Anyone else hate the idea of dinner time? I thought I had it easy. My first born started eating lots of veggies and fruits at an early age, then BAM! Toddlerhood hits and all of a sudden he’s on a hunger strike-denouncing all food but Dino nuggies and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I have tried everything I can think of to get the kid to eat our evening meals. At what point do you say “Enough is enough. I can’t keep making separate meals for you.”? I started doing some research on picky eaters and actually learned some things along the way from a great source-The Wholesome Child by Mandy Sacher.
Check it out here!
For example, I had no idea that kids who had reflux issues as babies were more prone to be fussy or problem feeders because they have a disassociation with food from an early age. My first born had bad reflux as a baby-who knew this could have impacted his fussy eating habits?
The Wholesome Child does a great job explaining the difference between a “fussy eater” and a “problem feeder”, offering tips to help combat the real issue. On top of that, she offers excellent *healthy* recipes-everything from raspberry muffins to chicken nuggets. The author, Mandy Sacher, is a pediatric nutritionist and food consultant-she knows her stuff!
Here’s a snippet from her book regarding ways to incorporate veggies into your child’s diet:
“Buy play foods and teach them the names of new foods and vegetables, or buy brightly colored books with food images. Stick pictures of disliked vegetables on the fridge-this makes new food and veggies a familiar everyday occurrence” (Sacher).
Thankfully, by the time we had my second-born we learned from our mistakes. We offered her every kind of food we could think of, and if we had it for dinner, she ate it too. I’m happy to say that two years later she’s eating a variety of foods and is willing to try new, healthy foods, too. Could this just be luck? Possibly. But since I have implemented Mandy Sacher’s strategies with my second child, I’m also inclined to believe The Wholesome Child had something to do with it, too.
