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September 24, 2008

Strategies For Picky Eaters

Here's a little something for parents who find the nightly dinner table a battle ground. If you're having trouble getting your child to eat vegetables, there are six strategies from New York Times Health you can try to help confound your picky eater.

1) Involve children in meal preparation.
The researchers found that children who had cooked their own foods were more likely to eat those foods in the cafeteria, and even ask for seconds, than children who had not had the cooking class. Better yet, grow a garden and teach children where their food comes from.

2) Don't pressure your child to try new foods.
Studies show that children react negatively when parents pressure them to eat foods, even if the pressure offers a reward. Try to stay neutral about food.

3) Restricting "forbidden" foods just make them more desirable.
Don’t bring foods that you feel the need to restrict into the house. Instead, buy healthful snacks and give children free access to the food cabinets. We always had access to dried fruit and nuts (so long as we didn't spoil our appetite for dinner--we did have to ask permission to snack).

4) Expand your own food repertoire.
A Rutgers study of parent and child food preferences found that preschoolers tended to like or reject the same fruits and vegetables their parents liked or didn’t like. Be careful if you're a dieter, children's relationship with food can become skewed from your example.

5) Dress up boring vegetables.
Adding a little butter, ranch dressing, cheese sauce or brown sugar to a vegetable dish can significantly improve its kid appeal. And adding a little fat to vegetables helps unlock their fat-soluble nutrients.

6) Be patient.
Susan B. Roberts, a Tufts University nutritionist and co-author of the book “Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health,” suggested a “rule of 15” — putting a food on the table at least 15 times to see if a child will accept it.

It's easy to worry when your toddler isn't eating at the voracious rate that they did during their first year. My mother's maxim: "No child will starve themselves." Put out healthy options and you'll be surprised that they will likely choose one serving of each of the four groups by the end of the day.

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Posted by linda at September 24, 2008 8:10 AM