Best Way to Meet Your Toddler’s Needs when Feeding

What might seem a bit mysterious to you is that, in spite of all the physical activity that is so characteristic of the toddler years, your child appears to want to eat less. This is because her growth rate has slowed down in comparison to the first year. Over three meats, two drinks of milk and the occasional healthy snack during the day, her needs are easily met. Follow her lead and let her eat according to her appetite, while always offering her healthy choices.

You may also find that your child’s eating habits are a hit erratic; she may eat very well some days and hardly at all on others. Don’t worry about such discrepancies, take a longer-term view, and assess what she has eaten over the course of a week. You will probably find that overall she has eaten about the right amount.

Making choices

Your toddler’s sense of taste will be more developed now, and she may well start expressing a preference for one food over another. Try to encourage her to eat roughly the same foods as you and the rest of the family This may mean a rethink of your own dietary approach, ensuring that you are giving her the right balance of nutrients. Keep the range of what you offer her to eat wide, and expect some rejections – you can always try a particular food again later

To help your toddler feel that she has some autonomy over her food, you may wish to offer her a choice of foods at one meal time. Allow her to choose between two items at first, say an apple or an orange, rather than giving her a handful of items to choose from.

Don’t overreact when your toddler rejects your food: it is seldom more than a statement of not wanting it then. Never force-feed your child and try to avoid struggles by keeping meal times short – 15 to 50 minutes. If you feel your child has not eaten enough, offer her a healthy snack of cheese or fruit one or two hours later. Three small meats and two healthy snacks a day is line.

Some children go through quite long phases of refusing certain foods. Don’t worry about such phases. If the overall diet is balanced (even if it contains much of the same foods time and time again) and your toddler is happy, healthy, and growing well, then simply go on offering different items without comment.