HEALTH
Help!
By Jacqueline Bodnar
Have mealtimes become
a constant battle between
you and your child? Are
you resorting to hiding the
vegetables in the rice to
make sure your child eats
his or her greens? Family
& Life explains what’s
exactly happening in your
toddler’s tummy.
My Toddler
Won’t Eat!
“He refuses to eat vegetables and
meat. He likes to eat fruit and bread,
and he used to like to eat yogurt, but
even that has become hit or miss,”
explains Sara Krull, a mother of two
toddlers. “People always say that if
children are hungry, they will eat, but
it is still worrying to have your child
eat so little, and not eat from all of the
food groups.”
She shares these same nutritional
concerns about her 14-month old son
as many other parents do. Toddlers
can leave you wondering how they have
the energy to keep going all day and yet
eat only a few bites of food. The more
you know about why toddlers have
the eating habits they have, the better
you’ll be able to handle the situation.
“Picky toddlers are an interesting but
complex topic,” explains Lucille Beseler,
a registered dietician, president
of the Family Nutrition Center
of South Florida, and co-author
of the book Nurturing with
Nutrition. “Toddlers normally
will go through periods of being
picky eaters.”
Beseler, who specialises in
paediatric nutrition, points out that a
child’s appetite usually decreases after
they turn a year old. Because of this,
people often think they just aren’t eating.
One major concern is that parents often
evaluate a child’s eating habits based on
their own. This can become a problem
because adults are often used to eating
by the clock, out of boredom, or for
emotional reasons.
Toddlers, on the other hand, are still in
tune with their body’s hunger cues. They
are more apt to skip meals if they aren’t
hungry. Parents often mean well
but, in an effort to make sure their
toddlers get sufficient nutrients,
they ultimately teach their
children to ignore the hunger
signals and simply eat by the
clock, or by how much is on their
plate. Experts today are urging
parents against this, as it may
lead to weight management
problems later on.
The decrease in appetite that
happens during toddlerhood
is normal. According to
the University of Michigan
Health System, there is
an appetite slump that
happens between one
There are a few things to keep in mind when it
comes to feeding picky toddlers. While we can’t make
them eat, we can take steps to make the process a little
easier to take.
Picky toddlers
are an interesting
but complex
topic, toddlers
normally will go
through periods
of being picky
eaters.
26
Family & Life • Dec 2013/Jan 2014
• Nutrients. Be cautious about what you give them to
eat. If your toddler is going through a period of not
wanting to eat vegetables, try to give them a fruit
that contains the same type of nutrients. And add
shredded vegetables to dishes that will make them
less noticeable.
• Consistency. If you offer your child something once
or twice and they don’t like it, don’t give up. It may
take more than twenty attempts at offering that food
to them before they acquire a taste for it.
• Avoid Grazing. Some people advocate grazing, but if
a toddler eats throughout the day, it’s unlikely that
they will have much of an appetite when it’s time for
a meal. Children do, however, need a couple of small,
healthy snacks throughout the day.
and five years old. They explain that
this happens because children are
growing at a much slower rate,
during that period, and simply don’t
need as many calories per day.
Rather, they eat what their brain
signals to them that they need in
order to meet their nutritional and
energy needs.
Many parents can relate to the
possibility that a child will have a
huge appetite one day and then, for
the next two days, eat like a bird.
This is considered “tanking up”. Says
Beseler, “It’s when they fill their
‘gas tank’ and go for periods of time
without eating as much.”
Another common toddler eating
situation is a food jag, when he
or she insists on eating the same
thing over and over. Food jags are
normal for young children, and are
usually temporary. The important
thing is to not to allow the child to
just eat that one food. If parents let
the situation continue, they could
run into problems when the child no
longer wants that particular food. For
example, if all they want is macaroni
and cheese, tell them that today they
have to have something else, and
tomorrow they can have that meal.
• Liquid Calories. Juice, milk and other liquids
all add to the caloric intake and can decrease
appeti