What to do if your child is picky about food? What to do if your child is picky about food and doesn't like to eat?

Many parents have this question: how to deal with babies who are picky eaters? Today, let’s talk about how to deal with these problems if children show symptoms of picky eating.

What to do if your baby is picky about food

To cultivate good eating habits for babies, parents must first set an example by changing and adjusting their own eating habits. At the very least, they should not show any special dietary preferences in front of their children, and try to let them eat a variety of foods to ensure the nutrition needed for physical development.

In addition, parents need to establish a correct diet concept. What is a correct diet concept? It is what we call the combination of meat and vegetables. But this does not necessarily mean that meat and vegetables must be combined every day. Sometimes some children only eat vegetarian food this month, and they will eat meat next month. Only when the child's diet is balanced throughout the year can the symptoms be balanced. But if we want to achieve a balanced diet every day, it is difficult for us adults to do it, let alone children.

Parents should innovate new varieties in their children's diet. If we want our children to eat more meat, then we can innovate in their diet. For example, we can make dumplings with some meat in the vegetables that the baby likes. Some children like to eat dumplings with meat and vegetables together. In fact, there are many ways to do it. You can adjust it according to your child's preferences. But first of all, it is important to establish the correct concept of diet.

Another important point is to develop the habit of not eating snacks before meals. If the child is really hungry, you might as well give him some healthier foods such as yogurt, fruit, whole wheat biscuits, etc.

Simple growth and development measures:

Weight before six months old (kg) = weight at birth (kg) + age in months × 0.7

Weight after six months (kg) = 6.0 + age in months × 0.25

Weight after 1 year old (kg) = age × 2 + 8

Length/Height: Increase by about 25cm in the first year

Over 1 year old (cm) = age × 5 + 80

Parents can calculate their child's height/weight. If it is greater than 10% and less than 20% of the standard, it is above average. If it is less than 10%, it needs to be improved. If it is less than 20%, the baby may be malnourished and should go to the hospital to see a doctor. As long as the baby's weight/height is within this standard, parents don't have to force their children to finish a certain number of bowls of rice every day.

Good ways to deal with picky eaters

1. Make delicious food

Sometimes children like to eat a food not because they like the food itself, but because they are attracted by its appearance. For example, children like to drink yogurt not because they know how much yogurt is worth or how delicious it tastes, but because of the cartoon packaging of yogurt.

Similarly, if your child doesn't like to eat vegetables and fruits, why don't you change your mindset and arrange the vegetables or fruits into nice patterns, or the cartoon characters that your child likes recently. As long as you make the food look good, interesting and delicious, why worry about your child not eating?

2. Make delicious meals with your children

Kindergartens often hold some parent-child activities and games, allowing parents and children to make food together. Parents will find that the picky and arrogant children at home actually eat up all the food. It is not that the food in parent-child activities is delicious, but that they make it by themselves, so they feel a sense of accomplishment and naturally enjoy the food. Secondly, letting children make food together can also improve their hands-on ability.

3. Develop the habit of not eating snacks before meals

I don't know if you ate snacks before meals when you were young. Anyway, I loved to eat snacks before meals when I was young. Then when it was time to eat, my stomach was full of snacks, so I couldn't eat. So parents must cultivate the good habit of not eating snacks before meals. Of course, if the child is really hungry, you might as well give the child some healthier foods such as yogurt, 7 fruits, whole wheat biscuits, etc.

4. Compete with your children and demonstrate to them

There are always smart children who cannot be fooled by the exquisite cartoon food. Then parents can only come up with new tricks. Parents are the best teachers for their children. Many children will unconsciously imitate their parents' actions. So if you want your children to eat more vegetables and fruits, parents should also eat more. Many children will unconsciously want to eat when they see their parents eating delicious food.

5. Start with a cartoon story

Many children have the habit of listening to their parents telling stories before going to bed. Parents do not have to read from the book, but can make some modifications. When telling stories, you can bring children's picky eating or other bad habits into the story, and tell children the impact of their picky eating on their bodies through stories and third-party images.

Maybe not every method is suitable for your child, but the essence remains the same. Parents should be patient with their children and never scare them or yell at them when they are eating. If a child cries while eating, he or she may choke on the food or inhale the food into the trachea, which is dangerous.

As we all know, partial eating is a bad eating habit. If your baby has the habit of partial eating, parents should pay attention, because long-term partial eating can cause nutritional imbalance, thus affecting the baby's normal growth and development. So, what are the symptoms of partial eating in babies?

Picky eating refers to a child being picky about food or only eating a few foods that he or she likes or is used to. Picky eating is a bad eating habit that is not conducive to nutrient intake or healthy development. If a baby only eats the foods that he or she likes or is used to for a long time, it will cause weight loss or sallow complexion, dry skin, and in severe cases, it can also lead to anemia, hypoglycemia, malnutrition and other symptoms.

Symptoms of picky eating in babies

If your baby is picky eater, he or she may show the following symptoms:

1. Every time you eat, don’t eat the rice or noodles in the small bowl, just eat the meat and you will feel full.

2. When you ask him to eat vegetables, he either refuses to eat them or he puts them in his mouth, smacks the taste, and then spits them out.

3. Like to eat fried foods such as hamburgers, French fries, fried chicken, etc., and the amount eaten each time can be equivalent to a day's meal.

4. He loves to eat snacks such as small cakes, yogurt, soda crackers, etc. and never eats properly.

5. When I encounter dishes I like, I always eat a lot; when I encounter dishes I don’t like, I would rather go hungry than eat.

If the baby shows the above symptoms, parents should pay attention and correct them in time to avoid affecting the baby's nutritional absorption and thus affecting his normal growth and development.