***My Child Is A Picky Eater

Picky Eater Tips For Parents To Chew On

• Relax. Learn to pick your battles when it come to feeding your child. If your child is willing to eat some vegetables, then don't fight to get him or her to eat all the varieties that you enjoy.

• Stay calm and you child, over a period of time will learn to enjoy most foods.

• Never force feed or bribe your child to eat. Avoid using guilt too. Try to keep mealtime a positive experience.

• Eat with your child and eat as a family. Strive to make mealtime a family event as much as possible. Making mealtime a social time allows for you to model good eat habit, manners and social conversations.

• Offer a variety of foods for snacks. Carrots with dip, cheese and apples, popcorn and nut are often great to combine to promote various foods.

• Small portions of food for small or young children often works better than large portions; especially if your child does not like a particular food. Put a small portion of a food that you child does not like on the plate (one spoon full) and say, "I just want to you eat one bite."

• Make unattractive food attractive by mixing foods together. Try serving poor tasting foods that your child does not like in an attractive format. For example: Serve small amount of spinach in lasagna.

• Be flexible and provide choices. Allow your child to select one of two possible choices of food that is good for him or her.