What Makes Children Picky Eaters? Tips For Parents To Handle Them

According to research, 20% of parents report that their 2- to 5-year-old children are picky eaters. Although it is developmentally acceptable, if left unaddressed, it could result in the following issues:

1. Nutritional Deficiencies: Picky eating can lack essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

2. Poor Growth: Children who are picky eaters may not receive enough calories and nutrients for proper growth and development.

3. Social Isolation: Picky eaters may feel excluded from social gatherings that involve food, such as birthday parties, family dinners, and school lunches.

4. Weight Issues: Depending on the meals selected and the frequency of eating, picky eating might result in underweight or overweight status.

5. Digestive Issues: Eating a limited variety of foods can lead to digestive problems such as constipation or irritable bowel syndrome.

6. Food Avoidance and Phobias: Picky eating can progress into phobias and food avoidance, which makes it even more challenging for the person to enjoy a healthy diet.

What can parents do until this phase gets over and how to ensure it is just a phase? And how to ensure enough fibre in their diets.
Here are some tips to help with picky eating in children:
1. Provide a range of food options: Encourage kids to explore new meals by providing various nutritious options.

2. Make dinner enjoyable by establishing a calm, pleasurable atmosphere.

3. Have patience: Before a child tries a new meal, they might need to be exposed to it several times.

4. Provide dips or sauces: Some kids might be more likely to try new meals if accompanied by a dip or sauce.

5. Use positive reinforcement: Praise children when they try new foods or eat well.

6. Offer healthy options and preferred foods: Offer a mix of healthy and preferred foods at mealtime.

7. Offer small tastes: Offer small tastes of new foods and encourage children to try them, but don't force the issue.

8. Make healthy options fun: Play with your food, have a taste-testing day, or turn mealtime into a fun game or activity. Make them wash the vegetables or get them from the fridge.

9. It's essential to have regular meal times and not offer food outside those times, as this can help establish healthy eating habits. However, it's also important to remember that children's appetites can vary, and they may only sometimes be hungry at mealtimes. If a child says they're not hungry, it's okay to let them skip a meal or snack, but encourage them to eat at the next meal or snack time.

10. Don't make meal times a power struggle. If the child says no, do not try to bribe them or give consequences attached to the meal. They may end up not having that food again or developing unhealthy relations with it. Instead, try talking about the vegetable or the fruit & the benefits. Associate the benefits with things they like.

11. Get them involved: Let the child help plan, prepare and serve meals. Take their help in setting the table.

12. Take them for vegetable and fruit shopping. Contributing to the meal makes them more interested in eating the food.

13. If you have offered them few options from the available meal and they refuse to eat any of them. Do not replace it with something they like.

14. Have your meals together as a family to build more fun associations with meal time.

15. Ensure no distractions while eating meals. It does not serve in the long run.

16. Be a good role model: Children learn by watching what others do, so make sure to eat various healthy foods yourself.

Sometimes parents get frustrated or give up on handling picky eaters because of food wastage. To minimise that, you can:

• Plan ahead: Use leftovers as ingredients in future meals. For example, use leftover cooked chicken in a salad or a stir-fry.
• Reduce portion sizes: Serve smaller portions, especially for children still learning their appetite.

Remember, picky eating can be a phase that children grow out of. The key is to offer various healthy options and create a positive mealtime experience.

Happy Parenting!!