6 Ways to Make Feeding Your Toddler Easier

If you’ve ever felt like you can’t win with your little one at the dinner table, you’re not alone. Feeding toddlers can be a minefield, with a series of challenges appearing seemingly overnight to make dinnertime more stressful.

Even families that sailed through the first year of feeding without issue often face stumbling blocks such as fussy eating, lack of appetite and tantrums in the highchair — this is completely normal and something most parents go through. If you’re looking for advice to help you through this tricky period, here are six simple tips to help you.

1. Cook for the Whole Family

If your toddler is prone to fussiness, it can be tempting to cook them separate meals and serve foods you know they’ll eat. Cooking dishes the whole family can enjoy may be better in the long run, though, as this encourages your child to try a variety of foods and gets them more involved in family meals.

If your child can see those around them eating and enjoying their meals, it will encourage them to do the same and may help them overcome their fussy eating. It’ll also save you from preparing multiple meals, giving you more time to relax and enjoy dinner as a family.

2. Make Foods Easy to Eat

Young kids love foods they can hold and feed themselves as these make mealtimes more of an immersive and enjoyable experience. Veggie strips, chopped fruit or pieces of toast are all good options.

3. Don’t Panic about Picky Eating

Encouraging your toddler to try new foods is a process that requires patience. It can take as many as 20 times to introduce a food to your child before they decide whether or not they don’t like it, so it’s important to give your kids the opportunity to interact with lots of different foods regularly. This doesn’t mean forcing your toddler to eat broccoli, but rather ensuring you don’t give up on it after one failed attempt. Try serving it to them in different dishes and give them plenty of chances to taste, touch and smell it to see if they change their mind.

Picky eating is completely normal during the toddler years and parents should put less pressure on themselves and their kids. As soon as you learn to expect this behaviour and treat it as part of the process, you can stop blaming yourself and your child and start enjoying mealtimes more.

4. Think About Positioning

Could your child’s positioning at the dinner table have anything to do with their reluctance to eat? As a parent of young children, getting all the right gear can be overwhelming — in what feels like no time at all, you go from looking at nursery furniture sets to thinking about a high chair. The right chair is an important part of your child’s feeding routine, though, so it’s worth getting it right.

Proper positioning can help your child eat well. A great chair will enable your baby or toddler to have their hips, knees and feet at 90 degrees, ensuring they’re not leaning back and that they feel stable during mealtimes. An adjustable chair is a good choice, as this will grow with your child and provide consistent support. You can also easily remove the tray when your toddler is ready to sit at the table.

5. Don’t Give Your Child Too Much Choice

Asking your child what they want to eat is a common mealtime mistake. Kids love to say the word “no”, so offering them too many options is bound to end in them wanting something else entirely. To avoid your toddler demanding chicken nuggets and chips every night, it’s much better to plan and serve meals without consulting them or offer them a choice of two clear options. Serve up at least one food you know your child likes in each meal and encourage them to try new things.

6. Encourage Them to Listen to Their Tummy

Instead of praising your kids when they finish a plate of food, try encouraging them to listen to their tummies. It’s easy to get into the mindset of rewarding your children when they eat more, but this teaches children to ignore when they feel hungry or full and continue eating.

If your child doesn’t eat much one day, don’t worry about it. Children are good at judging how much food they need. Next time your child leaves food on their plate, simply remind them when their next meal will be and encourage them to make sure they’ve had enough to eat.