Why are Toddlers Picky Eaters?
Toddler’s can be rather picky eaters. They will eat nothing but certain foods at times and then deem the same food yucky the next day.
Before jumping into the nitty gritty of getting a toddler to eat a bit better, is the ‘whys’ of picky eating in toddlers.
It’s a typical stage, even my own two year old (while once willing to eat almost anything you could put in front of her) is being a seriously picky kid. One of the primary reasons of picky eating in toddlers is the desire to assert control over a bit of their reality. It’s not that your food is suddenly bad, it’s just a desire to assert both their own opinions and grasping at any small piece of control they can get.
Another reason? Simple size limits on the small baby bellies. Dr. Sears says:
Being a picky eater is part of what it means to be a toddler. We have since learned that there are developmental reasons why kids between one and three years of age peck and poke at their food. After a year of rapid growth (the average one-year-old has tripled her birth weight), toddlers gain weight more slowly. So, of course, they need less food. The fact that these little ones are always on the go also affects their eating patterns.
At least personally, it’s a bit easier to swallow it all after learning that (yes, that was a food pun).
Feeling better about a situation or not, how can you help your child learn to eat a few foods past they presently limited palate?
On the website quoted above, there is a perfect list of 17 tricks to help a toddler eat a bit better. The list also includes some great ways to implement each tip as well.
Recommended:
How I Would Love to See Floyd Mayweather Jr. Lose
Wonton Noodle House at Greenhills
Related posts
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
[...] she was feeding my niece (she was 6 months old). She told me that a child’s nutritional and eating habits will change drastically as they grow from a baby into a [...]