8 Simple Ways To Get Your Toddler To Eat

I have been told that most toddlers get fussy with their food at some point and that they will soon outgrow their picky eating. Even though this may be a part of normal toddler development, when your little one doesn’t want to eat you do still worry and try all sorts of things to tempt them to eat that carrot/broccoli/anything green.

After much trial and error, I have found a few simple ways to make mealtimes a more relaxed and enjoyable experience (for everyone involved). They usually work and I do get the odd carrot in on a good day.

BC (before children) all my tableware was white or black, stylish and chic…(even if I do say so myself ;-)).

Now our cupboards are rammed full of mismatched cartoon plates,  plastic animal bowls and garish plastic cutlery. As most parents will agree, you will do almost anything to get your kids to eat.

While our tableware collection can no longer be classed as understated and refined, our colourful assortment of plates has definitely worked in getting Fee to eat, particularly her vegetables. How could she resist that carrot, so carefully balanced on Olaf’s nose? Or Peppa Pig’s piggy offering of tomato soup? 

So if it means that she will continue to gobble up her food to appease her cartoon heroes, then I am more than happy to share mealtimes with them.

If cartoon plates are not going to cut it with your little one. You can also try giving the food character names. Caroline Carrot, Bruno Broccoli and Paul Potato are regulars in our house (ok, I admit it, I do watch the odd Strictly Come Dancing and GBBO episode). You can even step it up a gear and put these edible eyes on the fruit and veg (from www.iwantoneofthose.com).

Whoever thought these up is a GENIUS.

Edible Eyes for Fruit and Veg

The phrase: ‘you eat with your eyes’ is definitely true…at least in my eyes. It makes sense, if the food looks visually appealing then it is going to be more appetising. I have found that this is particularly true with toddlers.

I therefore try to include a variety of textures and colours on Fee’s plate. Grated foods like carrots and cheese work well for texture and peas, sweetcorn and chopped cherry tomatoes are also favourites that add good splashes of colour to a plate of food and are usually a hit with Fee.

Making smiley faces on the plate also work too.

I usually let Fee help me cook by letting her mix ingredients or I give her leftover ingredients like the vegetable skins and her own mixing bowl to play with when I am preparing the meal. I find that this gets her interested in the food we are preparing and she is more likely to eat it when it hits her plate later.

If possible I try to eat with Fee at meal times. She likes the company and tends to eat more of her food when we are all sat down at the table together. We usually have breakfast and lunch together and for dinner I will sit down at the table with her and have a cup of tea while she has her meal.

Inviting a friend over for lunch or dinner also works. On more than one occasion Fee has decided that a once unacceptable vegetable is now ok when sees that all her amigos are eating it.

I sometimes give Fee little choices like; ‘would you like sweetcorn or peas?’ ‘blue cup or red cup?’ or ‘the owl plate or frog plate?’

This works in getting her more involved in mealtimes and I think gives her a sense of control. I find that if she has selected certain foods on her plate, she is more likely to eat them.

I always try to have mealtimes at the same time every day where possible. I have figured out the cues which tell me that Fee is starting to get hungry (and is therefore more likely to eat her meal) and made sure that we try to stick to a regular schedule with enough time between meals and snacks (around 2 hours works for us).

To keep mealtimes interesting, we sometimes have lunch time picnics in the garden or park (with Mr Bunny of course), or I let Fee eat her meal on her own table and chairs rather than at the big table. The novelty of a change of scenery often works to get her to eat nicely.

So there are my 8 little tips in getting your toddler to eat. Hope you find something in there that helps with your meal times.

Have you got any useful meal time tips that you’d like to share?