First of all, in relation to the previous one publicationWe need to know what kind of dining room child we have… Is the child eating? Is he eating some things? Is he eating fruits and vegetables? Is he still struggling with solids?
In this way, we will begin to understand what type of profile we are referring to when we say that it is a "child eater"
Child dining profile:
Here we have the starting point and we will ask ourselves what predisposition our child has regarding these foods. Let me explain, like everyone, we have a behavior when eating and is often determined by preference of food, by schedule, space…There are children who scatter around the living room and eat better in the kitchen… or even the person I'm sharing this meal with; there are relationships that foster disruptive behaviors and others that balance them out.
In our case, these aspects are very important for developing a strategy to implement goals related to nutrition, behavior, and task and time allocation. We often have children who struggle with breakfast, others find it the time of day they enjoy most, and other children are keen on snacking, or even enjoy dinner immensely because they're already tired and their activity level slows down.
Therefore, we need to determine what type of eating profile our child has. Children who are constantly hungry, who seek food but don't really eat when they sit down at the table, or who seem to never have any; children who prefer sweets and others who prefer salty; children who are independent and even pick up food; children who prefer cold foods or love very hot food.
These are aspects we must reflect on in order to be effective in this difficult task of impacting and improving our children's nutrition. In short, you must analyze aspects such as: temperature, texture, mixed foods… Choose the right momentTake advantage of the time of day when your child is most willing to try a new food.
Our advice is to always offer food when you are hungry: If you offer it to him after he has already eaten, he may be full and reject it, so consider the ideal moment, when he is most hungry.
Encourage this Family Routine.
To do this, you have to prepare the intervention. It is important to analyze the aspects of family routineOn the one hand, we will detail what meals you make at home in a typical week, and on the other, who is the person in charge of both making and preparing those meals.
It is very important to choose the suitable person to carry out the intervention and that this person is responsible and the only person who intervenes in the first rehearsals and, if possible, that it is the only person present.
A very useful resource can be to record the initial interventions so we can view them later and take notes on what happened, to analyze and make changes to our program. This will also help us share these advances with the child and with everyone involved, and with those with whom we will need to generalize this process later.
It is essential to prepare psychologically for this intervention, Take it step by step. All the tips I'll give you today aren't meant to be done all at once. Be measured, look for your feasible challenges, be super objective, and measure what you can achieve today, tomorrow, or this week. You can't allow yourself to experience something as beautiful as the first years of a child's life as suffering due to these behavioral issues with food. The mountain seems steeper every day, and many parents forget to enjoy time with their children because of issues like this, and that's the most important aspect.
It is essential to accompany him in the process safely but with sum tranquillityThe key is to stay calm and respect their timing.
Teaching by example is vital.
Parents are role models for our children in everything, including nutrition. You can't expect a child to eat fruit if they see their parents never eating it. Eat with him And setting a good example is always very important. If your child sees you chewing and eating, they'll probably be curious and want to try what you're eating.
Let's get things in order. Let's start with a FOOD LIST.
We will have to elaborate a list of foods so you know what the child eats, with the details of whether it is crushed and solid, if there are any allergies, intolerances to take into account in the menu.
It is very important that we divide these foods into breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks that represent what we know as snacks between meals. And the division will also be related to foods that he likes, foods that he doesn't like them and foods that he doesn't like anythingIt's very important that this gives us a history of what we've already tried, of what we've surely discovered in our attempts to take this step, to achieve this goal at other times in the past. And finally, keeping these lists from the past and present in mind, make a list of possible foods to introduce.
We'll tell you more in upcoming blog posts... We invite you to stay tuned.