Give them what you want them to eat. Babies can't tell the difference, as long as it's nice and mushy. That is the most ill-informed advice I received when I was faced with a one year old who had already begun to voice her opinion on the subject.

Children do have taste buds. As toddlers, they may demand to exercise the inherent right to make up their own minds about what they like.

By now your baby will be a toddler. Mobile, more demanding, and preferring to self-feed. The rate of progress will differ from child to child. Some are fiercely independent and impatient to get on with it themselves. Others muddle messily through, and prefer the comforting personalized service offered with spoon feeding.

However the food actually reaches the mouth, once it gets there your determined toddler will decide if it is to go any further. You may find, to your dismay, your choicest culinary creations being lobbed at the dog, used to finger-paint the highchair or spray the walls with. What your baby enjoyed yesterday may suddenly be "yuk today - a colorfully descriptive word which infants are wont to include in their budding vocabulary. It's counterpart "yum" will make an appearance at a later date.

This can be a particularly trying time for you. You'll agonize over menus, think up ways to decorate foods to please them and generally work yourself into a state wondering what is wrong.

Most likely nothing is wrong. Your child has just entered a state which must be dealt with firmly.

To begin, have a careful look at what you're preparing. Have you tended to remain in a rut, feeding something your baby liked at eight months? Do you still mush the food into a thick and tasteless blob? Are you over-estimating his ability to chew by offering lumpier foods? Is your baby teething?

If you feel that you're satisfied with the way you have been dealing with the situation to date then simply put their taste buds to the test. What nagging and anger will not achieve, other tactics might.

Try disguising the food you'd really like eaten by mixing in a favorite food, even if the combinations seem bizarre to you. My daughter found that spinach and peas went from "yuk" to "yum" when mixed in with her favorite, mashed potato. Her cousin accepted anything mixed with applesauce.

If you're lucky, your ruses will work. If not, the favorite food may now be rejected and you could be scraping your spinach soufflé off the floor.

Just remember eating is not a game. Although sometimes, "open wide, come inside" works, does it really solve your problems with an uninterested eater? You might be prepared to sit with your child and spoon each mouthful accompanied with cheery encouragement now but are you in a year when there's no improvement? Making a game out of eating can result in your child remaining dependent on you for years to come.

Discipline, gentle but firm, should help your child to gradually understand that eating is important and a necessary task, not a game. It's to be enjoyed, but not to be made into a time for playing catch with a handful of mashed potato.

The highchair will have become a place to sit and play for hours. It is wise, however, to help your child distinguish quite clearly the difference between such playtime - with or without finger foods - and meal times.

At this stage, the child should begin to join the family at some meals, if this has not happened already. Older children should be discouraged from playing with the toddler during meal times and discipline of their own activities is obviously essential.

Take stock in your own table manners, too. Have you developed some sloppy habits you'd prefer your child not to pick up? It's surprising how quickly youngsters begin to participate in the sport of testing your tolerance for bad behavior at the table.

A Balanced Diet For a Toddler

The rapidly growing toddler requires plenty of protein for growth, carbohydrates and fats for energy, and to carry fat-soluble vitamins through the body.

The basic requirements each days are: (servings amount to about 2 tablespoons)

2-3 cups (500-750 ml or 5 fl oz) of milk (either drunk or mixed into foods)
3-4 servings of whole grains or cereals
1-2 servings of meat, poultry, fish, eggs or beans (be wary of nuts until about 2 years of age)
3-4 servings of vegetables and fruits, including at least one serving high in Vitamin C (berries, citrus fruits, tomato, broccoli)

The individual food requirements of children vary, some have very healthy appetites, others thrive on far less. If your toddler has plenty of energy for play, isn't susceptible to every illness and generally appears healthy, happy and content, he's obviously being well nourished. Over-eating should be firmly discouraged. The quantities above are perfectly adequate for a well-developed child in his second year. If your child seems to enjoy "stuffing" his food, be firm and say no. Examine the possible reasons for this tendency.

About the Author:

Copyright © 2001 Sarah Day, All Rights Reserved Reprinted with Permission

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