtime is finished, " or "Whining or begging for more juice will earn you a time-out."
- Don't reward or punish based on food. Eating disorders or obesity can result from intense or unhealthy focus on food. Forcing children to eat all the food on their plate, offering food as a reward for good behavior or to make them feel better, or making desert the focus of a meal can lead to incorrect associations with food.
- Stay calm yet persistent. Even if your children won't eat fruits and vegetables today, chances are they will when they get older. Keep offering them a variety of nutritious foods.
|
