Establishing Healthy Eating Habits

Surviving mealtime behaviors of a child, especially a toddler, can be more than a challenge. These ideas should help you on your way to establishing healthy eating habits for your child. Remember that you are your child’s best role model for feeding and eating behaviors. Your child is watching you and wants to be just like you. If you are stressed or concerned about your child’s feeding behaviors please discuss this with your physician as it may be appropriate to get a comprehensive feeding evaluation.

Family meals. This is by far the most important! Have meals together as a family. If dad works late, eat with your children. Your child will be interested in food and will learn to eat a variety of foods just by watching you eat.

Offer a wide variety of nutritious foods. If you don’t want your child to eat junk food, don’t have it in the house.

Realize that it is your child’s responsibility to decide what and how much to eat.

When given the responsibility, children are pretty good at knowing what their bodies need. We need to understand the what and whys of refusal behaviors. Evaluation of feeding skills may be the key

Allow for self-feeding and exploration of food. It will be messy; however, the more your child knows about the food he is about to eat the better accepted the food will be. Positive feelings during mealtime enhance acceptance.

Don’t wipe your child’s hands during mealtime; allow them to be “messy” as they explore their foods.

Don’t let your food biases influence your child’s tastes. If you are a picky eater your child will follow your model.

Eating should be a positive experience. Don’t bribe, trick or sneak in food or apply pressure during mealtimes.

Never force, bribe or trick your child to eat. That includes placing a spoon in their mouth when they are smiling or yawning! Forcing, bribing or tricking can increase aversive feeding behaviors and refusals and reduce intake.

stress during mealtime releases a hormone that decreases appetite.

Use praise and hugs rather than food to reward good behavior.

Have lunch dates with good eaters your child’s age. Children will try new foods that their friends eat.

Did you know that it could take more than 10 unstressed exposures before a child will accept a new food? Don’t give up on a new food if your child says no on the first try. Try again on another day and your child may accept.

Picky eating is reinforced when a parent gives up on providing a variety of foods because their child is picky and refuses. Continue to offer a variety of healthy foods along with foods you know your child will accept.

It is common for a toddler to love one food (let’s say pizza) one day and absolutely hate it the next. Typical eaters will always love it again soon. Dysfunctional feeders won’t.

Your child should be curious enough about a new food that, if left alone, he will place it in his mouth. If not, your child most likely needs intervention.

Did you know that a child does not have the oral motor control to eat politely (with lips closed during chewing) until about 8 years of age? If your child chews with lips closed and especially with active lips, your child is most likely not chewing at all but mashing the food against their palate with their tongue. It looks like they are chewing, but they are not. Children will limit food variety, volume limit or refuse foods (vegetables and fruits for example) because they do not have the oral motor patterns to completely chew the food to safely swallow. These children need help.

It is not typical for a child to eat such a small variety of foods that you become a short order cook. Unless there are food allergies, there is no reason to be a short order cook. Short order cooking is a short term fix that is never a long term solution.

Typical toddlers to go through a picky eating stage as they are trying to become more independent. Picky eating is a stage and should end before a child reaches preschool age.

If you are concerned, don’t wait. Ask your pediatrician for an oral sensori-motor feeding evaluation. Early intervention is key.