Do you make special food for your child?

Do you try to figure out ahead of time what she will eat?

Does it work?

You can’t guess what your child will eat. But you can have meals you enjoy and your child will learn to like them too.

Your child wants to grow up. Part of growing up is learning to eat the food you eat. It takes a long time to learn, but she keeps trying and does the best she can.

Here is how you can help your toddler do well with her eating:

  • Have 4 or 5 foods at meals. Let her eat 1 or 2 or 3 of them.
  • Don’t just have foods she likes already.
  • Have a food she enjoys along with food she doesn’t enjoy yet.
  • Have a food she has had lots of times along with new foods.
  • Dish up small amounts or, better yet, let her dish up her own.
  • Let her choose to eat or not eat, even if the food is on her plate.
  • Don’t make different food if she doesn’t eat what is at the meal.
  • Your child will try new food, but it takes time. When she sees you eating something, she thinks, "someday I will eat that too." Even if she doesn't eat it today, she will get used to seeing and smelling the food and watching you enjoy it.

Here is how you, too, can sneak up on new food and learn to eat it:

  • Look but not taste.
  • Taste but not swallow.
  • Swallow but not eat any more.