You know what’s really annoying? It’s when you’ve made the most perfect dish for your little one and they just look at it and say no. It doesn’t matter a bit if you’ve spent hours carefully boiling, mincing and portioning out proteins, vegetables and grains. It doesn’t concern them that they were served a culinary masterpiece with a unicorn sprouting rainbows out of it. When it comes to food, a no is non-negotiable in toddler world. Babies tend to eat what they want and when they want it. Most children suffer from what many cohorts of motherhood like to call “picky eaters” or, in some extreme cases, “food averse.”

However, rest assured, no matter what someone tells you, this is most definitely not your fault. Here are some suggestions to tackle this problem.

Try and respect your child’s appetite or lack thereof. Even the most gluttonous of adults have days when they just don’t feel like eating and maybe your kid feels the same way. Give them a little leeway with their favourite foods as long as they are not binging on crisps all day.

* Experience has taught me that routine really helps with setting up your child with a healthy metabolism. Don’t just make a plan in your head. Put it on paper. It helps keep track of mealtimes and snacks, and this discipline will help your child develop healthy eating habits.

* Similarly, if you are always worried about your child’s actual nutritional intake, maintain a log of their food intake for three days. This is a wonderful way to lessen your worries as in most cases kids are actually well-fed but moms worry too much because of comparison with other children and the social pressure for big, fat rolls of baby fat.

* Try getting your child involved in cooking and grocery shopping. In some cases, it helps when they see how a meal is actually prepared and where the food comes from. It also makes for better bonding and less stress with the added bonus of children developing responsibility for their food instead of just sitting there, only receiving and dishing out criticism to their caregivers.

* Try decorating food once in a while for your child. While it is perfectly alright to serve them healthy porridge with its beautiful grey hues, a little decoration never really hurt anybody, especially if it actually helps them get the food in their mouth. Similarly getting cool and colourful spoons and their very own cutlery can also help get them interested.

*One of the lessons from having a second child is not to make extra food. Try watering down whatever you are having and not making elaborate creations that are only good for the child. Seeing you eat the same food would make it easier for the child to get interested and eating on the same time also helps.

* Last but not the least, try and be more forgiving of yourself as a parent. It is likely that your children’s habits will not evolve into perfection overnight, so be patient. As long as they are happy, healthy and active, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

Dawn/ ANN