My kid is such a picky eater – what do I do?

• Give some of the responsibility to your child. You provide the nutritious, child-suitable food for each meal and the child decides what and how much to eat. Do not fall into another trap: the trap of becoming a short-order chef who rushes around to provide something different for a picky child. No child is likely to starve when food is actually available.
• Make sure that there is a variety of suitable food on offer: a vegetable, a fruit and a protein. But other foods that appeal to the rest of the family must also be offered. Eventually your picky eater will probably start tasting the other foods that the rest of the family is clearly enjoying.
• Make sure that your child doesn’t drink too much too soon before a meal – especially drinks that are high in sugars, including fruit juices and even milk. That will mean your child will simply not be hungry at meal times.
• Have scheduled times for the three meals a day, as well as mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. Children then learn that they are not in danger of going hungry and they can manage the time between meals and snacks. Any-time snacking (grazing) almost certainly interferes with proper eating habits.
• At scheduled mealtimes make sure that the whole family spends time together around the table, whether choosing to eat or not. (Obviously within reason, as determined by the age of the child). If your child decides not to eat at the meal the next possible time should be the next scheduled meal or snack time, nothing in between. You can be sure you child will not starve!
• Accommodate quirky preferences where possible.
  A child might not eat peas but love beans, prefer raw to cooked, like gravy or not, mix food or eat separately, like something for a day or two and then prefer something else, keep something until last…….. That’s okay, and nothing to make a fuss about. Just remember not to offer substitutes on that day!
• Don’t provide desserts daily and create that expectation. A piece of fruit can be the offering on a regular basis and something fancier, say, for Sundays and holidays. In other words, let desserts be genuine, infrequent treats.
• Ensure as best you can that mealtimes are pleasant family experiences. Make meals a time for interesting conversations in a clean, pleasant environment. The meal table is often the place where the most important family conversations are held, and where family memories are built. This pattern can be established from quite early on in the life of your child and the effort is definitely worth it!

Its essential that parents persevere with kids who are picky eaters to broaden the variety of the food that they eat. Persistence is key here. And eventually most people end up with a reasonable variety of acceptable foods.

However, during this journey, it’s my opinion that supplementation plays a vital role for the health and proper development of growing kids.  It’s not instead of a good diet, but as well as developing good eating habits.

You can read more about the products we used when our children were young here:
https://neolifeafrica.com/positiveoptions/shop/childrenshealth

If you’d like to get in touch with me please message me on Faceook or contact me via WhatsApp here: +27 (0)84 506 3643 and leave a message. I will get back to you.

Disclaimer:

The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions and experiences of the author. They are for information purposes and do not replace a consultation with your doctor.