What to do if your two and a half year old baby has a picky eater

Children can usually be weaned when they are about one year old, and start eating after weaning. The food given to children at this time must be soft and easy to digest, and attention must also be paid to nutrition. However, many parents ignore a problem at this time, that is, the baby's eating habits. If parents cannot cultivate good eating habits for their children at this time, then the children may develop a habit of picky eating.

What should I do if my two and a half year old baby has a picky eater diet?

Generally, children's anorexia and picky eating are mostly caused by zinc deficiency, so zinc supplementation can play a good role in improving the situation. Children can be given more zinc-rich foods, such as: oysters, dried squid, malt, lean meat, fish, milk, walnuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, seaweed, walnut kernels, animal liver, etc.; if zinc supplementation is not enough, zinc supplements can be taken appropriately.

Children's picky eating is a creative expression in life and a cognitive bias. Preschool children are in the transition stage from figurative thinking to abstract thinking, and are beginning to develop from sensory experience to abstract understanding. Parents can tell their children about the harm of picky eating on growth and development, why people need a variety of nutrients, and describe the consequences of picky eating, so that children can recognize the harm of picky eating and correct bad habits.

Children as young as two and a half years old show the initial manifestation of will, where they intentionally inhibit or delay their behavior for the sake of short-term goals. If a child who does not eat vegetables starts to eat a little, parents should praise and encourage him. The reward method can be flexibly selected. For example, if children can eat some vegetables every day, parents can take them to the park as a reward on weekends. In order to go to the park, children will force themselves to eat vegetables.

Parents should understand their children's psychological needs. When they refuse to eat a certain food, they can stop giving them the activities that they think they are most interested in, such as watching cartoons or visiting the zoo. This will allow the child to reluctantly tolerate the food in order not to lose his favorite activity. Over time, the habit of picky eating will be overcome. Sometimes they can be twisted into the roles of a kind mother and a strict father. The father takes a cold attitude towards the child or puts a certain amount of pressure on him; the mother persuades him: "Eat quickly! Otherwise Dad will be angry!" In order to please his father, the child had to eat it. This method often has a corrective effect on some young children. However, punishment should never include beating or scolding, otherwise it will cause psychological trauma to the child.

Children's picky eating is partly caused by trace factors such as zinc deficiency in the body, but most of it has a lot to do with the parents' usual eating habits. Therefore, it is very important to let children come into contact with more foods that suit their tastes in the early stages of eating. Long-term picky eating is very detrimental to children's growth and development in all aspects.