Picky Eater is always a BIG issue to parent, including us. Amirul is one of the picky eater. However, his current eating habit really cause us go crazy. We want him to eat with peace, but everytime we ask him to eat we need to shout at him, we will scold me. It’s like a war to us. When Parenthots organized ‘How to get your children eat healthy‘ forum, I immediately registered hoping that we can get advices from the expert regarding picky eater
According to Dr Azam, paediatrician from Hospital Pantai :
The common causes of picky eater are:
- Slower growth rate
- Need more time to adjust with numerous foods
- Mood swing
- Picky eater may be born that way
- Parental influence – If the parent themselves are picky eater type, this will descended to their kids as well
Signs of the need of intervention in picky eaters:
- If the children do not gaining weight, losing weight
- If the children show signs of sensory issues; eg; sensitive to light,sounds or other stimuli
- If children shows oral motor problem, abnormal swallowing mechanism
- If children show symptoms of severe foods allergy
- If children shows of gastrointestinal problems
Tips from Dr Azam how to deal with pciky eater :
- Respect children appetite – they eat when they hungry, don’t force them to eat when they say NO
- Stick to the routine – Serve meals at the same time all the day
- Be patient with new foods – Children need time to adjust with new foods
- Be fun with the foods – Decorate foods in various shape. Make it interesting.
- Be good role model – When you kids healthy, our children is more likely to follow their parent
- Minimize distraction – turn off the TV during meals time
- The mother need to eat healthy foods during pregnancy and lactation
- Eat variety but healthy foods during early first 6 months.Children become familiar with the taste of variety foods
Continue to Good foods and bad foods advices from Dietitian, Nor Lizawati Che Lah
