Tips and tricks for getting the picky eater in your life to branch out and try new foods. Picky eating is listed as one of the most stressful parts of mealtime, so I provide ways to help minimize the stress.
If you have a picky eater at home, you know how challenging it can be to come up with healthy snack ideas day after day. One of biggest recommendations for picky eaters is to try and offer variety as much as possible. This can be extremely tricky if your child only like a handful of foods.
It’s incredibly common for children to go through a picky eating phase, somewhere between ages 1-3. At this time, their energy needs decrease significantly and their autonomy increases. This combination can lead to stressful meals.
For most kids, this is only a temporary phase and there are some simple things you can do as a parent to help your picky eater expand their palate.
You may have heard me talking about the importance of eating together as a family, but as you’re watching your baby dump food off their tray or your toddler run circles around the table, you wonder, “Is it really worth it? Do the benefits outweigh the stress?”
First, I have tips for encouraging your toddler to remain seated and to help prevent your baby from dumping their food off their tray. I promise family meals don’t need to be stressful (I created a whole course on that premise)! Plus there are really so many benefits from eating together as a family, even if your whole family isn’t present.
While baby led weaning is a feeding strategy for introducing solids to your baby, baby led feeding focuses on setting up the foundation of responsive feeding. Responsive feeding is the idea that your child is in charge of certain aspects of eating. It is not up to the caregiver to determine what or how much a child eats. You trust that your child will honor their hunger and satiety cues. This sets them up for balanced eating in the future.
