My daughter has always been a pretty good eater, but I will say once she turned one, I really started to notice the toddler’s pickiness. I know I’m not alone. So today, I’m showing all my hacks that I have actually tried on her and that have worked, so you guys can hopefully do them with your toddlers, and hopefully have some success. Honestly, feeding toddlers is a lot, and when they’re refusing to eat what’s on their plate, it’s even more stressful. So let me show you how to get your toddler to actually eat their food.
Here are top 20 food hacks for picky eaters.
Separate their food. There’s something about their development, once they hit one year old or 18 months that they actually don’t like their food touching. I think it has something to do with whether food is safe to eat or not. These little divider plates are great and there is a purpose to them. So separating their food, they can clearly see the differences between them, and they’re not just all mixed together on one plate, honestly help kids eat and determine which one they want to eat.
Don’t overcrowd the plate. Even if you have extra, don’t put everything at once on the plate. It can be a little bit intimidating if there’s just like a lot of food on the plate. If put way too much on their plate, they are kind of like “whoa!” and maybe don’t feel like eating it. But if you just kind of sparsely put it on that, there’s like some negative space on the plate. They’re more likely to dig in and look around.
Try new food. This is a really great tip to try new foods. Make sure they’re in a good mood. If you’re getting ready to serve them a meal, but they’re maybe a bit fussy, they’re upset, then they don’t want to eat, so try to get them in a good positive spirit. Because if you put them in their high chair and they’re freaking out, they’re not going to eat their food. They’re going to throw it on the ground. They’re going to have a tantrum and it’s just not going to be a good time. So have a little dance party, get them in a good mood and then serve them their food.
Change up the location. If they’re really fighting the high chair, you can bring them to the table and actually have them eat with everyone at the table, instead of off to the side on the high chair. Even if sometimes just transferring the food from plate to the tray at the high chair, it works too. Just like a small change can sometimes make a big difference. This one may seem odd but sometimes just ignoring them and letting them do their thing.
Using sign language. Sign language can be really helpful especially before they can actually use words, because it just helps them let you know what they want. If your toddler doesn’t like fried eggs, try a hard-boiled egg. If you normally serve your cucumber in little pieces, try strips. Sometimes, it’s the smallest change that makes a huge difference for them. It’s all about the sensory experience.
Eat the same thing. If everyone is sitting together at the dinner table, and your toddler notices that your plate looks different from their plate, they’re probably going to wonder what you’re having. Often times, I find this happens with my daughter. So if we’re eating hamburgers, she’s eating hamburgers. If she’s having a stir fry, we’re having a stir fry. It doesn’t mean we eat the same thing as her every single time. But if we’re eating a meal together, I really try to have us all eating the same thing and that way too. If she does want what’s on my plate, I can just give her a bite and be like mommy’s eating the same thing as you see and she can kind of see that.
Pre-load a spoon. This isn’t just for new eaters even when they’re toddlers. Sometimes just putting the food on their fork, just kind of encourages them to put it in their mouth, especially if maybe they’re not eating something on their plate. I will just like to pre-load it and leave it there for a bit, and a lot of times they will pick it up and try to switch up the utensils. A lot of times, if my daughter is getting bored of her fork, or throwing it on the floor, I will either go grab another one. Sometimes she’ll hop too. She’ll sometimes even use measuring spoons to eat with. She thinks that’s fun and she’ll steal mine, as well and as long as I’m watching her, I’m fine with her using mine and it also just gets her used to using a real fork and she thinks that’s fine.
Interact with their food. If they’re getting bored or disinterested, you can actually get right in there and maybe give a dinosaur Chomp.
Encourages them. Like oh mommy or daddy is eating. It must be safe and delicious to eat because sharing is caring.
Let them do it themselves and make a mess. I know this is really hard for some parents that just don’t want food on the floor. But letting them just feed themselves and making a mess, getting familiar and exploring their food, is really important.
Stay positive and avoid negative talk. I’m really big on this one and a lot of times, saying things like, no you don’t like that or Yuck like mimicking. they’re like yuck and sometimes they will also mimic it. Saying “No you don’t want any more?” You’re almost telling them to say like “no, I don’t want anymore.” I don’t like it a lot of the time. I just try to redirect or just be like” yes, yum” and maybe I’ll take a bite.Try to avoid using the no word.
Get them involved with their food. Have them cook with you and get involved more with their food. It’s really interesting to see how kids are more involved with their food. They’re more likely to eat them right.
Eat together. This is something that I actually grew up doing with my family, we all ate dinner together. I think this is a really important habit to introduce my daughter to as well. Obviously we don’t eat all of our meals together because she has an earlier eating schedule, but eating dinner together is something that I’ve been trying to do more because I just feel like it’s a really good habit.
Avoid distractions. Just a great way to get everyone enjoying a meal together without screens and distractions and for some extra family time. Honestly, when children see us eating, they are more likely to eat what’s on their plate too.
Fruit bowl hacks. I realize that when I have the fruit bowl filled with things like bananas and apples and different kinds of fruits, my daughter will actually point to one of the fruits, usually the bananas, and ask to have one and this is great, because she doesn’t really love fruit as much as she does veggies. I’ve been trying to incorporate more fruits and stuff, so even just having things like some freshly washed grapes or cherries on the counter, or bananas or apples in the fruit bowl. Just let her visually see the food and ask for it instead of just like always eating dry foods from the snack cover. They can have a fresh piece of fruit as well, this is a really big one and it is to respect their eating choices.
Don’t Force It. Listen to their cues if they are done eating, don’t force another bite, maybe give them a little bit of time to see if they’re still hungry. Maybe, while we’re doing something, they can just kind of hang out in her high chair, but I don’t agree with forcing them to completely clear her plate. Because every day is different and maybe they’re full, maybe they don’t like something on their plate. Honestly, you know your kid best so if they took one bite off their plate and they’re like “nope I’m all done” like obviously you want them to hang out there a little bit longer. Maybe we’ll have some fruit or something later on, and maybe they had a big lunch that day and they’re not as hungry for dinner. It’s gonna be different every single day.
Respect. It’s really important for us as parents to respect that their eating habits are going to change day by day. Just like ours do.