Toddler (1-3 years) • Back to Life Cycle Nutrition • Feeding Your Toddler • Common Myths of Children's Nutrition • What to Do with a Picky Eater • Read a letter from a mother asking for help - picky eater? What To Do with a Picky Eater  Toddlers often experience a decrease in appetite which may cause concern for parents. Be reassured that this is normal. A poor appetite or slow eating may be due to a toddler who is... experiencing a slower growth rate tired or excited at meal time exploring food not feeling well drinking too much milk or juice Parents can try... offering toddler size portions with opportunities for seconds setting regular meal and snack times - ones that work best for the toddler and the family respecting the toddler's ability to determine how much food to eat limiting snacks and juice before meal time having a few minutes of quiet time before meals removing distractions at meal times such as television making time for healthy eating so that meals and snacks are not rushed limiting meal time to 20 minutes. Wait until next usual meal or snack time before eating again limiting milk to 2-3 8oz servings per day limiting juice to 4oz per day setting a good example by eating a wide variety of foods serving a small portion of a favourite food with a variety of other foods at meal time eating new foods with the toddler serving a small portion of a new food offering food in different forms, for example, raw instead of cooked serving food in a favourite dish encouraging the toddler to try an unpopular food again another time Toddlers will often show preference for a particular food and not want to eat anything else. This is usually their way of showing their independence. Parents should respect their toddler's likes and dislikes and not make a "big deal" about this because it's normal. Toddlers will often show their independence by asserting their dislikes and refusing some foods. They may be mimicking others' food dislikes. The Two Year Old… is growing more slowly, so appetite can be smaller uses a spoon well and insists on "doing it myself" likes food cut into bite size pieces shows independence in food "likes" and "dislikes" sits in a booster seat at the table is still a messy eater copies others Produced by Nutrition Program, KFL&A Health Unit, 04/95 Revised 12/95; 01/00 Adapted and distributed by Leeds, Grenville, and Lanark District Health Unit 09/01 To the top Dear Dora:  I am the mother of a 5 year old boy. My son is a very busy and active little boy, but does not want to eat! He will only eat certain things, like peanut butter sandwiches and crackers and cheese. This has been going on for a few weeks. Before that he would only eat cereal and fruit juice. If he does not eat the meal, we make him whatever he wants - he has to eat something! Help! Signed Mystified Mommy Dear Mommy: It sounds like you have a normal child who is behaving the way that other children do around food and mealtime. Parents and children both have different responsibilities around food and eating. Your responsibility as a parent is to choose and offer nutritious foods to your child that are safe for him to eat, and to provide structure around meal and snack times. However, it is your child's responsibility of how much to eat, how often to eat, and even whether to eat at all. Let me explain. Your child was born with an internal regulator for energy. He will eat, fill up, and stop eating in response to his internal hunger. A child will not voluntarily starve himself - he will eat when he is hungry. He will even make up for mistakes - eating more on one day and less the next, choosing a variety of foods over time. When parents try to control their children's eating, either by forcing the child to eat certain foods or by withholding foods until the child eats what the parent wants them to, this takes away the child's own control over his appetite and eating.  It is not important what your child eats at one particular meal. It is important what eating habits your child develops as he grows. Children who have "food jags", such as only eating peanut butter sandwiches and crackers and cheese, will eventually grow out of them. At mealtime, offer something from each of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating: Grain Products, Vegetables & Fruit, Milk Products, and Meat & Alternatives. It may take 10, 20, 30 exposures or more to the new food before he will eat it. Offering something once is not enough.  Another key point is that children 'fill up' quickly. Try offering small amounts of liquids {milk, juice or water} with food, or offering liquids after the 'food' part of the meal.  You need to let your child have some responsibility for his own eating. Over time, his nutrition will work itself out if he is allowed to have control over his own eating and his own hunger.  Information adapted from Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family, Ellyn Satter, 1999. To the top