Do you know that children can take 10 trials or more before accepting the new food? Therefore, patience and perseverance are the keys! Here are some tips:
- Eat with the family – parents are good role models to demonstrate healthy eating and children learn quickly by example. By eating the same food as the toddler does, you are showing that the food is safe to eat and can help them overcome the fear to give it a first go. Having family meals is also a good bonding experience with your little one.
- Make it fun – unleash your creativity to make the food more fun to eat! You can arrange food in fun faces or serve them in interesting shapes such as animal pasta, cutting sandwiches with cute cookie cutters.
- Offer the old and the new – it can be quite overwhelming to see a plate of new food only. If you are offering both- an accepted food and a new one on the plate, it is likely that your child will only eat the familiar food. However, you are also giving an opportunity for him/her to touch, poke and smell the new food. Sensory exploration is the first step to acceptance.
- Try not to bribe – this may do more harm than good. Bribery such as ‘I will give you ice-cream later if you have a bite of this’ may force them to try the food but instead of making them like it, it may turn into a hated food.
- Mini kitchen helper – you can give some easy kitchen tasks for your toddler to join you. By seeing the cooking process and getting involved, it can arouse their interest and help build their resilience.
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