Ideas and recipes: Is your child a picky eater?

If you have a picky eater in the home, its time to change your child and toddler with these ideas and recipes.

Is your child a picky eater? This doesn't have to be such a bad thing unless they just are not getting enough nutrition to keep them healthy, above all nutrition in the early years makes a foundation for the health of your child in later years. There is such a difference in a child who

doesn't like spinach and broccoli and just refuses to eat those food. You can always subject other vegetables for these. When you have a child who doesn't want to eat any vegetables and wants just for example, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and no vegetables then it is time to change things in your home and you can.


When you start a child eating healthy at the youngest age and try all different foods then they are likely to develop a taste for these foods. Please do not tell your child he should not like spinach because you don't like spinach, then the thought is formed and he thinks well if Mommy doesn't eat spinach then I don't need to either. Try to use recipes that incorporate new foods regularly. Try not to preform these ideas in your children as so many parents are doing, just stop picky eater toddlers.

Naturally you don't want to go through each meal scolding and fussing and worrying about your child and demanding that your child clean his plate, this does not accomplish your goals. First of all limit the high fat and greasy foods your child wants very slowly, and don't forget you'll want to also limit the high sugar foods gradually also. Children especially in this present generation are growing up on fast food and very little nutrition, look around you, this is very true, but you don't have to let your child eat in this manner. Remember you are the parent and this is your child, you are the one forming this child to be a healthy adult.

Try to preplan meals for your family from all the food groups, give them nutritious options even if you start out with small portions and say I want you to try this, you may like it, and sure enough most of the new foods will be accepted and they will like them. Try using complex recipes, and don't just plop some raw spinach down in front of them. Sure there will be new foods that they don't accept, wait and try those foods later or perhaps put in a casserole. You can make many casserole dishes with vegetables and even adults don't notice you have added to the nutrition of the casserole. With time you'll find foods that children who are picky eaters like.

Try to have a certain schedule for eating each meal whenever possible and limit the in between snacks to healthy foods such as fruit. If your child fills up his tummy with potato chips, for instance, or chocolate candy, naturally he is not going to want to eat at mealtime. This is what is happening so much to children of this generation, as they are allowed to go into the pantry and grab a bag of chips or candies and munch whenever they choose to do so and this is not something that should be allowed. You need to be in charge of the pantry and your recipes and when they are allowed to just munch, nibble and choose the foods they want at any given time.

Another idea would be if the child doesn't want, for example, a serving of spinach then let him make a decision on either a piece of toast or a bowl of cereal, don't let him go get chips or make a sandwich of ham and cheese, let the substitute decision be yours, not his and do this only one night a week. With this plan a toddler will look at the food on his plate and know that one night a week you are iving him the decision to choose the cereal or the toast instead of the spinach, he may think well tomorrow night she may prepare something I don't like more than spinach and just eat the spinach and wait for the next meal to have his once a week decision.

On the foods you are trying to get the child to try make the portion very small, even a tablespoon and you can always give him more if he really likes it and he'll think of this as a reward, try that, it works. Toddlers like recipes that intimidate thougths of food.

Above all, think about your child and his nutrition needs and his health, remember a child who has proper nutrition misses less school and you make less trips to the doctor and spend less.