Children grow at different rates. The child’s growth progress can be accelerated with the best nutrition and care but how can you be sure that your child is getting the proper nutrition if he/she is a picky-eater. This is exactly the situation that I encountered with my three-year old toddler. What do you do when your child is a picky-eater?
What do you do when your child is a picky-eater?
When I started to wean my son two years ago, he would always want to eat small amount of food and only chooses the food he likes. I find it normal in the first year but when he turned three, giving him solid foods like rice and meat has been a big challenge to let him eat the food. He has been a picky-eater because he only chooses what to eat such as fried chicken, fried fish, soup, fruits and vegetables and he does not like to eat rice at all. Because of the poor eating habits of my picky-eater child, his body is slender and slow in gaining weight.
One thing that I am thankful of is that even he is a picky-eater child; he loves to eat fruits and vegetables. Name it all, he is not picky when it comes to fruits and vegetables. He is also a smart and active child whether in school or at home. Let me share my simple my mommy strategies of how I keep my child healthy even though he is a picky-eater. Some of the strategies listed below can be found in my Healthy weight gain strategies for kids post.
Strategies to keep a picky-eater child healthy
- Increase your child’s calorie intake above what he burns daily. A 500-calorie increase per day should result in a 1-lb. per week gain.
- Prepare quality foods that have a high number of calories per serving at every meal or snack like peanut butter, eggs, cheese, nuts, full-fat dairy and bean dips. Offer high nutrition but more calories per servings like white or sweet potatoes, corn, peas, raisins, dates and dried apricots instead of broccoli and carrots.
- Allow your child to eat in small portions often and take in calories when her appetite allows. Eating six to eight small meals of high-calorie foods is an effective way to get him all the calories he needs for weight gain.
- A good alternative if your child does not want to eat is to offer full-fat milk mixed with dry milk powder or 100 percent juice between meals to add calories.
- Give your child fruits every after meal such as a medium Apple (95 calories), Bananas (110 Calories), Orange (70 Calories). These fruits are high in vitamin C and dietary fiber.
- Consider preparing a soup menu as an alternative food to offer in meals when your child does not want to eat rice. A cup of Chicken Sopas contains about 150 Calories.
- Help stimulate your child’s appetite by moderate physical activity.
Some of the snacks for Kid’s healthy calorie-boosting
- Raisin snacks
- Cheese sticks
- Buttered popcorn
- Flavored full-fat yogurt.
- Granola
Do not forget to give your child Multivitamins. You can also give him an Appetite Stimulant but be sure to consult your pediatrician first for recommendations. When your child is sick and is taking antibiotics, it is good to give him vitamins with zinc for immune system boosters.
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I so love this topic and love how you’re keeping calorie count at bay! (If you like, you can take a look at my picky eaters tag to see the posts under it. They’re mostly research/science based: http://greeneggsandmoms.com/tag/picky-eaters/)
I guess milk is the best for children. Sometimes they are preoccupied by playing and other matters one reason they lost appetite for food. Just provide more food supplements to make them strong and healthy and also trust only the natural way of feeding them avoid skipping meals too and too much play or toys for them. Great post love your alternative ways.