What should I do if my child has a serious food preference?

It is a common phenomenon that children have picky eating and anorexia. In many cases, parents try every trick in the book to get their children to eat more. Some parents even use threats, inducements, and intimidation to their children. In fact, this method is very undesirable. If the child really doesn’t want to eat, don’t force the child to eat. You can wait until the next meal to let the child eat. Forcing the child to eat too much will make the child have a rebellious mentality towards eating.

1. Parents should set a good example by not showing their likes and dislikes in front of their children; or saying this is delicious and that is not delicious in front of their children. Children are very imitative and will develop picky eating habits if they follow others.

2. It is best not to let children drink beverages before meals, mainly because beverages will take up a lot of stomach space.

3. To cultivate good eating habits for children, their meals should be taken at regular times and in fixed quantities, and it is best not to let them eat snacks. At the same time, increase the amount of activity to promote your child's appetite.

4. Arrange your child’s diet reasonably. The types of food should be diversified and avoid single-dish meals. When cooking food, you should consider the child’s age and digestive characteristics, and pay attention to color, aroma, taste and shape to stimulate the child’s appetite.

5. When children are eating, give them more guidance and encouragement to increase their confidence in eating and encourage them to eat with other children who are not picky eaters.

6. Appropriate supplementation of special complex vitamin B can promote gastrointestinal motility and enhance the baby's appetite.

7. Reduce the distraction of children when they are eating and do not chase after them to feed them.

8. Do not use intimidation or force your child to eat food he or she does not like, so as to avoid causing the child to rebel. We should change the cooking method of food or use reasoning to gradually correct the child's picky eating habits.

In fact, when children are very young, they are not too picky about taste. If we parents let children come into contact with food of various flavors when we first add complementary foods to their diet, it will greatly reduce the phenomenon of children's picky eating. We should not always feed children with a certain kind of food just because they like it. This will easily make children develop a habit of picky eating.