Tasty Tactics Tempt Picky Eaters
Mom has scooped and looped the little green "airplane" all over her daughter's dinner plate, trying to land the broccoli stalk safely in that little mouth. But mom can fly all night – no way is her daughter opening the hangar doors.
Some parents despair of feeding their children the five fruits and vegetables per day recommended in the new USDA food pyramid for children 2 and older. The foods are important for essential vitamins and minerals, as well as for fiber for a healthy digestive tract.
Cindy Cook, MD, a pediatrician at Northeast Pediatrics, has some new nutritional strategies for struggling parents.
Ease Into New Tastes
"First, we check that children aren't getting too many sugar-based foods so they're not hungry. Juices should be 100 percent juice, and limited to four to six ounces a day. Milk is great, but no more than 12 to 20 ounces. There's no limit to water," Dr. Cook says.
Once the liquids are balanced, parents can try easing fruits and vegetables into foods their toddlers already eat. "It's difficult between age 1 and 3, when children are still getting their teeth. Vegetables are the hardest, because of the smell and texture, and because they don't have the natural sweet taste we all love."
Allow Play
What if the mixing ploy meets flat-out refusal? "Let children younger than 2 play with the new food – let them squish and squash it, mix it around. I know it's a pain, but it's important to remember that children sometimes have to taste and play with a food 10 times before they'll eat it on a regular basis," she says.
Modeling is also helpful. "Let them imitate you – if parents aren't eating their fruits and vegetables, their children won't, either. Let them see a sibling enjoying the new food. Offer them all the opportunities."
Measure by Hand
When a child hits 2, parents have a handy new guide for measuring their child's intake of fruits and vegetables – the toddler's own hand. "If the child is growing well, parents can use the child's hand as the size of a serving," Dr. Cook says.
You can see it's not that much food to reach five servings.
"Also, parents can combine three fruits with two vegetables, or vice versa. If the child eats just three servings, I say, 'Good job.' If over the course of a year the child adds two new vegetables, that's good. If we all added two foods a year to our diet over our lifetime, we'd eat a great diversity of food."
Go With the Flow
Like adults, children will experience changes in their palates. "Children will go through phases, eating one type of food for a month. Other times, they'll refuse a food they used to eat and act like they hate it. Usually they'll come back to it," she notes.
Sometimes, it's wiser to admit defeat than make the dinner table a battleground. "If a child has tried a food five or 10 times and rejects it, it may be a true dislike. Give it a year and try again.
"The important thing to remember is that with time and good parental role models, children will develop good eating habits. It might take six months or it could take three or four years, but it will happen."
