Children can ‘go off’ a whole array of foods and it’s a battle to keep their diet balanced. Coram Family looks at ways to entice young children back to the table.

child eating You may not be in the thick of a faddy eating phase at the moment but you’re bound to know a parent who is or has been. Faddy eating phases are synonymous with toddlers or young children. Having been hearty eaters as babies, they can suddenly turn against green vegetables, salad of any description, milk, meat, fruit – anything, or sometimes everything, they used to devour with relish gets rejected. Fusspots like this can turn mealtime into a battle of wills. You try to get them to eat another spoonful while they turn up their nose, point blank. Other parents will be able to reassure you with their own stories of woe; toddlers who have touched nothing for months but toast with peanut butter and survived to tell the tale. But you still have to persevere and help your child to overcome their reluctance with food.

When children’s diet gets unbalanced

Young children’s diet can tip out of balance for a number of reasons, any of which can creep up unawares.

Some children are able to snack between meals and still clear their plate later. But many children take the edge off their appetite with constant bits and pieces nibbled at odd times. Then you lose track of what your children are actually eating, because some of their potential nutrition goes in the bin at the end of a meal.
If you’re a working parent, you cannot assume your children are eating enough, or filling the nutrition gap, when they are with their nanny, childminder or in the nursery. You need to talk to the adults who look after them and check what they’re eating.
You may work on the assumption that, given free choices about food, children will eat a diet that balances out over the days. This is a sound idea but only if parents keep a firm eye and hand on the biscuits and crisps.

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Food fuss pots