If you are battling with a picky eating child then check out these 12 Top Tips from Dr Orlena Kerek on how to transform your fussy eater into a healthy eater.
Most children go through phases of fussy eating at some stage or another and whilst it’s comforting to know that we aren’t the only ones battling with a picky eater, what really helps is practical tips on how we can encourage healthier eating habits. I’m really excited to welcome Dr Orlena Kerek from Snotty Noses to my blog today and she’s going to be sharing her top tips for turning fussy eaters into healthy eaters.
“One of the most frustrating things about feeding your family a healthy diet is when you have to cook for a fussy eater. It’s easy to tick things off the “my child will eat” list and suddenly realise that the only thing that everyone in the family will eat is Spaghetti Bolognese, with linguine, not spaghetti! Fussy eaters can be tricky. Most children are fussy to a certain extent, especially when it comes to vegetables but when you have a structure to deal with their behaviour, life is much easier.
How to Help a Fussy Eater
1. Offer healthy food at regular intervals. (For example, breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner.)
2. Cook the same food for everyone (unless they have allergies.)
3. Allow them to eat what they want out of the food that you offer. Allow them to leave what they don’t want.
4. . Don’t be pressured into letting them eat biscuits that aren’t on the menu.
5. Don’t pressure them to eat.
6. Keep offering new foods. It takes time to get used to new foods and children are weary of anything new. Keep offering it and it will gradually become familiar. One day they may even try it.
7. Keep offering variety. Although it’s tempting to stick to the same familiar foods that you know your kids will eat, the more variety you offer, the more variety they are likely to eat.
8. Offer fruit and vegetables whenever you can. The more you offer, the more likely they are to eat them.
9. Offer more fruit and vegetables than you expect them to eat. If you offer just peas with dinner and they don’t eat peas, they haven’t eaten any vegetables. If you offer carrots, peas and broccoli, they will probably try some vegetables.
10. Think about textures. Lots of children don’t like the texture of certain foods, whether it’s squishy like aubergine or crunch like cabbage. That’s fine. Present it but allow them not to eat it.
11. “You don’t have to eat it!” I think I must say that phrase about 100 times a day.
12. Be patient and be persistent.
Teaching your children to like fruit and vegetables takes time. It takes patience and persistence.
Once you get into the habit of offering your children a healthy diet with yummy, tasty healthy food, you’ll find that even your fussy eaters will transform into healthy eater.”
About Dr Orlena Kerek
Dr Orlena Kerek is a paediatric doctor and mother of four young children. She writes about developing healthy habits from an early age, especially healthy eating habits. She believes in fun healthy food the stress free way.
If you would like to know more about how to help your fussy eater, check out Orlena’s “Help Your Fussy Eater Guide”.
Hi there, I have four children ranging from the ages of 7, 5, 3 and 1… All of them are fussy apart from the 3 year old (thank for one that eats my cooking, although he is starting to copy his siblings behaviour even when I know he eats it)…. I agree with all the points in the article and tell the children they don’t have to eat the food they don’t like…However I often then find them sneaking into the pantry around bedtime to get bread or apples to fill their hungry tums up… I don’t usually allow this as I don’t want them to skip dinner for this after… But I do feel stink when they’re going to bed hungry and often will let a snack slide with the younger two in order to ensure a good nights rest. Would appreciate any constructive feedback on this delima…
Oh Denise I know exactly what you mean… I have the same problem. If my kids won’t eat dinner I will sometimes allow them a very small snack of fruit and a little yogurt but not much more and so they go to bed not starving but a little hungry. I think its good for them to feel hunger every so often as then they may be more appreciative of their next meal. I have also cut back on afternoon snacks for my kids and I find this helps with getting them to eat more at dinner time.