What should I do if my child is a picky eater?I believe that many mothers have had a trouble, children will be picky eaters, some do not eat vegetables, some do not eat fruits, and some do not eat meat. In children with a spectrum, the phenomenon of picky eating and partial eating due to stereotyped thinking, oral and olfactory sensitivities will be more obvious.
My child develops relatively normally before the age of one and a half, and eats a balanced diet and is not picky. After one and a half years old, there is a comprehensive regression in language, social interaction, and behavior, and the abilities that I used to have gradually disappeared, and I don't even eat the vegetables I used to love to eat.
Through observation, I found that the child retched as soon as he smelled the vegetables, which means that his sense of smell is sensitive, and when he smells the vegetables, he is uncomfortable and wants to vomit. In those days, as the head chef of the family, cooking was really a problem, the staple food children only ate rice, drank some millet porridge, green vegetables, only ate cucumbers, and only ate raw or cold salad, and did not eat fried food, and then ate some potatoes or soy products and some fried food. I like to eat meat, but I don't dare to let him eat more, for fear that it will be too fat, which will not be good for the child's health.
Slowly, I felt that this was not the way to go, and if I didn't eat vegetables for a long time, my body would definitely not be able to stand it, so I began to think of a way.
The first step is to cultivate motivation with family members.
Children don't eat vegetables, we also have to make vegetables at every meal, when eating, the family demonstrations on the side, eat very fragrant, while eating while described: "The vegetables are really delicious, crunchy, tender", plus exaggerated voices, movements, show him this delicious performance, let the child really feel. And insist on guiding: "Baby, let's clip one for you". If the child refuses, let's not force him.
The second step is to read a picture book to further help children understand.
Picture books are very helpful to improve our children's understanding, and when we usually read picture books, we can introduce pictures in this area, such as: "If You Don't Eat Greens", "Hamburger Boy", "Picky Eater", "Picky Crocodile", good Xi to develop a series of picture books.
At first, the child may not like it, we can add performances, show him the content of these stories, let the child feel the consequences of not eating vegetables, and then eat vegetables, the body will recover and will not get sick.
The third step is to change the taste, shape, and texture of the food.
The child doesn't like the taste of vegetables, so I blanch the young leaves of the green vegetables in boiling water, put them in the food supplement and break them, add a small amount at the beginning, just put a few young leaves and stir them, knead them into the dough and fry them into small cakes (because he likes to eat fried food, and the crispy taste he can accept) At the beginning of the preparation, he will smell it first and then put it down, at this time I will encourage, baby, you taste it, it is very fragrant, he does not eat it, and then finds that there is nothing else to eat (I deliberately did not prepare anything else) I try to take a bite, I immediately praise him: "Wow baby eat greens cake, awesome!"Hug him or take a turn to strengthen him.
At first, I tried a few bites, and sometimes I would vomit it after eating, I didn't criticize him, I encouraged him, and then I cut the meat, ham, and vegetables together and fried them into cakes, and he was able to accept it. After continuous attempts, he was able to eat some of the fried eggs after blanching the greens and toon sprouts.
When I was in the middle of the kindergarten class, I went to school in the morning after eating breakfast at home, I was afraid that he would be hungry, so after going to the kindergarten class, I stopped making breakfast in the morning and let him go to the kindergarten to eat. Gradually, driven by his classmates, he was able to accept more and more staple foods.
Fourth, take the initiative to try a variety of foods.
One day this year, at noon, I made a cabbage tofu soup, this time the cabbage was not blanched, it was cut very small, and boiled in the soup. During the meal, I said, "Baby, you see my brother eating cabbage, it's so fragrant, you can also take a bite and beat the cabbage." I fed him a little bit (really just a little bit, the size of a melon seed) and he ate it, this time there was no retching, I immediately sandwiched a piece of tofu and said, "Wow, baby, you eat greens, reward a piece of tofu". With the warm applause with his younger brother, the child was happy and he had a sense of accomplishment.
Now the child can accept a lot of vegetables, this process may not seem like a long time, in fact, it took us more than two years to change. We continue to strengthen through behavior shaping, children can also eat greens, but this is not a cure, only stimulate his internal motivation, he is willing to take the initiative to eat, understand that eating healthy food, will change the Xi of picky eating.
Finally, I would like to say that it is indeed difficult to have many problems with children with pedigree, but as long as we show patience and perseverance, children will definitely make changes because of our efforts.