7 tips for fussy eaters

If the chicken nuggets, chips or junk food are not in the house, you can easily reduce the amount eaten by your child. If they are in the house, you’ll have a hard time convincing your child to try something different.

Children will happily snack and graze all day. This often dulls their appetite for more nutritious meals. Try reducing snacks and watch their meal-time appetites soar.

Food is just food. It’s not bad or good; some foods are just more nourishing than others. Encourage positive talk about food and your body. Mentioning ‘fatness’, ‘fattening foods’ and criticising our own or other family member’s bodies does no-one any good and can set up unnecessary anxiety. Frame food talk in a light and positive way.

Distracted kids are far less likely to eat well than those who have only the meal in front of them to focus on. Turn off the TV, and remove mobile phones, tablets and other devices from the dinner table.

Role modelling (from parents) is a very strong predictor of long-term healthy eating habits in children. If children see their parents eat and enjoy healthy food, they are much more likely to do so themselves.

Food bribes may solve the problem in the short term, but create a larger, long-term problem of raising the status of the bribe food so it becomes ‘special’. These foods are often high in sugar and low in nutrition, and children are likely to just want more of them. Resist the urge to use food bribes.

Sometimes mealtimes have become such a battleground that no amount of begging, bribes or threats will work. Remove the pressure to eat: encourage the family to sit at the table, place the meal in front of each person, and then leave them to decide whether or not to eat. For some kids, this semblance of control makes them much more motivated to try new things.

• Make vegetables normal – put them in front of your children every single day.
• Don’t give up! Children often need to taste things multiple times before they will accept a new food. Persistence is the key.
• Stay consistent. Using food bribes one day and then not the next is going to result in frustration for both you and your child. Set the rules and then stick to them.
• Be prepared. When we’re unorganised, we often resort to convenience food that’s low in nutrition. Write a meal plan and prioritise your weekly grocery shop so you always have healthy food on hand.

• Keep mealtimes fun. Have a picnic on the lounge room floor, or create a make-your-own salad buffet – let the kids build their own salad out of the fresh vegetables that you make available.

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