A Mother's Life Ph

It is a common problem for parents to feed their picky eater children. There are times when they have to be threatened or scolded just to eat the food served on the dining table.

This is the problem of a mother I spoke with, according to Mommy Elvie, her five-year-old daughter always wants to eat chicken nuggets or sunny-side-up eggs.

“Para mapakain lang siya, kung anong gusto niya na pagkain ‘yun lang ang inuulit-ulit ko na ibinibigay sa kanya.” (“Just to feed her, I keep giving her whatever food she wants.”) She said.

“Dati napapakain ko pa siya ng may sabaw na isda at gulay, at pritong isda pero nung mag 2 years old na siya, ayaw niya na ng mga ito.” (“I used to feed her fish and vegetables soup and fried fish but when she turned 2 years old, she didn’t want to eat them anymore.” She added.

How to prevent your child from becoming a picky eater?

• According to the study, at the age when your child has learned to eat solid food, there should be a proper meal time in your home. When he is used to eating at this hour with family, he knows he needs to eat too.

• Eat together. A big thing to prevent your child from becoming a picky eater is if he sees the older member of the family eating vegetables, fruits, fish, and other healthy foods. When this is what he is used to, he will follow to eat the said foods.

• Do not cook separate meals for your toddler. It is better that what food is prepared for the whole family is eaten by him so that he can get used to it and not look for other food.

What to do if your child is a picky eater?

• Do not yell or scold the child if he does not want to eat. Explain properly and calmly why he needs to eat the food you prepared.

• Remove distractions while the child is eating such as toys or gadgets so he can focus on eating.

• This is one of the advice of my daughter’s Pediatrician. “When the child doesn’t want to eat, don’t force her. Don’t give anything even cookies or candies. When she doesn’t want to eat it means she is still full. When the child is hungry, she will ask for food.”

• Entertain your child by decorating his food. For example, fried eggs with funny faces. Just draw in his food using ketchup. This way, it’s possible to convince him to eat.

• Prepare different meals every day. For example, if you gave your child fried eggs yesterday, try serving sinigang today.

• Try to give your child food choices. If you cooked porridge and monggo today, ask him what he would like to eat out of the two you served.

• Be patient. If you have done everything but it didn’t work for your picky eater child don’t worry because he will also come to an age where he will eat other foods that he didn’t want to eat before.

We, mothers, have different ways of feeding our children but we have a nature called ‘mother’s instinct’ which is why we know whether or not our children’s picky eating is dangerous to their health. Don’t hesitate to take our children to experts like Pediatricians if you are very worried because he is a picky eater or if he doesn’t want to eat anything you serve at the dining table.