{"id":18047,"date":"2013-10-10T07:15:52","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T11:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/?p=18047"},"modified":"2021-02-11T14:08:49","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T19:08:49","slug":"four-tips-for-raising-a-good-eater-toddler-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/four-tips-for-raising-a-good-eater-toddler-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Tips for Raising a Good Eater: Toddler Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

As parents, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. For the latter, I struggle with figuring out how to get Hailey to ditch the pacifier. I wonder how I\u2019ve possibly let so many toys take over the house when I swore we were minimalists. I feel guilty I never made a legit baby book.<\/p>\n

However, one thing I\u2019m proud of is the way Hailey eats. She\u2019s newly 2 and I can honestly say we have no issues with food.<\/p>\n

Some say I may have just gotten lucky. Maybe that\u2019s true and all of this will come back to bite me with any future children, but I feel confident that certain habits we\u2019ve adopted ensure she keeps eating well. I believe this because if I start to slack in those areas, I notice a difference.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve shared with you my 10 favorite tips for raising a healthy eater<\/a>, but now I\u2019m back with toddler-specific tips that are working for us!<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Stop the All-Day Snacking.<\/strong> I might be able to stop here and call it a day. I suggest this for several reasons. First of all, snack foods tend to be less nutritionally dense than meal-time foods. Pretzels, puffs, popcorn, fruit snacks, Goldfish, etc aren\u2019t doing much besides entertaining their mouth and filling their stomachs with mostly empty calories. It\u2019s no wonder that after snacking all afternoon they don\u2019t want their dinner; they aren\u2019t hungry. I feed Hailey a small snack after nap, usually a yogurt and fruit, and that\u2019s it until dinner. Occasionally, she\u2019ll  those have access to snacks, like on playgroup afternoons. She\u2019ll down them like it\u2019s nobody\u2019s business and on those days I can pretty much count on only 4-5 bites for dinner.<\/p>\n

If a child is used to snacking all day, it\u2019s going to take some adjustment, but a toddler can go without food for 3 hours without withering away. I guarantee it.<\/p>\n

2. Cook One (Healthy) Meal and Everyone Eat It.<\/strong> If I\u2019m eating something different than Hailey, it\u2019s certain that she will prefer whatever it is I am eating. To fix this, we eat the same meal or I eat later, once she is in bed. If chicken, potatoes and broccoli are for dinner, then those are the options. I\u2019m not going to make her something special. It\u2019s best she learn early that I\u2019m not a short-order chef.<\/p>\n

3. Be Consistent and Stop the Back-Up Meals<\/strong>. If a child knows he can refuse dinner, but get something different later because his parents are worried he didn\u2019t eat anything, guess what, he\u2019s going to skip dinner in favor of the peanut butter and jelly or fruit snacks he knows he can get later. They are smart little people! We don\u2019t do dessert regularly and when Hailey gets to the table, she knows that is what she gets. I know she likes some food more than others (hooray it\u2019s cherry tomatoes! or boo it\u2019s saut\u00e9ed peppers), but it is what it is.<\/p>\n

4. Don\u2019t Turn Meal Time into a Battle<\/strong>. Like all toddlers, Hailey has days where certain foods don\u2019t strike her fancy. I\u2019m fine with that. If she eats all the potatoes and broccoli but hardly touches the chicken, I really don\u2019t mind. I know it will change tomorrow. She can eat as much as she wants to from the options available at that meal, because I feel good about everything on her plate.<\/p>\n

I also don\u2019t push for the clean plate club, which I think drives David a little crazy. My hippy-minded self wants her to learn to listen to her own hunger cues. Some meals she may only eat a few bites, but she will then make up for it at the next meal. I know a child will not starve themselves.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/span><\/em> These may be boldly stated, but I really believe strongly in these tips because they\u2019ve worked for us. We\u2019ve gone through a few finicky stages ourselves, but by sticking to my principles, all the phases have passed quickly. I promise to continue to be upfront and honest and if she hits a phase where she won\u2019t eat a thing, I will come back and publicly eat my words. \"Winking<\/p>\n

Your turn! Please share\u2026<\/p>\n

What tips to you have for combatting picky eating?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As parents, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. For the latter, I struggle with figuring out how to get Hailey to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2243,2327],"tags":[688,1334,1040],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18047"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}