Toddler Nutrition: Stop the Food Fights

Toddlers are notoriously picky eaters. Many toddlers spend months eating only one type of food. My 3 year old wants pizza for every meal. Cheese pizza with very little sauce, to boot! The problem with this picky eating is that toddlers need a well balanced and nutritious diet to help them grow up strong and healthy. Parents throughout the ages have fought the good fight to get their toddlers to eat vegetables or even anything other than macaroni and cheese!

There are several reasons that the eating habits of toddlers change and parents become so concerned. Your toddler is growing slower and therefore needs less food. A toddler is very interested in asserting his or her independence and many will choose food as a way to do this. And toddlers are way more interested in moving their bodies, exploring their worlds and getting into mischief than they are in sitting still to eat a good meal.

One of our jobs as parents is to offer our children a wide variety of healthy and nutritious foods. A toddlers job is to decide which foods he will and will not eat. An easy way to make sure that both you and your toddler are happy is to take the fight out of the meal. Making mealtimes pleasant and healthy, offering a wide variety of options and allowing frequent snacks will all help to curb the finickiness of your toddler.

If you can get your toddler to eat even a spoonful of vegetables at a meal, you are doing good. A serving size for a toddler is minuscule in comparison to an adults. Figure about ¼ of a serving for an adult is what a toddler needs. If you figure that a toddler needs 3 protein, 4 bread or cereal, 4 fruit or vegetable and 4 dairy servings each day, then these servings are easily reached even if all they eat is a pb&j sandwich and a glass of milk 3 times a day. You may think this is boring, but it does serve nutritionally!

Some ideas for foods to serve your toddler to pique their interest in variety are: raw vegetables with dip, sliced fruits with peanut butter or dip, cheese and crackers. My two toddlers will eat almost anything if they can dip it into something else. They also love to have their meals served on "sticks". I cut each item into small pieces and serve it with toothpicks. They think it is too cool and will eat everything on their plates.

Another way to keep the fights at bay is to remember to serve small meals. Put a tiny amount of each food on your toddler's plate. If there is too much food, they will be overwhelmed. They can always ask for more, but if there is too much on the plate they are likely to refuse to eat any of it. New foods especially should be served in small amounts. If your child refuses to try it, do not fight about it. It can take many offerings of new food before a toddler is comfortable trying it out.

If your toddler is extremely picky and you are concerned about nutrition, speak with your pediatrician about a multi-vitamin. Chances are good that your toddler is getting enough of all he needs, even if it does not seem like it. But, it never hurts to be cautious. The most important thing about your toddler's meals is that you make them happy and stress free. The more stress there is at the dinner table, the less likely your toddler will be to want to eat and enjoy his food.