Is there anyone more strong-willed than a toddler \u2013 especially one who doesn\u2019t want to eat? If mealtimes have turned into a battle of wills, read these tips for making mealtimes less stressful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First off, to minimise mealtime stress it is important to have a clear understanding of who is responsible for deciding what. As the parent of a toddler, you get to decide what food is prepared, when it is served, and where it is served. Your child has the power to decide whether they will eat it and how much they will eat. Fighting and arguing is not going to change that, but there are some things you can do to encourage them along the way\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How you encourage a reluctant toddler to eat their food can really play a role in their mealtime behaviour. If your child doesn\u2019t want to eat, now isn\u2019t the time to tickle them, make them laugh, sing or dance to get them to take a bite. If you do this, it might stop them from eating next time, so that they get this \u2018fun\u2019 reaction from you. Instead, save praise for when they do<\/em> eat \u2013 that is the time to break into your happy dance!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every parent wants their child to enjoy a nutritious, balanced diet, but if your child refuses to eat, force yourself to stop and look at the big picture. Does it really<\/em> matter if your child skips one meal? Or even two? If your child is really hungry, they will eat the food that is offered to them. If your toddler skipped lunch, make sure you have healthy snacks handy if they suddenly show an interest in food later in the afternoon. You\u2019ll find a whole host of naturally delicious snack ideas under the Recipe<\/a> tab on our Squish website, all containing Squish 100% Fruit and Veg Puree <\/strong>as a key ingredient. Try these Squish Baked Breakfast Bars<\/a> or the Chocolate Popsicles<\/a>, which are packed full of fruit and yoghurt. Squish 100% Fruit and Veg Purees<\/strong> are free of nasties and contain no added colourants, flavourants, preservatives, and have no added starch or cane sugar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your toddler is going through a picky phase, now isn\u2019t the time to try new tastes and textures. Instead, save your energy \u2013 and minimise waste \u2013 by serving their favourites. Our Squish 100% Fruit and Veg Purees<\/strong> come in a variety of naturally delicious flavours, including Apple + Guava<\/strong>, Pear + Prune<\/strong>, Mango + Banana<\/strong>, Butternut + Carrot<\/strong> and Sweet Potato, Apple + Cinnamon<\/strong>. And our Squish Yogi<\/strong> range contains a mix of fruit, veg and double cream yoghurt. You can serve the purees on their own, or add them to staples like mash, pasta or rice. And because all Squish pouches have a convenient resealable lid, you can just use what you need and save the rest for tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way to help your toddler feel more invested in the meal they are being served is to give them small age-appropriate tasks to help with prep in the kitchen. Prepare this Cream Cheese Dip and Crudites<\/a> recipe and get them to mix the dip together, or help them cut cute shapes from their toast with a cookie cutter for this Cheesy Mixed Vegetable Egg Scramble<\/a>. Knowing they\u2019ve helped prepare the meal is likely to improve the chances of them eating it, but don\u2019t be disappointed if it doesn\u2019t. Either way, make sure you give plenty of praise for being such great helpers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is there anyone more strong-willed than a toddler \u2013 especially one who doesn\u2019t want to eat?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-6mnths","odd","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3429,"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427\/revisions\/3429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/squish.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}