Babies, Parenting, Child Health, Infant Nutrition

Child Health and Nutrition - Tips for Feeding Your Toddler

10.23.2007 | 11:10:35 pm | Posted by mummums

By Colleen Hurley, RD, Certified Kid’s Nutrition Specialist

Your toddler is now walking and talking, enjoying his newfound skills. Some of that independence may reveal itself at the dinner table, with strong opinions flying about his likes and dislikes. This is perfectly normal as food choice is one of the first places toddlers assert their independence.

The first 3 years of your child’s life is the perfect opportunity to begin lifelong healthy eating habits. Preparing fresh nutritious foods, without added salt or sugar, will have her reaching for healthy snacks when she gets older. Avoiding canned, artificially flavored, or highly processed foods will set the standard for what food is supposed to taste like. Sugary snacks and highly salted foods will then taste foreign to her taste buds.

Mealtime and toddler feeding tips:

Have faith: trust your child’s own innate ability to listen to his hunger or fullness cues. Appetites in toddlers often decline around ages 2-3, so he may be eating less than you think he should. As long he is healthy, has energy, and is growing normally then he is just fine
Don’t force: never force her to eat or “clean her plate”, this will lead to unhealthy eating habits later in her life
Prepare for food jags: She may be in a food rut, asking for the same foods all the time for several days. This is ok; try not to force her to eat something she doesn’t want to. Offer the food she likes, along with a few other healthy options for variety
Lead by example: children learn by watching you, so set healthy mealtime habits. Turn off the TV and let your toddler enjoy meals with the family. Remember, he is more likely to eat the foods that you are eating too!
Be consistent: offer meals and snacks around the same time everyday. This will allow him to respond to his internal hunger cues
Keep trying: Research shows that kids may need to see the same food 10-20 times before they’ll like it. If she doesn’t want it this week, try again next week
Keep the old, while bringing in the new: It is best to introduce a new food when served with a food he already likes
Let him help: let him help you in the kitchen, he is more likely to try a food he helped prepare
Avoid bribing: do not bribe her with dessert in order to get her to eat all her dinner, this could teach her to overeat. “Dessert” should be an occasional treat no more than 1-2 times per week
Mix it up: try offering food in different forms- he didn’t like peas? Try pea soup next time

Offering 3 nutritious meals and 2 healthy snacks for your toddler is your job, letting her decide how much and what to eat is hers. Your toddler may prefer to graze on small bits of food throughout the day and may find playing far more interesting than eating. Keep in mind her tiny tummy fills up much faster than yours does and the rapid growth rate she experienced in infancy has slowed down quite a bit. You may also want to set out a “nibble tray”, as highlighted on Ask Dr. Sears, with bite sized bits of nutritious foods she could stop and snack on as she makes her rounds through the house.

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The Baby Mum-Mum blog discusses everything to do with babies and parenting with a focus on child health and child development. Baby Mum-Mum is a healthy, easy to digest baby rice snack that is enjoyed by babies and mothers around the world for its portability, gluten free ingredients and great taste. Baby Mum-Mum is a division of Want-Want Holdings, a manufacturer of healthy snack foods, beverages and related products since 1962.

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