Skip to main content

Tuesday Tip for Picky Eaters: Learn to Trust Your Child

Henry's appetite varies greatly from week to week. His preferences for each food group also change frequently. I have a difficult time predicting what his latest food fad will be and when tried-and-true favorites may fall out of fashion.
  • Some weeks, Henry will seem to gorge himself on fruit, but last week he refused blueberries (always a sure bet) in favor of a peanut butter sandwich at snack time.
  • Henry can go for several weeks wanting yogurt with breakfast everyday, and then one day even the act of me placing the yogurt container on the kitchen table brought him to a sudden teary outburst.
  • A few weeks ago it was BREAD, BREAD, BREAD. Then on the day after Christmas, Henry started passing over carbs in favor of protein -- meat, fish, beans and cheese. He astonishingly ate three pork ribs and one-and-a-half chicken enchiladas for dinner that night.
What will Henry want to eat today?
From the start, this journey has been about learning to trust Henry to eat (or not to eat). It can be so discouraging when Henry dismantles his sandwich to pick out one favorite ingredient or when he only wants a few bites of the meal that I've worked hard to prepare. 

But I believe that Henry has learned how to listen to his stomach. Some days his body is telling him that it wants extra carbohydrates for energy. Other days, he has to have plenty of protein for growth. The experts say it can help to evaluate your child's eating over the course of a week or more, instead of at just one meal. As long as I continue to present him with a balanced array of healthy food choices, I am trusting that he can select the nutrients his body requires to grow healthy and strong.
Henry listens to his stomach.
I also know that Henry can listen to his own appetite. He understands when his body is full and we don't pressure him to eat more than he wants or to clean his plate. There are no back-up menu items when he turns down a meal and no grazing on snacks between meals. On more than one occasion I have actually seen him turn down dessert when he has already had enough to eat at dinner. 

If you are struggling with the eating whims of a toddler, be patient and persistent. As long as your child is active and healthy, it's okay to trust that he is eating as much (or as little) as he needs.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook

UPDATE (10/2/12): Unfortunately, I did not hear back from our original winner. Congratulations to our alternate winner for "The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook" -- Robin Pfefer. UPDATE (9/29/12): I am happy to announce that Kashia Clopper is the winner of "The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook". When I was first thinking about using the Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) model for Henry, I was unsure about whether it would really work. I was excited about BLW’s claims of less stressful meals that the whole family could share together. Plus, I was all for encouraging Henry to gain new skills by learning about the shapes, textures, colors, smells and flavors of food. This sounded ideal in theory, but would it work in practice? After some fun but ineffective attempts at letting Henry feed himself, I went in search of resources to learn more about BLW. I needed to learn how to prepare meals for our family in which Henry could participate. That’s when I found “ The Baby-Led

Do Your Kids Eat Everything?

UPDATE (3/15/2013): Congratulations to Kia as the random drawing winner in this giveaway! Thank you to all those who entered this contest.  Before we began our food adventure with Henry, Daddy and I had many conversations about how to encourage Henry to become “a good eater.” After watching other parents constantly struggle with their toddlers, we wanted to know if there was anything we could do from the start to prevent picky eating. That’s when we read “ French Kids Eat Everything ” by Karen Le Billon . The book is an easy and enjoyable read about the year that Karen’s family spent in France and how it changed the way her family eats. The heart of the book explores the 10 French Food Rules for raising happy, healthy eaters. “French Kids Eat Everything” sparked numerous discussions at our dinner table about how our family eats. We have become more conscious of our assumptions about food and how that will influence Henry’s understanding of mealtimes. In addition, the

Simple Vegetable Soup

As I wrote in my last post , I decided to introduce Henry to new flavors through soup as inspired by “French Kids Eat Everything” by Karen Billon . After two weeks, Henry has tried out several flavors of vegetable soup by bottle. So far, the list includes spinach, leek, pea, celery and zucchini. He has been receiving about three ounces of soup each day divided into morning and afternoon servings. Each time we test out a new flavor, he takes a few sips, then pauses for a moment, and then keeps drinking until it’s all gone.  Henry reaching for a bottle of creamy pea soup. Here’s the basic recipe: Slice two cups of vegetables. You can also include a handful of chopped fresh herbs such as mint, sage, parsley or basil. Boil vegetables in two cups of water for about 7 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Blend until there are no large chunks of vegetable remaining. The soup can be served in this form to older children and adults. Daddy and I enjoyed the leek soup; it was