Toddler eating habits can sometimes prove quite troublesome!

Eating is a choice that toddlers have the power to make, and it doesn't take them long to seize an opportunity for a power game over their parents.

By the time he has plenty of teeth, your toddler will mostly be eating just what you are.

It's often surprising to parents just how adaptable their toddler can be, and how he can and will experiment with a large variety of different foods if he is offered them.

However, the opposite can also be very much the case.

Toddler Eating Problems

Some toddlers are always hungry and quickly devour what ever is put in front of them. Others however, are picky, fussy eaters and become troublesome around mealtimes.

Maybe you need to check out whether you have kept up with his changing food requirements. Some parents keep right on feeding their toddlers varieties of baby foods, without adjusting their thinking around their growing and developing toddler.

Many parents create problems around food and eating habits by continuing to supply food in response to grizzles from their toddler, just as they would to their baby.

Toddler Eating Problems - Too many choices!

Too many choices!

Here is a simple parenting tip that can often change the outlook from outright toddler warfare to an easier, more peaceful situation during toddler development.

Instead of confusing your toddler with too much variety, offer limited choices so your toddler learns how to make decisions.

Offering too many choices is just too confusing and often the cause of conflict and toddler tantrums.

Try being more clear, firm and consistent in your parenting approach.

You are in charge of his schedule.

He has no choice around that - and neither should he - he's too young for that much responsibility.

Around the issue of meal times, you tell him it is meal time.

You determine his meal times, and offer a choice maybe between which fruit he would like.

For example you ask, "Would you like a banana or an apple now?" rather than "What would you like to eat?"

There is less for him to rebel against this way and with more guidance, security and clarity, he feels more secure.

Toddler Eating Habits

Be clear, firm and consistent with it right from the start and your toddler will quickly associate eating with sitting down.

Simply remove the food each time he/she stands up and clearly tell him to sit down again. When he/she is sitting, replace the food. There is no need to make it an issue.

Being consistent means making it a habit. When forming any new habit you need to pay attention and to be consistent. Be firm with yourself around thi, enlisting the support of your family so that you are all on the same page.

If you don't teach your toddler this and implement it at home, then it makes the transition to pre- school more difficult for him. Because of the threat of choking, nurseries and pre- schools must enforce this rule and toddlers are required to sit down and stay seated while they eat.

Help your toddler out by being clear, firm and consistent yourself around your toddler's eating habits.

Toddler Eating Habits -
Ensure Your Toddler is Hungry at Mealtimes!

HOW?

If you are having problems with your toddler's eating habits, change the whole energy around the problem by changing the way you have been conducting his meal times.



For instance:

Lay out a picnic rug on the floor or outside on the grass and sit down and eat your meal alongside your toddler.

Shop together for a toddler placemat and let him/her choose their own. Sit them up to the table to use it for every meal.

Remove the high chair and set up toddler size table and chairs.

Allow the toddler to arrange his eating utensils and meal on a tray and sit with him in the middle of the floor while you both eat together.

Now begin to cut back gradually on the amount of snacks your toddler consumes, but offer plenty of water.

If you notice a really big demand in his need for your attention, this will highlight clearly that you have been responding to his cues for attention by giving him food.

This will mean paying more attention to him and becoming more involved in his activities, while you adjust your parenting style and stop rewarding his attention demands with food.

As your toddler comes to meal times feeling more hungry, you should notice a change for the better in his eating. Your toddler will respond by being less obnoxious at the meal table and more focussed on his food and eating.

The best way to encourage good toddler eating habits is to eat all your meals together as a family, sitting around the dinner table. This way your toddler is included, rather than singled out.

Eating together can be a real time of pleasure, bonding, nterest and set the tone for the years ahead of sharing together all the interests of your day.

Toddler Eating Habits -
Table Manners

Begin early to teach good table manners. Model these by eating well and regularly yourself, rather than on the run or watching television. Try to eat together at the table.

If this is not possible in your family situation, then aim to be at least sitting down with your toddler while he has his meal. This is a valuable opportunity for peaceful interaction together, and forms the basis of great family life for the future.

Allow your toddler to help with cooking as much as is feasible for his age and stage.

Give him a chair up at the kitchen bench with a bowl and some ingredients to stir.

Encourage this also in his pretending play by giving him kitchen utensils and pots and pans to play with.

Help your toddler to play imaginatively with pretending eating games, such as pretending to feed his stuffed toys or dolls.

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If you have a question on toddler eating, please contact me here.

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