Nothing makes parents happier than watching their toddler eat a full, well-balanced, and nutritional meal — vegetables and all.
Conversely, nothing can be more frustrating to a parent than standing by helplessly as their 18-36 month-old child picks at his food, refuses to eat certain items, or wants only grilled cheese sandwiches at every meal.
Parenting Plus would like to explain to parents why this happens with toddlers and how best to handle it.
Why don’t toddlers eat a delicious, full meal at dinner time like adults do? First, a toddler’s stomach is small and he can’t put much food in there at one time. Because of this, toddlers need to eat often and should have a healthy snack every three or four hours.
Good snack choices include raw vegetables with dip, crackers with cheese or peanut butter, fruit, milk, pudding and yogurt.
The second reason a toddler is eating less than might be expected is because he’s growing more slowly than he did as an infant. He simply doesn’t need as much fuel as he did before.
A third reason for this change is that a young, newly mobile child is far more interested in being independent and moving around than sitting down to eat. It’s a big world out there and it’s simply waiting to be explored!
What can you do to deal effectively with this change in your toddler’s eating habits? Here are a few tips:
1) serve your toddler very small amounts of each food
2) give him new foods to try but don’t make him eat them
3) have regular family meals, especially dinner
4) don’t use desserts as a bribe, instead let him eat a healthy dessert during the meal
5) include your child in family conversation at the dinner table
6) let him decide when he’s had enough to eat — he is learning to listen to what his body tells him about being hungry or full.
In short, understand that this development is normal in young children. There is no need for food fights. Your job as a parent is to offer your child a variety of nutritious food on a regular schedule.
Your toddler’s job is to decide what food — and how much of it — to eat. It’s been found that over time your child will eat what he needs to stay healthy from the good foods you offer him.
The author, Patti Koelle, is the parent educator for the Centre County Youth Service Bureau.
