How to feed a fastidious feeder

"Doctor, my child does not eat, but simply pecks like a bird."I must have listened to this complaint a thousand times before I realized that children from one to two have a reason for such behavior. If you understand the behavior of a child of this age and become acquainted with the development of the child, it will help you understand why most children from one year to two just peck, not eat. During the first year of life, children eat a lot, because they grow very much. On average, a child by the age of three increases his birth weight, but between the first and second birthdays a normal child can increase his weight by only one-third or less. In addition, many children during this period grow proportionally more in

than in width, because they use stored infant fat as an energy source. This completely normal weight loss can further exacerbate parental fears that their child does not receive adequate nutrition. The child's attitude to food during this period varies, as the child's developmental pattern changes.

Changes in emotional and motor development also bring with them changes in gastronomic habits. A child who started to walk, only does this - walks! He will not sit quietly for anything, and certainly not for the sake of eating. He is too keen to interrupt his incessant research at home in order to sit still for a long time. If the child grazes - receiving small, frequent feedings - it will be more compatible with his overloaded schedule. However, many nutritionists believe that this is the most healthy diet. The title of "legible eater" is quite deserved and for another reason. Grabbing the thumb and forefinger, the motor skill brought to the year to perfection, also affects the behavior of the child at the table. The child takes pleasure in fixing this important new skill and selects small pieces of food from the contents of a plate or a tray of his chair or reaches for your plate.

Not in the mood to eat

Chaotic behavior at the table is as characteristic as frequent mood swings in a normally developing child from one year to two. In one day your child can eat well and can practically nothing to eat the next day. In one day, he can lean on fresh vegetables, and on the next give them up. As one parent said: "The only permanent thing in a child's diet is impermanence."This food that does not fit into any model is normal, although it causes concern. If you average the amount of food consumed by your child in a week or a month, then you will be surprised to find that his diet is much more balanced than you thought. On average, children between one and two years require 1000-1300 calories a day, but they can consume so much every day. One day it seems that they do not eat anything, but they catch up on the next day. Consumption of food comes to equilibrium over a certain period of time. One mother decided this problem with balance: "When she has a bad appetite, I give her only one thing, and each time different. Instead of worrying about a balanced meal, I take care of a balanced week. "

The role of parents - the role of the child

As parents of the eight, we recognize that with their first children they were not very eagerly waiting for another meal, especially when they were between the ages of one and two. We felt responsible for each of their meals, for what they ate, how much they ate, and grieved that they were not up to par if they did not eat every dish we gave them. Now it's easier. We learned that is our job is to buy the right products, prepare them competently from the point of view of dietology and submit them beautifully and creatively;this concludes our work. Now we can calm down and leave the rest to the discretion of the child. How much will he eat, when he will eat and whether in general - for the most part the child's business( it is understood that we should encourage him and organize him a little).As soon as we relaxed and began to feel less stress while eating, we began to get more pleasure from this special communication with our children, and they even began to eat better and get more joy at the table.

Now that we have to feed so many children, it's difficult even to fit them all at the table. We rarely have the strength to force them to eat. It's up to them not to stay hungry. In the case of feeding our children, we tried to find a middle ground, without crushing or showing a disregard. We try to swim with the flow of their needs and moods. From the battle of forcible feeding, no one comes out victorious. Too much pressure leads to general exhaustion and forms an unhealthy attitude towards food. It is perfectly normal to mask some products, bribe, play table games, for example, in an airplane or in "Mom will eat a spoon, the baby will eat a spoon", and so on, provided that we control our desire to fill our children with food until failure. After feeding young children for twenty-five years, we do not take on their own account either glory for the fact that the child ate a lot, nor the shame that he did not eat anything.

Do not take your child's refusal from your lovingly cooked carrot puree as a personal insult. Be flexible in relation to the individual style of your child. If your child signs that he is already full, then it's time to call it a meal. Do not forget about this, use tips and comments that will help you drive as much food into the child and drive away your stress.

Use the tray with

treats One of the newest ideas we have come across in search of ways to feed our children and to facilitate parental life is a tray with treats. With him, the child can easily graze, and it fits perfectly with the food style of most children of this age.

How to prepare a tray with goodies. Here's how we prepare a tray with treats:

• Take an ice cube tray, cake tray or

, buy a cell-divided plastic dish on the suckers so that you can attach it to a low table or to a tray of a highchair. Put in the cells cut into small( convenient for putting in the mouth) pieces of bright and nutritious foods - sometimes we call this tray an iridescent lunch.

• Be sure to take one cell under the dipping sauce.

• Call these products in a child's language so that your two-year-old child understands:

• avocado slices - quarter avocado cut into slices along the

• cheese cubes

• banana wheels

• broccoli trees

• small rings( ready-made breakfasts)

• sticks( boiled carrots or wheat bread with bran)

• months( slices of peeled apple, with or without peanut butter)

• eggshells( slices of hard-boiled eggs cut to resemble canoes) •

• seashells, logsshki and so on( pastas of various shapes)

Put your own child tray on his own table.

Investigating the house and passing the table, it will often stop, a bit reinforced and continue its journey. Instruct a child to stand near the table when he chews and swallows.

Caution: To prevent the child from choking, do not allow your child to run and to play with a mouth full of food.

If your child constantly upsets the tray or drops it to the floor, it is still too small to allow it to regain on its own, and during feeding, it may be necessary to look after it. By the age of two, many children manage to explain that the tray should be on the table and that it is not necessary to throw it or carry it around the house.

Tray for two. If your delicately prepared tray with goodies does not bring your child to rapture, put a tray in the middle and have a snack together. All that your kid can need is to penetrate, as it is entertaining to choose from a multicolored assortment spread out before him. Exagger your admiration when you are eating a tray, giving your child all the signs that it's very healthy. Our children were so carried away by the food from the trays that we began to graze with them.

Season with

Prepare the sauce. Children from one year to two adore dipping objects. Offering them to dip the least favorite products, especially vegetables, into a sauce, you will invariably win. Tips for sauces:

• guacamole( avocado sauce, with or without spices)

• nutritious salad dressing

• cheese sauce

• yogurt without filler, flavored with honey and / or fruit concentrate

• fruit puree or boiled vegetables mixed witha small amount of salad dressing

• puree from chickpeas

• sauce from home cheese

• puree from tofu

Smear. Young children are passionate about namazyvaniem. Give them nutrients for this: avocado sauce, cream cheese, meat pate, peanut butter, vegetable puree, pear concentrate or concentrate from other fruits. Let the child spread these products on crackers, toasts or rice cakes.

Favorite infants toddlers. Putting a nutritious and well-known baby's favorite product on top of new and less desired products is a good way of enriching the . Good grazing - well behaved.

. The child's behavior often goes in parallel with the schedule of his feedings. Parents usually notice that the child begins to behave badly by the end of the morning or by noon. Do you catch the connection? The child behaves worst of all, when the longest is without food. If a child grazes, this minimizes the blood sugar changes and the resulting undesirable behavior.

tit scanty child menu. The most popular gravy and ornaments are yoghurt, melted cheese, cream cheese, guacamole, pear concentrate, tomato sauce, meat sauce, apple sauce and peanut butter.

Make it easy to eat

Simple dishes. Take into account the fact that small children have small tummies and not yet so well developed chewing and swallowing skills. Cut the food into small pieces, convenient for sending to the mouth. From products that are hard to eat, make pates, for example from meat: rub it and spread on your favorite cracker. The invariable winner is the boiled liver, mixed in equal parts with homemade cheese.

"Have a drink of your lunch." If your child refuses to eat, preferring to drink, prepare "cocktails" from yogurt mixed with fresh fruit. With straws that make drinks more interesting, some children of this age leave less dirt and others more.

Let it be smaller. Do not dazzle your child with a full plate. Put a little and fill the plate again when the child asks for supplements.

Keep a record of each calorie

Stick to high-nutrition foods that have a lot of nutrients for every calorie. Fruits have low nutritional value, juices are even smaller, and sweets occupy the very last place. High-nutritional foods are especially important for a child between the ages of one to two years, who is active as a rabbit, but eats like a mouse. Children who prefer to peck usually eat a very small amount of food, so the solution is in high-nutrition foods and frequent feedings.

Seat and feed

How to make the child sit quietly. To lock the child in the stool and prevent him from getting out of it, use the seat belt. Never leave a child sitting in a high chair unattended. Here's how one mother copes with her fugitive: "I continuously bring him full spoons of food. This rapid-fire method of feeding keeps his attention and makes him sit still. Before he has time to recover, the meal is finished and I release it. I manage to invest more food in it with fewer protests. I do not give him time to protest between the spoons being brought. "

Location on the shelf. Take the bottom shelf of your refrigerator for baby products, as well as its drinks and leftovers from trays. Perhaps your child will often go to the refrigerator and knock on the door, giving you a sign that it's time to have a bite. The shelf in the refrigerator or closet should be low enough that the child can take his own food and drink when he wants. The age at which the child is ready to serve himself, leaving a minimum of mud, all children have different. But encourage self-service. In addition, if you give your child a personal shelf, this will help you keep track of how much your baby eats.

Table etiquette. There are nice things happening around the table, therefore good behavior is expected here. This is the attitude you want to form with your child. The time for eating is a special time, and the family table is a special place for pleasant communication, pleasant conversation and good food. Voltage should not be applied to the garnish for food - this is not the best time to raise problems. Accustom all members of your family to good behavior at the table. If a small child is witnessing that the people around the table are fighting and throwing food, he will treat the family table as a battlefield and join. Even a very small, one-year-old child is able to feel the spirit of prayer before eating and having a casual conversation at the table. Luxury Mom's knees. Be prepared that at times your child will refuse to sit in the high chair or stay in it. Let him sit on your lap and eat from your plate. As the honorary president of the Sears family mud control club, Martha found that it is best to push her plate away from the child's reach and put a few pieces of her food on the table in front of the child, between the child and the plate. Then the knobs of the child sitting on your lap will leave your plate alone. Enjoy this period of sitting on your knees - it will quickly pass.

Ten of the most highly nutritious foods
avocado pasta	due
beans	Delia
cheese	bran
eggs	brown rice
fish( salmon,	tofu( soy
tuna, cod)	curd)
peanut butter	turkey