by Chikodi Scott

Created on: June 13, 2009

Before your toddler becomes set in his/her ways and becomes a picky eater you should try to introduce new foods to him/her. As a toddler you child is getting used to different taste and textures of foods. The best thing for you to do is offerer a variety off foods to your child.

There are different ways to introduce a new food to your toddler. One way is just add the new food to the high chair tray or plate and not make a big deal about it but just to have it readily and available to your toddler. Also when introducing new foods be sure that the food is suitable for your toddlers age. You should also introduce new foods one at a time in small amounts instead of the entire meal meal being something new then you risk your toddler not eating at that meal at all. You should introduce new foods along with some of your toddlers favorites. Make sure that you remember to use toddler size portions when introducing new foods as well too much of any food can overwhelm your toddler. Resist the urge to offer sugary foods to your toddler in order for your toddler to eat more nutritional foods. It is also a good idea to minimize distractions when offering new foods to your toddler. All meals need to be relaxed even when feeding favorite foods.

Although you can't expect your toddler to eat caviar and calamari but toddlers can have a wide variety of food that they know and enjoy. For example my daughter is two and a half will eat anything from raw bell peppers to steak to ostrich meat. Toddlers love colors and giving them food that are colorful like carrots, apples, melons, kiwi, broccoli, bell peppers, corn, etc. Just use your imagination I even made my daughter green eggs and ham after reading the book.

Also what a toddler eats is dictated by you and his or her peers. If your toddler sees you and other family members eating vegetables he or she will also want to try them but that doesn't mean that they will like them. A major factor on what a child eats is what his or her friends are eating as well like I remember when I worked at a day care in a gym, none of the kids wanted their own snack they always wanted someone else snack because its kind of like peer pressure they want to do things that their friends are doing, and eat foods that their friends are eating.

Just always remember to choose age appropriate foods and that you as a parent controls what your toddler eats don't let your toddler chose. Also don't have an overcrowded dinner plate and have a relaxed meal time.

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