Many children are picky eaters, especially in the toddler
and preschool years. This is a frequent concern I hear from parents. Often it comes
in the form of “Johnny won’t eat anything but chicken nuggets.” Some parents give
the child what he wants, fearing that if they don’t, he just won’t end up
eating enough. The problem with that approach is that if he knows he can hold
out for the nuggets, he is not likely to try other things but will just wait
until he gets what he wants.
My advice is usually not to worry too much about it and don’t
turn it into a battle. Making the child sit at the table until he cleans his
plate never seems to work and just upsets everyone involved. I suggest
presenting him with healthy foods and then letting him choose to eat it or not,
but not giving him an alternative meal or snack if he turns his nose up at
dinner. The response to this is often “But he’s got to eat something!”
Yes, he does, and he will. When he gets hungry enough, he
will eat. The key is being comfortable with allowing a child to miss a few
meals along the way if necessary. We have a genetic, metabolic condition in
our family which has severely limited the food options for several family
members. But even with limited options, they always ate enough of what was
available to them (and chicken nuggets were not an option). In almost twenty
years of practice, I can only think of a couple of otherwise healthy children
who refused to eat enough to maintain normal weight gain and growth.
Some children truly have feeding issues that make it
difficult for them to eat certain foods. This can be a physical problem with their
anatomy or inability to handle certain textures, anxiety, developmental
disorders such as autism, or isolated eating disorders. In those cases,
referral to feeding specialists can be helpful.
But for most children, I think simply presenting them with
healthy options and then letting them decide whether to eat or not is a good
option. At some point, when they get hungry enough, they will eat.
