Is your youngster a picky eater? – a special NUTRITION GUIDE for your fussy eaters.
Is your youngster a picky eater? – a special NUTRITION GUIDE for your fussy eaters.
Fussy/picky eating habits is common across childhood, from children to young adult the experience of food refusal might be a common characteristic.
According to NCBI 2015 statistics, eating behaviour largely depends on the psychological mealtime emotions. These perceptions and behaviours can be pleasantly controlled by parents.
Forcing a child to eat something will only make them eat it less!
Picky eating is largely picked up when the child is learning to eat by themselves, most widely among pre-schoolers and toddlers.
Types of Picky eaters
- Sensory aware eaters
Some kids are hyper aware of taste, smell and texture of their food.
- Choosy Eaters
When children have preferential choices of food.
- Temperament responders
Some kids are moody while eating and they nit-pick with the choices of their food
- Avoiding a food group
Avoiding a whole food group such as fruits or vegetables
- Distraction
Distraction such as TV or playing while eating can result in picky eating
- Not able to sit for a long time
When children are more active during the age of growing up they can’t sit at one place and finish their meal.
Impact on health
Fussy eating of kids can lead to nutritional imbalance during the phase of growing up.
How to tackle?
- Try to give them the food in the texture they like (for example, mashed potatoes instead of big pieces of potato)
- Introduce your kids to new food by keeping a new item in their plate during each meal and showing them even parents are trying the new food.
- Some kids get moody while eating don’t force them to eat at the same time even if it gets annoying. Forcing them to eat will make them eat less.
- Try to feed children at least 4 food groups in a day.
- Include them in food preparation and serving before eating together at the dinner table by asking them to pour, stir or place the plates at the table, this will avoid their distraction and help them in creating a fun environment.
- Serve them small portions of colourful food and help them to eat it during 8 different occasions.
- Have a structured mealtime with the family together, this will bring out their love and psychological experience.
Help your children to fill their tummies and keep their appetite in check throughout the activities of day!