Mothers of young children often complain about their children throwing tantrums while eating. Complains range from the child not eating at the right time, throwing away food, a general dislike for all foods and feeling full after just 2-3 spoonfuls. A child who eats all his greens and beans is a dream child for any mother. At times it can really get tough for the mothers to deal with such situations.
Here are some essential feeding tips that can help parents cope with this problem in a better way:
1 . Encourage Your Child To Have Meals With Family
Make it a point that the child is fed when the entire family sits together for meals. This helps because children always try to imitate other people around them, especially elders; during their growing years they look upon elders as their idols and want to behave their best in front of them.
2 . Never Forcefully Feed Your Child
The more you try, the more difficult it will become. Every child is naturally endowed with the sensation of hunger when it’s time to eat, just as a baby cries when he is hungry. Surprising as it may sound, your child actually understands when he/she is hungry, so they will ask for food. You need to leave them alone till they start realizing this hunger sensation (mostly in 3-5 hours) and let them ask for food by themselves. This serves as a key to train your child to learn to eat without you running behind him 4 times a day for each meal
3 . Wait For Your Child To Feel Hungry
It is very important that your child is able to convey when he no more is hungry. Stuffing the child with food constantly is not a good idea. Instead feeding him healthy and nutritious food should be the prime concern.
4 . Avoid Buying Junk Food In Bulk
This will help you keep the child away from unhealthy food without providing him with false reasons such as its unavailability.
5 . Offer Your Child Smaller Portions
This will encourage the child to eat in the optimum quantity and at the stipulated time as well. Snacking at particular time of day will not allow the child to graze unhealthy food throughout the day.
6 . Offer Healthy Food Options
When they ask for food, provide them with tasty healthy food items. Don’t look out for easy, unhealthy options like wafers, noodles, biscuits, cookies, fries etc. instead go for homemade juices, smoothies, soups with lots of veggies. Give a twist to the regular meals by adding oats, nuts, dates, and garnish it using colorful fruits and veggies so that your child is tempted to have them and enjoys them.
7 . Keep Fresh Juices Handy
During summers keep fresh juices, shakes or smoothies ready. As soon as the child comes home from school, playing outdoors, etc they can have these instead of wanting to have colas or packed juices.
8 . Limit Junk Food To Once A Week
It is difficult to shun pizza, fries, pastas, noodles, cookies entirely from your child’s diet, but what you can do is limit their consumption by treating them with these items only on weekends.
So, go ahead and give these simple yet effective tips a try to help your child eat healthy and nutritious food. Stay Healthy, Stay Happy with 1mg, Trusted Online Medical Store India !