Want to stop your baby becoming a fussy eater?
Here’s our guide to helping your child be adventurous with food.
At a glance
- Try offering your baby exciting new foods of different colours, shapes and textures
- Keep portions small - it’s less daunting and you can always offer them seconds if they want more
- Eating together as a family is super for bonding and will help your baby know what happens at those mealtimes
You say...
"Whenever I offer my 11-month-old something new, she won’t eat it. She loves yoghurt and banana, but that’s about it. I want her to enjoy a variety of foods, and I can see that having a fussy eater in the family would be hard to cope with. What’s the answer?"
We say...
Babies are like everyone else. They have their favourite foods, and things they just don’t like. But often they’re refusing new food just because it’s new and different.
So you’re doing the right thing by offering your baby a wide variety of foods. If they only ever get their favourite foods, they’re less likely to try new things.
Be adventurous
Try offering your baby exciting new foods of different colours, shapes and textures – it’ll get them used to trying new things.
Small portions
Try keeping portions small – it’s less daunting and you can always offer them seconds if they want more.
Make eating sociable
It’s good to sit with your baby, and eat the foods you would like them to eat. Eating together as a family is super for bonding and will help your baby know what happens at those mealtimes. You can grab food with friends, too - babies are very interested in what other babies are nibbling on.
Why we love it
We love that these are delicious and nutritional snack for little ones between meals or on the go.
Be chilled
It can be madly frustrating when kids refuse to eat, but dig deep and don’t worry if they spit something out or refuse to even try. Just take that food away and try it again another day – its best for you to be eating it at the same time The older they are the longer they take to learn to like new foods.
Take your time
Don’t rush the meal – some babies like to eat slowly. You might feel as though time has stopped, but they’re having fun and learning all about food. Encourage your baby to feed themselves too - it might be madly messy, but it means they’ll find eating fun.
The secret is to keep calm and keep experimenting, and eventually your baby will start welcoming those great new flavours and textures.