Get Your Toddler to Eat
Let me tell you, if there’s one thing I’ve gotten a lot of experience with since I became a mother, it is getting my kid to eat. Even the 30 or so kids I’ve babysat in my life ran the gamut of good eaters to bad. If you struggle getting your kid to eat, I understand your frustration.
Believe me, she’s not always this happy at the dinner table
I think every parent of a toddler knows the specific definition of the word “picky eater.” Typically, anything a child does not taste before age 1, they will rebuke in their toddler years. This is actually a survival tactic: when humans were hunter gatherers, toddlers wandering off to eat something they hadn’t had before (say…a poisonous berry) posed a threat to their life. This is why children begin to have a very fussy palette around the time they begin to walk.
I know you’re thinking, ‘But we’re not cavemen, and the AAP says my kid needs to eat their vegetables!” It’s not okay to just give your child french fries every meal. This is why I’ve composed a list of the best five tricks I use to get my child to eat. See, although my kid is only two, I’ve had more than a year and half of a mind-blowing struggle to get food into her. She is picky, and eats like a bird, and has been this way since she started mushed up bananas. Here we go:
1. Serve your child food in an unusual way
It seems like my child will eat as long as she can dip it, stick it, or it looks like a smiley face. Try giving them a tiny amount–try quarter sized–of a fat like ranch dressing or sugar like maple syrup (what kids crave) to dip their food into. It doesn’t matter if it looks gross to you (apples dipped in ranch?) your kid will maybe love it. Try serving applesauce through a straw or broccoli pieces with a toothpick. Try arranging their breakfast to look like something they love, like a train. These tricks get your kid interested in the process of eating, instead of focusing on their taste buds rejecting the food.
2. One thing at a time
Sometimes the only way I can get my daughter to eat vegetables is by serving them first, when she’s really hungry. In fact, I usually give her the vegetable with nothing else on the table, then I serve her the rest of her food on a plate when my husband and I sit down and join her for the meal. This trick can work with anything your toddler loves to hate. Serve it to them first and when they’ve finished it, they get the rest of their food.
You can have more after you eat all of this.
Just kidding!
3. Eat the same as their parents
For a while we did the “toddler meal” and feed the kid first, then sit down to eat ourselves. This didn’t work for two reasons: way more effort and it set a bad example. Why cook two meals when you could cook one? Why suffer through two hours feeding kids then your spouse when it could be wrapped up in one messy little hour? The main reason it is important to feed your toddler the food you eat, is because they will follow and learn from you. You are their parent and actions speak louder than words with life’s lessons. If you want them to eat their carrots, let them join you in eating them. If you hate the food you make your kid eat, maybe you should improve your diet.
4. Bribe with a song or high five
It seems every week or so my husband or I comes up with a new “bribe” to get our daughter to eat. She responds to high-fives, hoorays, and melodies sung to encourage her eating. We say things like “Two more bites and I will sing you a song!” I’m not kidding, this stuff works. The bonus is that it makes meal time more family time than bark-at-the-toddler-for-taking-ten-minutes-to-eat-one-stinking-bite-of-potato time.
5. Place the bribe in plain sight
I very rarely bribe with sweets. This is kind of a last ditch effort. I’ve said to my daughter, “If you finish your chicken, you’ll get dessert.” But often that doesn’t work. I figured out the reason is because it isn’t real to the toddler until it is visible, palpable, tangible. Putting the piece of chocolate (or whatever bribe you’re using) directly in front of the toddler but out of reach is like magic. It works too well. This is why I don’t use it often, because anything that works this well quickly becomes a habit, or an expectation. Bribes can get out of hand this way so use them very sparingly.
Thanks for reading! Let me know if these tips help you get your toddler to eat.
