Help, My Toddler Won't Eat!
Help, My Toddler Won't Eat!
Weaning your way to a happy and adventurous little eater.
In this newsletter, we provide you with notes on Toddler Weaning with Charlotte Stirling, an episode of Midwife Pip Podcast.
Host Pip is a practicing midwife in the UK who has a wealth of experience supporting parents-to-be through all aspects of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. She is joined by Charlotte Sterling-Reed, "The Baby & Child Nutritionist" and founder of SR Nutrition, an expert in the field of baby weaning and a registered nutritionist who has helped thousands of families with feeding their children.
Read our notes below.
Topics Covered in this Summary
Navigating Fussy Eating and Food Refusal
The Importance of Offering a Variety of Food
Three Key Tips to Feeding Toddlers
Navigating Fussy Eating and Food Refusal
It can be tough to feed little ones who just aren’t interested in food. Toddlers' feelings, behaviors, and appetites are naturally going to go up and down from day to day, meal to meal, just like ours as adults. Sometimes just simply acknowledging that that’s the case can help take the pressure off a little too.
There are plenty of ways that we can support our children to enjoy food and mealtimes through ups and downs, such as:
Avoid pressure. Children’s appetites can be affected by so many things including illness, teething, change in routine, being distracted, and so much more.
If your child is showing signs of not wanting to eat – e.g. turning their head away, pushing the plate away, or crying, it’s important not to push them to eat anymore and respect that they’re telling you they’ve had enough.
Let them explore. Allow them to be the one to decide how much they eat, because we don't know what their body is telling them. The most important thing to remember is they are becoming little humans and food often becomes part of where they try and show that independence.
The Importance of Offering a Variety of Food
As our babies grow into toddlers, food becomes increasingly important and prominent in their lives, which may throw us some challenges. By offering a greater variety of food, it increases their familiarity with more foods and the likelihood that they will continue to accept them as they get older, even as adults.
Babies are naturally drawn to sweet tastes, so it can be challenging to get them to like savory or bitter tastes, like those in vegetables.
Exposure to a range of fruits and vegetables regularly may increase consumption. However, it may take multiple exposures before a new veggie is accepted (at least 8–10 repeated exposures).
Remember that little ones aren’t going to change their habits around food and mealtimes overnight. Sometimes it takes a long time, and it’s all about being consistent and persistent with your approach.
Three Key Tips to Feeding Toddlers
Take the pressure off on meal times. Consider using the phrase ‘’That's okay, you don't have to eat it’’, and just leaving it at that.
Role model. Take a time out to sit down and eat something similar to what your little one is eating regularly. When you can have a meal time with them, it will make a big difference to their appetite.
Make mealtimes enjoyable. Eating is not just about what goes in, it’s about the whole eating experience. If we can make meals an enjoyable time for our little ones, they’re more likely to want to take part in meals & therefore to also want to eat the foods on offer.
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Listen to the original episode