Tips on Feeding Fussy Children

Submitted by Serena Mason on June 8, 2010

All parents worry about the nutrition that their child is getting. While some parents worry even though their children eat well, there are others who have real cause for worry. A picky eater can be any parent’s nightmare. Of course, being a picky eater does not mean that the child will get malnourished. If the parents take proper care of their child and know what alternatives to feed him or her, the child will be well nourished and healthy.

As soon as a baby is born, it has a great appetite. However, around the age of two, the growth slows down a little and the appetite decreases slightly. This means that the child does not want to eat as much as it ate when it was still a baby.

To the parents it seems that the child is never hungry and doesn’t want to eat. In most cases, this is not true. The child is simply not as hungry as it used to be.

This is also the time when the child is going through certain behavioral changes. For instance, most children want a little control over their food by the time they are about three years old. They usually learn this from their environment.

They relish the ability to say no and many times, will say no to a meal just because they can.

If you constantly keep giving your child milk, juice and soup, the child may not feel very hungry by the time a meal is served. Some children are also resistant to change and may not enjoy changing to new foods, relishing only a few kinds of foods. A food pyramid is an excellent way for both parents and child to find out about foods. With the help of a pyramid, the parent can find out how much food the child needs. The food pyramid is a guide by which the parents can determine the amount of food they need to give to the child according to age, physical activity, and weight. It also lists down important food groups and different alternatives of foods in each of these groups.

For picky eaters, it is important to give the food a good presentation. If you have various differently colored ingredients in the food that you give to your child, your child may get curious about the food. Be imaginative when describing a dish to a child. Broccoli, for instance, may be described as the tree from the land of the mini people. Children love such kind of stories and they will relish the food that they think belongs to a fairy tale.