Tips for Supporting Fussy Eaters

Here at Your ELC, we know that children can be picky and fussy. Whether it’s with their toys, who they play with, or with what they eat, it can be hard to keep up. Food is incredibly important in early development to build strong habits and a healthy, growing body but mealtimes can be tough when your child is a fussy eater.

 

At Your ELC, we provide your child with three nutritious and fresh meals a day, giving them the energy they need to fuel their busy, fun days at our centres. We cater to fussy eaters in a variety of ways, so here are some tips to support your fussy eater at home!

 

Regularity and Familiarity

Serve meals and snacks at the same time every day. This will sync up your child’s hunger to regular meals and help stop irregular snacking which may mean your child never wants to eat at mealtime. Our 6-week rotational menu at Your ELC also helps to build familiarity with different meals and opens up experimentation.

 

Keeping Mealtimes Fun

Making mealtimes fun is a great way to take focus away from the effort of eating. Talking about the different aromas or colours rather than the food being yummy or not can make mealtimes more fun than stressful. Tell funny stories from your day or chat about an interesting book to make mealtimes fun!

 

Pick Your Battles

It can be exhausting to have the same conversation about eating properly at every meal. Talk to the team at Your ELC to track how well your child is eating and if they’ve had a good meal during the day, try skipping the fussy eater conversation that night.

 

Minimize Distractions

While TV or the iPad might be a good way to distract your child, it’s not conducive to building healthy habits. A tech-free dining table makes mealtimes are focused on eating and connecting. Keep in mind that many ads on TV might make your child crave less nutritious, sugary foods more

 

Be Patient

Finally, be patient with your child. This process takes time and forcing food on your child will only lead to more trouble at mealtimes and an unhealthy connection to food. It may take a few tries of new food for them to even take a bite, so try to keep serving new or healthy foods until they build that familiarity.

 

If you would like to chat about meal options at Your ELC or discuss the rotational menu we have in place, don’t hesitate to get in contact with the team here!

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