New Year, New Healthy Habits

As the new year begins, this is the perfect time to reset how you feed your toddler if you’re worried about how healthy their meals are. It can be easy to fall victim to the “beige phase”—serving mostly chicken nuggets, pasta, mac and cheese, fries, and other beige foods—but it is important to remember to keep offering your little one healthy foods, as well. Wondering how you will accomplish this task with such a picky eater? Keep reading to learn more about our favorite mealtime tips for picky eaters, including the one product that will amaze you by getting your kiddo to eat healthy food!

What Does “Healthy Eating” Mean for Kids?

Eating healthy for most people can be a challenge, and this is especially true for toddlers. For a period of time, they are creatures of habit who want to stick with what they like and very rarely stray. If you have a picky toddler, you are not alone; most of them are!

Here’s what you should aim for:

• Aim for three meals and one or two snacks each day
• Each meal and snack should include two to three different foods from the major groups
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s program, Choose My Plate, suggests filling half of your plate with fruits and vegetables and small portions of starch or grain and meat or other protein to fill the other half, in addition to a calcium source (i.e., milk or milk alternative)
• Aim to provide a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as different protein sources, to meet nutritional needs. (Protein is found in meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, beans/lentils, and dairy foods.)

[ source: Children's Hospital Los Angeles CHLA ]

How to Make Mealtime Fun and Engaging

One of the best ways you can get your child to eat new foods, healthy foods, and foods that will break them out of their regular patterns is by making mealtime fun and engaging. Some of the best tips for making mealtime fun and engaging include making their food fun, offering your child choices, and having the right mealtime essentials to get the job done.

Make Their Food Fun

The science is simple: Making your child’s food fun to eat can make all the difference in whether or not they try it! Cutting their sandwiches into the same ol’ triangles, serving the same orange slices, or offering them the same pouch of yogurt every day can get boring and predictable.

Giving your child their food into new shapes and serving methods will spark their interest!

As such, make their food just a little different by making it fun to look at and enjoy!

Some tips include:

• Cut their sandwich into fun shapes
• Arrange their food on the plate in a fun design, such as a heart, spider, flower, or more
• Rather than giving food pouches, empty the pouch into a small bowl or cup to let your child enjoy
• Include a dip on your child’s plate, such as ranch, hummus, or ketchup. Toddlers are more likely to try foods that include dips that they already love

Offer Your Child Choices

As you know by now, toddlers crave control. They want to be in charge of whatever is happening, do not enjoy being told “no,” and if things don’t go their way, they are apt to a meltdown.

This fact can make things difficult at mealtime when you are trying to get them to try something they would normally not want to do. As such, offering your child a choice will make them feel as if they have control over the situation and will be more likely to go for it.

Some examples include:

• Letting your child choose what to eat for lunch
• Allowing your child to help you prepare lunch
• Taking your child with you to the grocery store to purchase food
• Allowing your child to plate their food
• Choosing which seat to sit in and which seat for you to sit in

Have the Right Mealtime Essentials

Have you served your toddler their meals on the same plate for a long time? It’s time to switch it up! Having the right mealtime essentials will spark your child’s interest, and you will be pleasantly surprised to see them eat foods they might normally never try.

Having developmentally appropriate mealtime essentials is important, too. Make sure their plates have small compartments so that they do not feel overwhelmed, their utensils were designed for their little hands, and that their cups are small and easy to hold.

Stainless Steel Din Din Bus Plate

Your picky eater’s magic wand is here! Innobaby’s stainless steel Din Din Bus Plate is PERFECT for the pickiest of eaters.

Here’s why:

• The kid-friendly, bus-shaped divided plate will spark their interest and get them excited to eat
• It has five separate compartments, including small ones, perfect for introducing a balanced diet and new foods
• The separate compartments help prevent food from sliding and mixing
• The sectional lid keeps food in place while on the go
• This kid-friendly, nontoxic, worry-free dinnerware solution is made with the highest quality food grade type 304 stainless steel
• It is sure to outlast any other; it will not stain, harbor orders, rust, or crack

This plate is perfect for portion control, introducing new foods, and making mealtime fun and exciting.

For more great toddler tips and products for the whole family, visit us at Innobaby.com!