Feeding a toddler: Just when you had it all figured out…

By Dr Emma Haycraft and Dr Gemma Witcomb, Loughborough University

 

Feeding and eating. It should be simple, right? It’s a case of energy in, energy out. Hunger versus fullness. But anyone who has fed a child will know that it’s not quite that simple.

 

From the moment a child is born, feeding is number one on the agenda. There are plenty of guidelines around on what, when, and how much to give a child to eat. Whilst these are just guidelines and will always include a disclaimer of “not to worry if your child doesn’t want to eat”, this can be quite difficult. As can the realisation that while we thought we would be a super cool Mum who wouldn’t stress over mealtimes, really we aren’t!

 

Thankfully, for most of us, we get through the weaning stages, we chill out a bit, and our child is eating well. But then, all of a sudden, it stops. Previously liked foods are suddenly pushed away, new foods are a complete no-no. Our child has turned, dare we say it…..fussy! But what many parents don’t realise is that fussiness around the ages of 18 months to 3 years is actually completely normal. In fact, it is a natural part of a child’s development and is a deeply-rooted evolutionary response, known as ‘neophobia’ or ‘fear of the new’. It was beneficial when we were scavengers and would have helped protect us from eating anything that didn’t look, smell, or feel ‘right’, and that may have been potentially poisonous.  As children grow, they become more aware of the colours and textures of foods that they are eating, and may reject any food that they are not very familiar with and even start rejecting liked foods if they deviate from the child’s newly formed criteria of ‘safe’ foods/textures/colours/tastes. Unfortunately, bitter tastes do tend to be associated with ‘bad’ foods and since many vegetables are bitter tasting these are common foods that children predictably tend to refuse. But, by understanding why this is happening, we can begin to see the mealtime from the child's point of view. Rather than being picky, they are expressing an innate trait that we humans all share.

 

So, what to do? Well, while a period of fussiness and food refusal is normal, this does not mean that the refusal should be ignored. If it is, children may grow up refusing the same foods for the rest of their lives, leading to a diet that is unnecessarily restricted and lacking in vitamins and minerals. Rather, liking can be encouraged and food refusal overcome with a bit of persistence.

 

There are two important tips. The first is to keep offering a variety of foods to your child, even those foods being refused. Research has shown it can take 15-20 offerings before a child may even taste a new food and that increased exposure can increased liking and willingness to try a food. It may help to think of exposure as a two-pronged tool, bringing about acceptance and liking of a food by reducing fear through increasing familiarity.

The second tip is to not pressure your child to eat. Coercion can lead to other problems and most often leads to a decrease in children’s liking for the food. Anyone being forced to eat a food that they are not sure about is unlikely to have a positive opinion of it at the end!

 

Learning is incredibly important in all aspect of our children’s lives and feeding and eating is no exception.

 

If you would like to learn more about common feeding pitfalls and access tips and tools to help manage these, please take a look the Child Feeding Guide website (www.childfeedguide.co.uk) or download our FREE app, available for iPhone and Android phones/tablets.

 

We would also welcome your questions on Jo’s forum…ask away!