“Just One Bite”
“Please Eat”
“You will like it… just try.”
If you have a picky eater these pleas probably sound familiar. Having a child who won’t eat is so frustrating. Trust me I have been there. I have twin girls who are 2.5 years old now. My kids started off as great eaters. They both ate whatever I put in front of them. Then BOOM…
18 months hit….
It was like a light switched and one of my girls became a horrible eater. I literally had no clue what she was surviving on. I swear she lived off of milk and goldfish for a month. I reached out to my pediatrician and other moms for help. I and got some great tips on how to handle my picky eater. As of today, she is a better eater and my overall stress over the situation has greatly decreased.
I wanted to share some tips and tricks for your picky eater. Here are some ideas that worked for my little one. I also have loads of meal ideas for kids on my Instagram account @simple.pearls.
So here we go…tips and tricks for picky eaters
1. CHILL OUT
- You want to foster good vibes at the dinner table. The last thing you want to do is to create negative feelings towards food. Kids can control what they put in their mouth (and they know this). So you have to make food and eating an enjoyable time. Forcing a kid to eat will just create more problems. So make the whole experience enjoyable for the whole family. My pediatrician told me to simply place a plate with a variety of foods in front of her and then “let it be.” I stopped the whole bargaining and begging routine that usually occurred. Instead, we simply carried on with dinner conversation and didn’t make eating a huge deal. I found that the overall stress level went down. My daughter started taking bites of her meals. She just needed to do it on her own terms. So just change your tune a little bit and let the good vibes flow.
2. ENTICE THEM
- This one was key for my little one. Half the time my daughter wouldn’t even put the food in her mouth. I knew if she actually tried it she would like it. She is one of those kids that doesn’t like food touching other food. I fixed that problem with silicone muffin liners. I also found little cookie cutters to cut fruit, cheese, even PBJ into little bite size shapes. When I placed the meals in front of her, she would get a kick out looking at her pretty plate. She would get excited to see the stars and flowers on her plate and was more eager to take a bite. Also, keep portions on the smaller side. It is easier for them to manage. They can always ask for more food.
3. MAKE IT EASY!
- Toddlers can be lazy and easily frustrated. Have meals and snacks already cut into bite size portions. Just make it easy for them. Try not to be messing with their food once you sit at the table. Have things ready to go for them when you place the meal in front of them. This cuts down on a whole lot of fussing. Also, make easy meals for yourself. Make only one meal that all will enjoy. Your meals just need to be quick and hassle free.
4. THE SHOO-IN
- This one is a big one…
- I mentioned before to offer a variety of things on your child’s plate. I found that if I placed a plate in front my daughter, and there wasn’t at last one thing that she recognized, it was game over. She would get mad and push the plate away. So always offer at least one item on the plate that you know your kid will take a bite out of. For my child, it is usually cheese or bread (those are my shoo-ins). My daughter always went to those options first. She would be happy to try more on her plate if there was at least one thing that excited her.
5. TIMING
- It is all about the timing. Watch the clock. Make sure your kids are actually hungry. As your kids grow and your daily routines change, you might need to adjust meal and snack times. I needed to catch the right window for when the kids are truly hungry. If the timing was not right, the girls just pushed plates away, flung food, and didn’t want to deal with sitting and eating a meal. We struggled with dinner. So I pushed dinner back by 30 mins. and it was so much better. If you are struggling with eating and food throwing try this little trick. You might just need to switch up the timing.
So there you have it a list of five quick feeding tips and tricks. I hope they help out.
Until next time….
Cat I.
