Many of us grew up in homes where we were admonished to eat our veggies, clean our plates, and do any number of other things that we really did not want to do at mealtime. Today, the wisdom on feeding toddlers has changed in ways that make it a lot less stressful for parents. It turns out that children will naturally choose a varied and balanced diet over time, if there are nutritious foods available for them to choose from.
Some days (or weeks) it may seem like your toddler won’t touch anything besides buttered noodles or peanut butter and jelly. That is not only normal, it is okay. The key to keeping your toddler well fed is to pay attention to what he or she consumes during a typical week, not just a typical day or a single meal.
Variety and balance are what to strive for, and it turns out that we don’t have to stress too much about how much our toddlers eat at any given meal, either. Simply offer nutritious food at meal times, and keep healthy and easy to prepare snacks at the ready. Toddlers will usually ask for snacks if they get hungry in between meals, and there is a good chance that they will. They are using energy constantly, and their little bellies are only about as big as their fists.
Perhaps the most important thing to be mindful of when feeding your toddler is your own attitudes and beliefs about food. Modeling a healthy, balanced approach to eating will help your toddler to develop the same. For example, honoring a child’s desire to leave some of her dinner behind shows her that you trust her to listen to her own body and eat only as much as she needs. In contrast, demanding that she finish all of the food on her plate shows her that she needs to listen to you, and not her body, when deciding when to be finished eating.