15 Ways to Manage a Fussy Eater
It can be frustrating when children refuse to eat particular foods.It can be frustrating when children refuse to eat particular foods, often seemingly for no apparent reason. Much of it is new to them, though, if they’ve only recently been weaned off milk. So, firstly don’t get stressed about it. Refusing certain foods initially is quite normal for the very young. Often, all that is needed is a strategy for dealing with finicky eating and a little patience. Let’s take a look, today, at measures parents or carers can take to manage children who are fussy eaters. After all, it’s imperative that they have a healthy, balanced diet.

1. Be Patient

It may take as many as 10-15 attempts before a child will accept and trust a new food, particularly if it has a taste and texture that’s new to their palette. The secret is for them to keep trying it over a few days and weeks. More often than not, they’ll eventually accept it and indeed even realise that they like it if you’ve added it to their plate multiple times over an extended period.

2. Make Allowances for an Acquired Taste

It may take as many as 10-15 attempts before a child will accept and trust a new food.Similarly, some foods are an acquired taste, i.e. one that’s initially not liked, but is later appreciated and enjoyed. Avocados have a taste that’s quite subtle and delicate, for example. Because of that, some youngsters think they are bland — but may well love their subtle flavour and texture once they’re older. That’s an acquired taste. So, again, it’s worth encouraging your child to keep trying foods even if they don’t think they like them in the beginning.

3. Change the Format

Children will refuse some foods based purely on what they look like. For whatever reason, how they look may not appeal to the child. When this happens, one easy solution is to disguise the particular food type next time around. Examples would be chopping it up smaller, mixing it in with something else or even blitzing or liquidising it to use in soup, purée or sauce. They may then not even realise that they’re eating the food they refused previously.

4. Sneaky Pairing

Sometimes you can try disguising a food.If your child loves one food but not initially another, try using food bridges. This is when you pair one food with another food that you know they already like. You can start small and gradually increase the amount of the ‘new’ food. Adding cheese to potato or pasta is one example. Adding a small garnish of finely chopped herbs, vegetables or even fruit to pasta, rice, pulses or meat is another. These may slip under the child’s radar and this will help with gradual acceptance.

5. Make it Attractive to the Child

Similarly, making a new food attractive to the child may help him or her accept it. This could entail using colourful foods to form attractive designs on the plate, rainbow colours, creatively shaped foods and so on.

6. Get Children to Engage with their Food

You can make the food into fun pictures, faces, etc.You could even make the food into fun pictures, all entirely made of the food you want them to eat. For example, peas could be made to represent a hill, broccoli could represent a wooded area, the yolk of a fried egg could represent the sun and so on. This approach will help children to see a fun aspect of food, and to engage more directly with it.

7. Food Themes

You could even ‘theme’ how meals look. For example, one meal could depict a scene with a rocket ready for launch (the rocket could be a carrot). Another food theme might be a treasure island, and so on.

8. Get Children Involved

Involve fussy eaters in food preparation, choosing foods, deciding how they are displayed on the plate and so on.You could even get children involved in the creativity and choices around food. With the requisite care around safety, you could involve them in food preparation, choosing foods, deciding how they are displayed on the plate and so on. This will again get them more engaged around food and make it into a fun, creative activity. Children will love that. Remember, though, that this should only be taken so far. After all, you do not want to encourage them to always ‘play’ with their food.

9. Use Fun Plates & Bowls

Plates and bowls and even cutlery that feature fun designs and characters may also help children enjoy the process of eating more. Perhaps a food they’re not yet convinced about could be used to cover the face of their favourite character. You can then encourage them to eat that food type so that they reveal the face and gradually they’ll reveal the whole scene if they eat all their food.

10. Praise Them

Praise will sometimes do wonders when it comes to little ones eating.When your child eats something that they’ve not been keen on eating before, give them positive feedback as this will encourage them. A well done here and a good job there will sometimes do wonders.

11. Send Good Signals

Similarly, sending good signals around food will help to encourage children to eat, for example, referring to a particular food as yummy or delicious. Food needs to be perceived always as a positive thing.

12. Try Home Growing Activities

Getting your child involved in growing food at home may also encourage them to try it.Getting your child involved in growing vegetables, herbs and perhaps even fruit at home may also encourage them to actually eat it. They’ll get an enormous sense of satisfaction if they grow something from seed, nurture it and finally get to eat it. It’ll also teach them new skills and about nature and where some food comes from.

13. Explain the Importance of Food

When they’re a little older and have good language skills, you could remind children why food is so important — giving them much-needed minerals and vitamins, for example, giving them energy, making them strong, ensuring their brain works efficiently and so on. This can be a powerful approach and you may even find them saying such facts back to you if you persevere.

14. Walk the Walk

It’s one thing telling children all the reasons they should eat a good, healthy, balanced meal. However, demonstrating that you are doing so is even better! So, lead by example. Ensure they are seeing that you too are eating a good mix of different foods and be a good role model. You could even educate them about each food type along the way. For example, you could point out that you’re eating potato because it’s high in starch (good for energy to power the body), or cheese because it’s high in calcium (good for bones and teeth) and so on.

15. Offer a Reward

If all else fails, offer a reward to a child who isn’t really cooperating over a particular food. For example, you could say, if you eat all your peas, we’ll go to the swings or similar.

Healthy Eating at Little Cedars Nursery

A healthy, balanced diet is important and never more so than in children's formative years.At Little Cedars Nursery in Streatham we know how finicky young children can sometimes be. So, we too occasionally employ some of the tactics described above. After all, food and a healthy, balanced diet is important and never more so than in children’s formative years. Study after study has shown this to be the case. Read our Healthy Eating Guide for Under-Fives for more details.

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Quick Guide to Milk - for Babies & Infants

As promised in our last post, we next take look at the many types of milk for babies and infants in the UK. There really are a myriad of options, so this guide should prove useful and help make sense of the choices available.

Breast Milk

Breast milk really is nature’s perfect food for babies, however there are many reasons why formula milk may be preferred.Our “Benefits of Breastfeeding” post described in great detail how breast milk really is nature’s perfect food for babies. It’s tailored to the needs of the baby and even adapts as the baby grows. As well as essential vitamins, minerals, fats and proteins, it also passes antibodies, hormones and polyunsaturated fatty acids to the baby. All these things are incredibly important to the growing infant and many are simply not possible with formula milk and alternatives to breast milk. That said, there are many reasons why parents may switch to other alternatives and that’s where today’s guide should prove most useful.

Formula Milk

There is a confusingly large variety of formula milks on the market.The variety of formula milks is surprisingly large, not helped by the fact that different brands call some of them by different names. Some products and names also seem to have been developed in order to cover small niches, many of which are actually already adequately covered by larger, existing product lines (‘Toddler Milk’ and ‘Growing-Up Milk’ are two examples cited by the NHS). Then add in the fact that many are sold as liquid and also as powder that needs to be made up. The choice can be overwhelming, which is where the following guide can help …

Rough Guide to Weaning

The Cambridge Dictionary defines weaning as “the act or process of causing a baby or young animal to stop feeding on its mother’s milk and to start eating other food.” It’s all about babies moving from a liquid, milk-only diet to a more varied diet that includes “solid” foods (albeit usually mashed or blended initially). Parents can make the transition to solid foods stress-free and fun if they follow a few simple tipsAlso known as complementary feeding, weaning is an important milestone for any parent or baby and usually occurs when the baby reaches the age of about 6 months. Sometimes babies simply tire of milk and weaning thereby comes naturally. In other cases, a baby needs a bit more encouragement to make their transition towards solids. Here, we’ll explore the whole topic of weaning in more detail, including ways parents can help to make the transition smoothly and stress-free for all parties.

How to Help the Weaning Process

First off, parents must realise that weaning is a gradual process i.e. there is a period of overlap where baby continues to drink milk and starts eating other foods. Usually, he or she will gradually eat a greater proportion of solids and less and less milk as time goes by, as opposed to suddenly changing from one to the other in one huge leap. So, weaning is a process, not a single step.

Moving to solid food can be exciting, surprising, confusing, hideous or anything in between for the baby. The world of textured food and new flavours is a whole new experience for baby; each mouthful can represent an explosion of new flavours, textures and adventure. This can be wonderful, or sometimes troubling to the child, depending on the individual and, of course, the tastes and textures involved. Therefore, starting slowly with tiny steps is fine; it’s OK if the baby does not want to eat much at first. They’ll gradually catch on as they get used to this brand new concept.

It’s OK if the baby does not want to eat much solid food at first. They’ll gradually catch on as they get used to this brand new concept.

Weaning should be fun for the infant!Weaning should be fun and it’s also the only time in a child’s life where they won’t have any preconceived ideas about what foods they “do or don’t like”. So, parents can experiment, within reason of course. It’s a time when introducing new foods to the baby comes naturally once the baby has caught on to the idea of this new experience.

Remember that the baby will take a few tries before they perfect the art of eating solid foods, so they may unwittingly push some food out again at first. Until now, they have only been used to breastfeeding or drinking from a bottle, so pushing food out their mouths initially may not mean that they don’t like what you’re feeding them. Give it another try. You’ll be able to ‘read’ their facial expressions anyway. Those are the real giveaway as to whether they enjoy a particular food, or find it repulsive. Their reactions can also be the cause of much laughter!

Tips For Weaning Success

There are several additional things parents can do to make weaning a success. Here are a few tips:

  • Toddlers need to be able to hold their heads up unaided, with good coordination, before they should be weanedDon’t rush it; set aside some time with baby so it’s relaxed, otherwise everyone can get stressed, especially initially.
  • Don’t try to wean them off breast milk too soon either. It’s the very best food for them during their first 6 months, for sure. You can learn more in our separate article all about the benefits of breastfeeding for both baby and mother.
  • Don’t try to wean your baby until it’s physiologically ready. That means they need to be able to hold their own head up when in a seated position, they need to be able to swallow food successfully and they need to have good coordination between eyes, hands and mouth.
  • Is baby tired? Don’t try introducing them to solid foods right now if so. Wait until they’re wide awake and full of energy otherwise they simply won’t want to cooperate.
  • Purée (i.e. finely blend or mash) the foods, mashing them particularly well at the start of the weaning process. That way the solid foods are more like liquids, so will be less of a surprise to the baby bearing in mind they’ve only had milk up until this point. Try mashing ripe apples, bananas, pears and other soft fruits, then feeding them to baby with a weaning teaspoon (these are softer and more gentle in babies’ mouths). Try mashing cooked vegetables too, for example cauliflower, potato, broccoli, spinach, sweet potato, carrots and so on. Suitably cooled down for safety, of course. All of these can make a very good purée that’ll slip down easily if the baby warms to the taste.
  • Offer baby just a little initially. They’ll soon let you know if they would like more. If they’re not convinced, demonstrate yourself eating a little bit and showing that you’re enjoying it.
  • Initially, you can follow a little bit of food up with a milk feed. This is a great way to introduce them slowly to solids.
  • Once they’re taking food from you, help them feed themselves either by hand or with a teaspoon (let them copy you). The skill of feeding themselves sometimes comes quite quickly but for others it can take more time.
  • Don’t worry if baby makes a mess. It’s natural at first and not something they should concentrate on initially. The important part is that the baby is beginning to try new foods, so you don’t want to distract from that. Coaching baby to be more tidy with their eating can come a bit later, after they’ve mastered the process of eating purées, mashed food and perhaps gone on to more solid food. A clean, plastic or pelican bib will help in the interim.
  • Infants can move on to finger-sized food that they can feed themselvesYou can later move on to whole, (adult) finger-sized pieces of very soft fruits that baby can learn to hold. However, do read the Health & Safety Considerations section below before moving to un-mashed foods.
  • Remember that babies may need to taste new foods multiple times before they accept them, so don’t give up if they first reject them. Try again another time and don’t ever force them to eat. If they turn their head away or clamp their mouth shut, they’ve had enough for now.
  • Avoid distractions for the baby at feeding times. So, remove phones, tablets, computers, toys and TVs at meal times. The baby needs to concentrate during this new eating experience.
  • Don’t expect a regular pattern; sometimes babies will eat more, other times less. A milk bottle will, for many, represent a comforter as well as a source of sustenance, so don’t be surprised if they prefer milk to solids when they’re feeling under-par or tired.

Huge care needs to be taken to avoid giving infants anything that’s going to represent a potential choking hazard.

Health & Safety Considerations

  • It goes without saying that food should be given to babies and infants at a suitable temperature. So, ensure that boiled vegetables, for example, are sufficiently cooled. Try them first yourself to make sure.
  • All eating sessions should be supervised by a parent or responsible adultHuge care needs to be taken to avoid giving infants anything that’s going to represent a potential choking hazard. Whole grapes, cherry tomatoes or anything else of a similar size would be examples of this as they are perfectly sized to block a baby’s airway if not first chopped up. Also avoid anything hard like nuts, raw vegetables or un-mashed apple and ensure that any pips/seeds/stones are removed from fruit and bones are removed from fish or meat.
  • Close adult supervision is always needed when infants are eating, particularly when they’re in the weaning process and don’t yet fully know what they’re doing.
  • Consult your GP or health visitor about weaning if your child was born prematurely.
  • Don’t add extra sugar or salt to your baby’s food, including during the cooking process. Avoid salty foods because salt is dangerous to babies. Avoid sugar because it can lead to a sweet tooth and that has many negative implications including tooth decay, weight issues, etc.
  • Food hygiene is, of course, essential during food preparation and while the child is eating. So ensure that hands, faces, plates, spoons, cups and surfaces (etc.) are clean.
  • Part of that is ensuring that the food itself is hygienic so, for example, fruit and vegetables must be washed. If serving raw fruit/veg, ensure they’re also peeled. If using eggs within baby foods, ensure they are stamped with the red ‘British Lion Code of Practice’ lion (to denote a low salmonella risk) and it’s safest if they are never served raw.
  • As babies are weaned off breast or formula milk, parents need to ensure that they are still benefiting from a balanced and varied diet. That’s true whether they are being brought up as meat eaters, vegetarians or vegans. Additional supplements may need to be considered for vegan diets, which may be low in vitamin B12, for example. GPs, health professionals and/or dieticians should certainly be consulted for advice before deciding to cut out dairy products from children’s diets, including milk once they are no longer taking breast milk or the recommended infant formula milk alternative up to the age of one. The NHS has more information about vegetarian and vegan diets for children here.
  • The NHS recommends that children aged between 6 months and 5 years of age take suitable Vitamin A, C and D supplements daily although babies drinking at least a pint of ‘first infant formula’ milk do not need the supplements as they’re included in the milk already.
  • Extreme care is needed by parents in relation to possible allergens. For this reason, it’s best to introduce only tiny amounts of possible allergens in the first instance, one at a time, so any adverse reaction can be spotted early. After all, this is the first time the baby is going to have eaten these new foods. The most common allergens are nuts, eggs, gluten, fish and cows’ milk. If in doubt or concerned about allergic reactions, consult your health worker or GP and, of course, call an ambulance immediately if your baby does have an adverse reaction to anything.

Going Forwards

By the age of 7 to 12 months, most babies will have transitioned to taking in 3 meals a day, along with their milk perhaps 4 times a day (reducing to 3 times a day at a year old). The ratio of solids to milk will then gradually decrease as the weeks go by. By the time they’re 12 months or older, they can also have two healthy snacks between meals.

Iron can be sought from fortified cereal, fish, milk, dark green vegetables, lentils and beans.Always try to maintain a varied diet for the infant, so they get all the vitamins and nutrients they need as they intake less and less milk. Ensure the foods contain sufficient iron, which can be sought from fortified cereal, fish, milk, dark green vegetables, lentils and beans. Giving them finger foods to hold and eat themselves is a great way to encourage them to feed themselves (under supervision, of course). As they grow older they can be encouraged to eat at the family table with parents/siblings and eventually upskill to using cutlery, along with eventually learning the rules around good table manners etc.

More information, including the types of food and milk that infants and toddlers can/should be having, can be found here.

We hope that you found our Rough Guide to Weaning useful. If so, please do feel free to share it on social media (copy this link) or to bookmark it for future reference.

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