Before you had children, you may have had a lot more flexibility with what you ate. Once you start your baby on solid food you may find yourself having to think more about what you eat and cook. The good news is you’ll find many foods easy to adapt in texture and flavour for your baby. But what about once your child is ready for family foods.
Feeding your family can become tricky if you try to please everybody. Toddlers start to become more naturally cautious about foods and what they eat. It is very common for them to go through a fussy eating phase
One way children learn about food and eating is from you. So how does this work if you are preparing family meals based just on the limited foods that suit your child?
Ideas that work for the whole family
- Try deconstructed family style meals This is serving a variety of foods that make up a more complex dish separately. Everyone then plates up what and how much of each food they want. This makes it easy to please everyone even in a small way. For example if serving a stir fry, cook and serve the rice, vegetables, meat, sauces in separate dishes. Everyone can make their dish as interesting as they like. Your child might prefer to keep their food plainer and more separate.
- Include the complex dishes alongside basic foods like steamed vegetables, pasta, bread and cut up fruit. This way they can see you eat the food and over time may want to try it themselves.
- Have a weekly or monthly rotation of meals that includes everyone’s favourite dishes. This way you can expose children to a variety of foods which they may learn to eat over time. Put on the table one or two “safe” foods that you know your child will eat. This is important as they are still learning to eat. Trust that they will learn to eat more variety over time.
Be a positive role model
Learning to eat and to enjoy a wide range of foods can take time and guidance. Be patient and role model how you enjoy what you eat. This is part of looking after yourself. For more information Healthy Kids