Have a fussy eater at home? Tips to make children like healthy food

Children and their fussy eating habits

A picky eater is a child who is extremely particular about the food's appearance, flavor, texture, and aroma. This child consumes a relatively small range of foods, both known and unknown. This child frequently insists on eating the same foods every day of the week and won't try new cuisines. For a mother whose baby is a picky eater,

feeding

the child is both a crucial and difficult responsibility.

If dinnertime turns into a battlefield, these suggestions are definitely worthwhile to try.

Keep the amount of food served minimal

The best way to expand a child's diet diversity is to introduce foods in very small amounts. Giving a youngster a large dinner consisting of a full bowl of a new food item is unfair. The kid won't even allow themselves to touch it. A child will be more willing to try new meals if he has just one or two bites of the cuisine and then eats something he is accustomed to. For a youngster to accept a new food item, they need to try it at least six or seven times in a two to three week period.

Feed them an age-appropriate diet

It is frequently discovered that many finicky eaters are still consuming more than enough milk in their diets as opposed to solid meals after a thorough examination of the feeding history and information from the parents. However, in rare instances, finger meals and snacks might satisfy hunger, which increases resistance during mealtimes. If these are kept to a minimum, kids will genuinely feel hungry at

mealtime

and will be less likely to object to eating a full meal that includes a variety of foods.

Allow the child to play with the food

Before shoving food into his mouth, it is vital that the youngster investigate the food and get a sense of its texture and flavor. Many kids have heightened sensitivity to touch, which directly affects how much texture they can handle in food. The child will feel more at ease about the food before he puts it in his mouth if you let him investigate it with his hands. Children can also engage in supervised sensory play to help them become accustomed to a variety of textures. The kid can be introduced to a variety of kitchen goods for sensory play, including dough, soaked chia seeds, wheat, rice, maize kernels, and chickpea slurry.

Feeding therapy

You should seek the advice of a licensed speech therapist if your child is really picky about food, to the point where it's causing nutritional deficits. Eating pureed foods after the age of 12 to 14 months, gagging at the sight or smell of food, becoming agitated when brushing their teeth, or exhibiting other indications of touch and oral hypersensitivity are warning signals that your child needs assistance with feeding. Red flags include when a youngster bites their food improperly, rinses it down their throat with water, or pockets food in their cheeks before swallowing. They should also use eating and drinking utensils like a spoon, straw, sippy cup, or glass.

Don’t let it become a habit

Parents need to remember that eating is not an ego war. Don't let it become a behavior. Sometimes it's misconstrued as the youngster scoffing at the work involved in preparing meals, which causes irate situations and results in the child receiving a warning, a bribe, or a punishment. Never push a child to eat; such unpleasant experiences will only make the situation worse. A child may occasionally develop a behavior problem because he enjoys the additional attention he receives during these mealtimes.