Top tips for preventing fussy eating
The best way to prevent fussy eating is to have a plan of action from the very beginning, and I do mean the very beginning!
While you are pregnant
Your baby tastes your food when
they swallow amniotic fluid, as it is flavoured by the foods you eat. To help
them appreciate a wide variety of tastes eat from a wide variety of healthy foods
– lean meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Limit sweets and junk food as
research has shown that eating a diet high these foods strongly influences your
child’s preference for these tastes once they are born.
When breast feeding
Your food choices also flavour your
milk, so continue to eat from a wide variety of healthy foods and limit sweets
and junk foods.
When your child is ready for
solid foods
Babies naturally prefer sweeter
foods but to increase their food acceptance offer a wide variety of naturally sweet
and savoury foods. Try the following pureed foods:
Raw banana, pear, apple, berry, and
avocado and cooked kumara, pea, carrot, potato, broccoli, spinach, beef,
chicken and fish.
Include small amounts of herbs and spices.
Note - current recommendations for allergy prevention are to avoid offering children cow’s milk and egg white until they are 12 months old.
From 12 months
From around this age children are
naturally wary of new foods, a phenomenon called food neophobia. This is a protective
instinct which also includes aversion to bitter tastes which is found in foods
such as spinach and broccoli. To overcome this wariness you must show your
acceptance and enjoyment of all new foods. Children are also very influenced by your facial expressions and tone of
voice. They are far more likely to accept a new food if you are smiling,
tasting it yourself and speaking positivity - “yum, this is really nice”.
At this age children should be
mostly eating finger foods and have exposure to a wide variety of textures such
as:
Juicy, crisp, chewy, crunchy, brittle
and mealy (porridge, mince)
Offer foods they can hold and dip
with, such as vege sticks, wholegrain bread soldiers, wholegrain crackers.