If your child is a fussy eater you may be worried about what they might, or might not, eat at day nursery. We’ve had plenty of experience of fussy eaters; from the slightly picky to the refusniks, and occasionally children with food phobias.  Having a fussy eater does not mean you need to fetch them at lunchtime, or provide a packed lunch, in fact special treatment can often reinforce this type of behaviour. Rest assured that your child will not go hungry; neither will they be forced-fed or stigmatised because of it. Here’s our approach to coping with a fussy eater and tips that you might want to try at home:

Fussy Eaters: Leading By Example

Peer pressure can be a positive influence on a fussy eater. Seeing other children getting stuck in and enjoying different foods can encourage your child to experiment and try something new. Often children are worried about trying unfamiliar foods and need confirmation that they taste good; getting the thumbs up from their friends at nursery can really help!

At our nurseries we try, where possible, to sit fussy eaters with the more adventurous, this tactic works really well. We have also noticed that children without older siblings can be pickier, possibly because they don’t have other children to copy at home. Sitting down for mealtimes with a group of children can have really positive benefits to the fussy eater.

It’s also important to lead by example at home. It can be really difficult to find time for family meals but eating together reinforces good eating habits (provided that you are a good role model!). So make the time at weekends to sit down together for family meals.

Give Children Choice

Being faced with a plate of food can be overwhelming for a fussy eater. Even if there are foods on the plate that they like, it can present too much of a challenge for them. We’ve looked after quite a few children who don’t like different foods to touch each other on a plate, or if a food they dislike touches something they do like – both become “no go’s”. A better solution to piling up plates of food and then expecting them to eat everything is to allow children to take control themselves.

We put food on the table in front of the children so they can serve themselves (providing a little help if necessary). This means that they can control their portion size as well as the foods they eat. If they are not keen on a particular food they can have more of something else. We all have our favourite meals, as well as our pet hates, and so it’s important to acknowledge personal tastes.

Make Mealtimes Fun

Mealtimes are a social occasion and when treated as that the food becomes less of an issue. Fussy eaters will find themselves enjoying mealtimes much more if they are not associated with stress. Therefore we do not stand over children watching every last mouthful; instead we encourage them to eat, chat and have fun. Once food is no longer the only focus of the meal we find picky eaters forget about resisting food, and start to enjoy it.

Punishment or Reward?

Generally we would not advocate using food either to reward or punish a child. For example withholding pudding until everything else is eaten first. Ideally food should not be associated with good behaviour or bad. However we know that reward / sticker charts can be an effective way to encourage positive behaviour, so for some children this may be appropriate.

Consistency and simplicity is the key with any reward system. So if you implement a sticker chart or similar make sure your child understands how it works and stick with it. Perhaps set a period of time to try it out and see if it’s effective. If you have fussy eater at one of our nurseries and you would like to try a particular tactic, speak to your child’s key person who will be happy to help.

Food Tastings

Another way we encourage healthy eating habits is to take food into the classroom. We often have tasting sessions as part of our learning topics and this presents food to the fussy eater in a different context. Early this year we tasted foods from different countries including some very spicy Mexican cheese!

All our nurseries have been growing foods this year and soon we will be harvesting and tasting our produce. Sometimes a freshly picked tomato just off the plant is so much more appealing than one chopped up on a plate!

If you have any further questions about how we cope with fussy eaters, please leave a comment below. Or if you child is already at one of our nurseries and you would like to discuss how to approach their eating habits, speak to your child’s key person.

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