Fussy Toddlers

By Tiffany Richardson

Research has shown that it can take 15 or so exposures to a given food before a child accepts it, so if he doesn’t like it the first time around, don’t give up.

At the toddler stage your children grow very quickly and are usually very active so they need plenty of calories and nutrients. They should be eating foods from the four major food groups (including milk and dairy foods, meat, fish and alternatives, bread and other cereals and fruits and vegetables).

Each day your child, age two to six, should be eating 6 servings from the grain group (one serving can be a slice of bread, ½ cup of cooked rice or pasta, ½ cup of cooked cereal, one ounce ready-to-eat cereal), 2 servings of fruit (1 piece of fruit of a melon wedge, ¾ cup of juice, ½ cup of canned fruit), 3 servings of vegetables (1/2 cup of chopped raw or cooked vegetables, 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables), 2 servings of meat (2 to 3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry or fish, ½ cup of cooked dry beans or 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter count as 1 ounce of meat), and 2 servings of milk (1 cup of milk or yogurt, 2 ounces of cheese).

To reduce the risk of allergies, don’t offer peanut butter until your child is 3 years old. Peanuts can cause violent allergic reactions and they’re also large enough for your child to choke on. Whole grapes should also be cut into quarters for toddlers as they can get lodged in a child’s throat.

The food a child eats affects his or her health and growth. Good food habits learned between one and five years of age can form a lifetime pattern of healthy eating. Children learn from example so don’t eat pizza five nights a week or be munching away on a bag of potato chips as you’re making dinner.

Here are some ideas that you can try to get your fussy toddler to eat and help ensure that he is eating healthy:

• Give foods special names like ‘flying saucer pancakes’ that can have bananas or berries stirred into the batter.
• Make faces or animal shapes from vegetables and fruit. Cucumbers make great eyes and carrot sticks make the perfect nose!
• Serve frozen vegetables as a snack and tell your child that they are Eskimo food.
• Cut sandwiches into a variety of smaller shapes such as rectangles, triangles, half-moons, etc. This is also an effective way to teach your toddler about shapes.
• Let your child help you prepare the meal, obviously don’t stand them by the hot stove, but try to make them feel like they have choices.
• Have themed meals such as a circus dinner where everything is colourful or shape dinners where everything is cut in shapes. It makes for a lot of work, but if it gets them eating, Kudos to you!
• If your child refuses to eat certain foods then respect your child’s wishes, even if nothing is eaten. Children will not let themselves go hungry, they will eventually eat, but after a reasonable length of time, remove the food if it is untouched. Toddlers have small stomachs and do not need to eat every meal.

 Remember food likes and dislikes change over time, so a food refused today may be eaten next week. Hang in there and happy dining!

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