INTRODUCTION
Today, let's discuss the picky eating behavior of the children. As I know that picky eating is actually one of the most common worries of each and every parent, and the parents used to search for this or the techniques or methods to solve this problem in Google very regularly.
Yes, there are many children who deny eating vegetables, who only eat a few types of foods or few foods, or sometimes, say no to a new type of food. But please understand, my dear parent, you are not the only person who is facing this problem. There are lots of parents facing the same issue in the world.
🙋But I have some good or satisfying news for you.
⭐ The picky eating is considered to be a normal phase in every child. And please understand, this is not your failure, my dear parents.
⭐ If you have the right or a proper strategy, most of the children will definitely become healthy eaters.
In this particular blog, we will discuss and explain very clearly the reasons for picky eating in children, what as a parent you should not do, and 7 helpful strategies or techniques you can try to manage this problem.
👶What Does 'Picky Eating' Mean?
All of you are familiar with the word "picky eating", but still there are many parents who don't know the right meaning of this word. Anyway, let's break it down today.
We can call a child a picky eater if,
👉 He/she only eats some kinds of foods, which means they won't eat many different varieties of foods.
👉 He/she is not ready to try or taste new foods or the foods that are unfamiliar to them.
👉 He/she wants to consume the same food or familiar food again and again.
👉 He/she strongly reacts to some types of foods because of their taste, mouthfeel, smell (like the strong smell of fish), or appearance (rejecting the food based on how it looks).
📌 The very important point to keep in your mind is that picky eating is totally different from decreased appetite, disease, or feeding disorders. Therefore, don't misunderstand and misinterpret the picky eating behavior.
💁Let's Understand Why Children Become Picky Eaters
Usually you will notice the picky eating behavior in children in the age range of 1-5.
Why does this happen? Now we will discuss some real reasons behind this picky eating.
💧Picky eating can happen due to normal taste development. From the time of birth itself, the child likes sweet taste so much, and because of that, they can easily understand or naturally understand the bitter or sour taste, so they prefer sweet taste and deny bitter taste. So, this is a normal thing which can happen in the normal taste development, and this is not a problem.
💧Picky eating can happen due to 'food neophobia'. We can simply say food neophobia is the fear of new types of foods that they haven't tasted before. This is actually a normal behavior, and you can consider this as a defensive or protective behavior. This behavior is protective because this behavior will prevent them from eating unsafe foods.
💧Picky eating can happen due to a desire to make their own choices and options, or we can also call it self-decision behavior. Here what happens is that the toddlers (age 1-3) start to understand that they are actually individual people and due to this reason, they want to make decisions on their own, like what to eat, what to wear and what to play with. And when we speak about food, they will select or choose what they want to eat and in what quantity they want to eat. For example, yesterday they consumed one small piece of banana, and today they are saying 'NO' or denying the same banana today.
💧Picky eating can happen because of past experiences of forcing them to eat or feed. This kind of act from the parents is putting great pressure on the child, and because of that, the child is resisting or refusing the food now.
💧Picky eating can happen because of eating too many snacks or if the milk intake is high. What happens here is the child feels their stomach is full, and they will not feel hungry at their regular food time.
💧Picky eating can happen because of watching TV or mobile screens. If a child watches TV, computer, or mobile screens during their meals, then automatically the focus or attention of the child will be on that screen and not on the food. So please understand that these screens can both reduce the proper attention on the food, and also they will reduce the hunger signals in them.
⭐ Now we discussed 6 important reasons for why your child is becoming a picky eater. But in fact, in most of the picky-eating children, this behavior is for a limited time period if you handle them nicely and correctly.
💡7 Best Techniques And Tips To Handle Your Picky Eater
I know this is the topic that you are waiting for. Anyway, before reading and understanding these strategies, let me tell you these are the real working strategies that will solve all your worries regarding the picky eating behavior of your child. Because of that, please give your proper focus and completely read each strategy before you try. Now let's move on.
✅ Don't Force Your Child - Forcing Only Makes Things Worse
At first, just think to yourself, what will happen if you are always forcing the child to eat the food? Of course, it will
👉 Increase their fear and resistance or refusal to the food that you give.
👉 This act from you as a parent can create negative or bad memories about food in your child.
👉 Lead to prolonged resistance to food when you feed.
What you should do?
📍At first, you must be calm and give the food calmly without putting pressure on them, without any anger, and without any threats.
📍Give them the freedom to decide how much to eat and drink. Let them eat more or less as per their need and hunger.
📍You must trust their hunger signs; that means you must believe that your kid can naturally feel and understand the hunger and also when their stomach is full.
😍 The best rule is: Let the parent decide what food to give and when to give it, and let the child decide whether they want to eat and how much food to eat depending on their hunger.
✅ Try to Keep a Fixed Meal and Snack Routine
The simple thing here is that usually the children eat food better, and it is good if they get the food at fixed times every day. Because in this way their body will understand the correct time to feel hunger.
The most suitable routine that you can practise is :
👉 Provide 3 main meals like breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
👉 Provide 2 healthy snack items. It is better to give this in the mid-morning and also in the evening (it can be a fruit or fruit plus some nuts, yogurt, boiled corn, roasted chickpeas etc.).
👉 Avoid eating small amounts of food throughout the day without any fixed mealtime or snack time.
What Should Be Avoided? 👇
🔖 Avoid eating biscuits frequently and constantly.
🔖 Avoid sipping milk, or juice, or any other sugary drinks the whole day.
🔖 Avoid the intake of a few bites of food in each 30-60 minute gap.
🔖 Avoid giving a stomach full of milk before giving food.
In fact, why should you avoid these kinds of things? If there are these kinds of eating habits without discipline, then,
🔖 The child will not come to the stage of a real hunger.
🔖 Can lead to the skipping of main meals.
🔖 Can lead to loss of ability of child to feel the real hunger and also to understand their stomach is full at the proper times.
✅ Frequent Exposure is Required
Sometimes children will not accept a new food suddenly if you give it to them. The repeated or frequent exposure to the same food again and again, which means around 10 to 15 times, leads to acceptance of the food.
Even watching/seeing, touching and feeling, getting the smell, and licking the new food can increase the familiarity, and the child becomes automatically comfortable with that particular food.
📍The key point here is, if the child says 'NO' to a food, don't stop giving that food forever; try again and again and increase the exposure, and finally you will succeed.
✅ Make a Proper Meal Routine Without Television or Mobile Screens
Is a child watching TV or a computer or a mobile screen a real problem? Do you have this question in your brain?.
📌 A child should always be aware of their hunger and stomach fullness. But this awareness might get reduced if the child is on screen while eating food.
📌 The picky eating behavior will increase, because when the child is on a mobile or TV screen, their whole concentration will be on the visuals of the screen, and because of that, even if you keep new foods on their plate, they will eat only familiar foods, and this can cause rejection of important nutritious foods.
📌Can result in overeating because when the child's concentration is on the mobile or television screen, they won't realise when their stomach is full. That means food eating might continue even if the stomach is full. The overeating is mainly seen in the case of junk foods (like chips, ice cream, cakes, chocolate, etc.).
What Can You Do Now?
⚡ Sit the child at a table and give them the food. This can increase the concentration of the child on the food.
⚡Provide the food at the same time every day. This will help their body understand at what time to feel hungry.
⚡Create a peaceful atmosphere. That means don't scold the child and don't put pressure on them.
⚡Try to give them the food together with all other family members whenever it is possible; even if you are not able to do it every day, it is not a problem.
🔔 Keep In Mind - Usually the children copy the elder one. That means if the parents eat healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc., the child will also eat them, and if the parents eat foods while watching the TV or phone, then that also will be copied by the child.
✅ Children Eat Food Better When They Feel They Are Involved In The Dietary Or Food Choices
Yes, the children will eat better if they get a feel that they are also a part of preparing food or if they get a feel that they also have importance in food choices.
👉 Now I will give you some age-appropriate activities:
👉 Allow them to wash the fruits and vegetables.
👉 Give them 2 or more options of healthy foods. For example, you can ask them if you want an apple or a carrot. So both options are healthy, and whatever they choose, it is good.
👉 Neatly arrange the food items on their plate.
👉 Tell them simply to add the ingredients while cooking or to arrange the table, etc.
✅ Try To Become Their Role Model (A Very Effective Technique)
What does this actually mean?
As I said before, the children usually copy their parents or adults. So if you as a parent are skipping the vegetables or eating junk food regularly or if you are on a diet which restricts many foods, your child will also be influenced by those habits.
What do you have to do?
🔖 You can eat the healthy foods that you want your little one to eat.
🔖 Enjoy the healthy food and express the enjoyment while eating.
✅ Concentrate on Nutrition, Not Perfection
Healthy eating in children depends on their overall routine. Why I said this is because you should not think that eating unhealthy snacks or other items once will destroy your child's health.
💎 Consider your child's weekly nutrition status, not daily on each and every meal.
💎 Some of the food items will be less healthy, but totally or collectively the foods they eat should be nutritious.
💎 You should not name any food as 'good' or 'bad'. Because this can make regret or sorrow or some kind of food fear in children.
📚 Real-Life Stories
NO.1
A 4-year-old boy who only likes to eat rice and curd. Because of this, his parents regularly forced him to eat vegetables every day, and this act from the parents made him cry every day, and he was also vomiting because of this.
As per expert advice, the parents made some considerable changes:
👉 Parents totally stopped giving food by force.
👉 Gradually and slowly included vegetables in his diet, avoiding giving all the vegetables together at once.
👉 All the family members started eating the food together.
What Happened After 6 Weeks?
📌 The child started eating dal, vegetables and fruits.
📌 The stress during the meals got reduced, and he didn't cry or vomit thereafter. That means he started eating peacefully.
📌 His overall feeling of hunger increased.
No.2
A 6-year-old girl eats different types of snacks throughout the day little by little, and because of this, she was not feeling hunger at the meal times, and that led to meal skipping.
But her mother realised that this is not good for her daughter and made a clear-cut plan to change the situation.
What changes did the mother make?
👉 Her mother scheduled a proper and fixed food timing.
👉 Her mother started giving fruits and nuts instead of unhealthy snack items.
👉 Her mother didn't give any food in between the scheduled meals.
What happened to her daughter after 1 month?
📌 She started to feel hunger when the mealtime arrived.
📌 She was ready to explore new healthy food items.
📌 Her overall energy level rose, and she became a vibrant girl.
🙋 Some Questions From Parents
❓Is picky eating a normal developmental behavior?
🔓 Yes, the majority of children usually go through this phase. They will deny some foods and will only eat what they like, and this is considered the normal thing that can happen in the growth and development, and this is mainly seen between the age of 2 and 6.
❓Does picky eating make my child weak or nutritionally deficient?
🔓 "Usually Not" will be the answer for this question. The child's overall health is not decided by just one meal. The child's growth and development absolutely depend on long-term food intake. Even if your child is a picky eater for a short period of time, your child definitely gets a sufficient amount of nutrients from what they eat. Picky eating is considered a problem only if it is continued long-term or if the child is eating very few varieties of food items.
❓Do I need to give any supplements to my child?
🔓 You can give supplements only if the doctor advised to do so. Always food is the king. The child can get good nutrients from fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and protein-rich foods. Giving the supplements without a doctor's advice can be even harmful to your child.
❓What is the normal duration of picky eating in children?
🔓 The duration of picky eating can be sometimes weeks or maybe months. Most of the children will come out of this picky eating behavior as they grow up. Anyway, the parents should have the patience and must create a proper and consistent mealtime schedule for the child to help them to explore new food items.
❓When should I consult a pediatrician in case of picky eating?
🔓 I personally think this is one of the most important doubts most of the parents have. Anyway, let's sort this out. Let's look at the 4 most important danger signs which indicate the parent should make an appointment with a pediatrician for their child.
✔ Child is losing body weight. Losing the weight means the child is not receiving a sufficient amount of nutrients and calories.
✔ Child is only eating less than 10 varieties of foods in total. This is a problem because eating a smaller variety of foods increases the chance of deficiencies.
✔ If the child is chocking or has gagging, or has pain during swallowing or eating. Should get the medical help.
✔ Growth and development of the child is getting delayed. This could indicate that the child is not getting proper nutrition for proper growth.
👪 A Final Note For Parents
Dear parents, please understand that picky eating is not your failure. You may please stay calm and try some strategies that best suit you from the above section and consistently do those strategies, and for sure this will work better than putting pressure on your little ones. Perfect healthy habits can give your child a healthier future. Wishing you a happy day.
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