My daughter for the past year has become really fussy about eating her main meal. If you are experiencing the same problem with your child here are a few ideas that may help:
- Stop all snacks
- Reducing the size of the other 2 meals
- Change the time of the main meal
- Substitute juice for water
- Make it clear to your child that there is no alternative
- Make it into a game
- Keep your child active throughout the day
- Use reward charts
Don’t make the child see that you are frustrated as they pick up on that and it makes the problem worse. Having spoken to health professionals for ideas to encourage my daughter to eat as it she gets crabby because she is hungry but then when her main meal is put in front of her she refuses to touch it; the health professionals claim that part of the reason toddlers become fussy eaters is due to their taste buds changing. Their advice was just to ignore it; it is just a phase and they will grow out of it. If your child refuses to eat simply say “OK but there’s nothing else”, and carry it out.
I’ve found that this response although shows the child that they either eat their dinner or they go hungry but it doesn’t give them much of an incentive to actually start eating. If you are concerned about your child not eating visit your health visitor and be persistent, eventually they may do something about it.