Mums and Bubs
When it comes to eating solid foods, it is still something new for your toddler. He requires some time to adjust with different textures, tastes, and color of new food items.
It is completely normal for children to change their eating habits with time. With the passage of time, he is becoming independent and trying to select things on his own. Becoming independent and making your choices is very important for your toddler in the future.
This is the perfect time to guide your toddler to try new food items earlier than he becomes comfortable with his own choices. Try to offer a variety of foods in the earlier age, so he will not be surprised in the future.
How to Introduce New Foods?
A child has a complete sense of required nutrients for his body, and the rest is up to her what he decides to eat. What you need to do is to provide a plenty of healthy options in a comfortable environment. Let’s take a look at following tips regarding how to deal with a choosy eater.
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- Plan your toddler’s eating in 3 to 4 meals. Healthcare providers explained that toddlers who are picky eaters are normally those who keep eating all the day.
- Serve a new food with your child’s favorites and don’t make it a big deal. Just let it on the table, so your kid will become familiar with it.
- Introduce a new food when you notice that your kid is extra hungry. This is the time when he will be willing to eat anything despite the shape or taste.
- Some children are more sensitive than others and they pay attention towards the shape and colors. Learn their choices and try to present the food in the same way.
- Learn the tricks to improve the nutritional value of the food your kids love to eat at any time. For example, add some carrots, diced chicken, or anything else.
- Don’t let your kid eat too many sweet dishes at a time. Before introducing a sweet dish, make sure that he is well fed, so he won’t be eating too much.
- Set the table in a perfect manner and try to reduce the distractions like toys on the table, cartoons on the TV and so on.
How to make your toddler eat a large variety of foods?
Being fair, one shouldn’t assume her kid to eat a large variety of food in their earlier stage of life. For the long term, you need to set a healthy example for your toddler. What is the healthy example? Serve a lot of healthy foods on the table and eat all of them while enjoying and appreciating the taste.
For now, your kid will be a little picky and you need to adjust with that. It is very important to allow your kid to take his own decisions.
A registered dietitian at the University of California, Nancy Hudson says that a toddler should be in control for the things he eats. Because forcing a toddler to eat what he doesn’t like to eat will create serious problems in the later age. Nancy Hudson told that toddlers who weren’t allowed to make their own decisions regarding food became obese in the later age. Forcing your kid for anything will only make his stubborn, which is not a good thing at all.
If you feel that your kid is eating cheese and crackers all the day, don’t be angry. Just start noticing their eating habits for a week and you will find out that he is eating all the major food groups.
A study by American Dietetic Association found that even those parents who think their toddlers are picky eaters never know that their kids are touching almost all the food groups.
Well, if you still not satisfied with your kids eating habits, you can always consult your healthcare provider on this matter.
What is your child is not growing at a real pace?
Don’t get too much worried if you think that your kid is not growing at a steady pace. After one year, it is very common to notice a slower growth rate, which has nothing to do with the eating habits.
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