Children's Eating Habits
- We Have A Lot to Learn! From time to time your child's eating habits is likely to occupy your mind. One mom I talked to said:
My baby doesn't eat - I have to force feed him at night when he is asleep...
My first thought when I heard this was:
No wonder he is not eating during the day, if he gets all the food he needs while asleep at night!
Well, there are of course situations when children have real problems that should be addressed with the help of specialists.
Maybe this was such a case.
But in general, we parents probably worry way too much about our children's eating habits.
Below you will learn what research has shown about children's eating habits. They do have some natural habits that we as adults really should follow!
Research about Children's Eating Habits
How much do children eat
If we don't interfere, our children will eat as much as they need. Being a very natural thing to do to survive, children want to eat and are fully capable of regulating their intake of food.
Think of it, even when newborn, babies stop eating when they are full. How ever much you try, you won't be able to force a full baby to eat. He will cry, spit and turn his head away if you try.
Why would not an 8-month- old or a 2-year-old be able to regulate their intake when he could already at birth?
Trust your baby!
It may also be good to know that children are inconsistent in their eating habits. One day they'll eat a lot, the next day very little. One day your kid loves potatoes, the next day he'll refuse to even taste one piece.
New foods
Children, as well as adults, learn to like foods that they eat often. Children are skeptical to new tastes and need time and experience to appreciate new foods.
Knowing this, remember to never force your child to try new tastes. Instead, encourage your child, and try to make the new foods interesting.
One way of doing this is to try it yourself. Many babies know very well from early on that they are served something completely different from what the rest of the family gets. Trying what is on you plate can be irresistible!
Our third kid was (and is) very picky when it comes to trying new foods. But when I took small pieces of broccoli (which he usually hates) from my plate and gave to him, he was so excited and happy and ate all of them!
Research also shows that children that often eat alone become pickier than kids that eat together with adults. So eat together!
What do children eat
Your child will eat the food because it tastes good. This is obvious when feeding babies, but for quite old kids, telling them that they should eat, because the tomatoes are healthy or "good for you” simply won't work.
This is why it is so important that parents make an effort to serve food that both tastes good and in healthy!
When should children eat
Children need and love routines. That goes for the eating habits too. If you serve meals according to a relatively regular schedule, you child is likely to have a better appetite.
For example, if you wait for too long with serving dinner, your baby might be so tired that despite being hungry, he won't eat.
The parents' role
We count!
Parents can really help giving their children good eating habits. Or bad...
If we pick on them, force them to eat, use fatty foods as praise or consolation and make our kids eat alone most of the time, we can really spoil their natural eating habits.
On the other hand, it we eat together with our kids, serve them healthy food they like, combined with a few new foods now and then, and let the child decide how much to eat, their eating habits are likely to develop well.
A famous American dietitian, Ellen Satter has some golden rules to avoid power struggles at the dinner table:
The parents' responsibility is to:
- Choose and buy the food
- Plan, cook and serve the food
- Make the family meals are nice
- Decide what is acceptable manners around the dinner table
The children's responsibility is to:
- Decide how much food he or she wants to eat
- If he or she wants to eat
For more ideas on how to avoid power struggles at the dinner table, click here.
Good luck!
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