What to do if a 7-year-old child has a picky eater

Children's picky eating habits are a headache for parents. According to surveys, more than 50% of babies are picky eaters to varying degrees. Picky eating will directly lead to the lack of nutrition required by children, and directly affect their development and body resistance. In fact, children's picky eating habits are also closely related to their parents. Parents can gradually guide their children in life and correct their eating habits.

1. Make good use of your baby’s curiosity.

When it comes to meals, if there is food that your baby doesn’t like, don’t force him or her to eat it, lest he or she develops a resistance to the food. Babies are still young and they cannot understand what “nutrition” means. What we need to do is to take advantage of the baby's curiosity. For example, we can eat dishes that he doesn't like with relish in front of him, and communicate with your partner about your positive feelings about the dishes, especially about the taste. After a few times, the baby will be more curious about the food, and in order to join in the conversation with mom and dad, he will start to eat things he didn't like before.

2. Reduce choices and increase consumption

Don't have too many different kinds of dishes at each meal. Even adults will unconsciously eat more of the things they like. Babies don't have big appetites. If they like too many things, they will naturally reject those they don't like. If you want your baby to eat something he originally doesn't want to eat, you have to remove all the "interference items" and only have two or three options on the table. The best combination is one that the baby already likes but not in large quantities, and two that the baby doesn't like but you want to give him, so that the baby can eat without having to make a choice. The implementation of this method requires two prerequisites. One is not to let babies eat too many snacks, as a full stomach will reduce their desire to eat; the other is to increase their physical energy consumption and make babies feel hungry.

3. Clever processing to change the appearance

From the time the baby starts eating complementary foods, we should spend more time preparing food, especially the appearance of the food. Dishes that are colorful, fragrant and delicious are the best way to stimulate the baby's appetite. For the same food, there are many cooking methods such as frying, steaming, stewing, braising, and boiling... The appearance of food is the most attractive to babies. You can change the shape of the food that your baby doesn't like to eat, or make it into different patterns. So mothers still need to work hard to practice their cooking skills.

4. Give food a legendary story

Do you still remember your longing for spinach when you watched the cartoon "Popeye" as a child? If your baby doesn’t like a certain food, smart mothers can also beautify the food through stories. Increasing your baby's liking for food through games, stories, etc. is much better than simply telling your baby which foods are nutritious.

Every kind of food has its own unique nutritional components and its own unique taste. Therefore, we parents should not cultivate the habit of picky eating in our children. For children who don’t like to eat food, parents should not force them to eat by scolding or intimidating them, as this will more easily deepen the children’s aversion to food. They should cultivate the habit of eating less and more slowly.