If you child is a picky eater you can still learn ways to give him or her nutrition needed.  There are a variety of reasons why a child may become a picky eater. 

If you can understand what might be causing his picky eater behavior life can be a little less frustrating.

You will also find clues to what strategies might help you cope with the picky eater’s behavior.It is typical for a young child to try and eat only when they are hungry. Your job as a parent is to provide several different types of nutritious foods at every meal and snack. 

In addition it is also your job to establish mealtime and snack time schedules.Small, frequent feedings work best for a young child because his stomach is about the size of his or her fist.  Their stomachs are just not equipped to hold a lot of food at any one meal or snack time sitting. 

Do not allow snacking for one hour before a main meal is served so that your child can come to the table hungry and ready to eat.  It is also beneficial to establish a set mealtime and snack time schedule.  Do not allow your child to snack or eat at anytime he chooses throughout the day. 

Start from the beginning to serve his meals and snacks on a routine schedule.  At each offering of a meal or snack you child will decide if he or she wants to eat at that time and how much.  If he or she refuses to eat a meal or snack, do not make an issue of it.  Tidy the eating area up as usual and go on with whatever else is next on your schedule.

  Do not allow the child to eat until the next scheduled meal or snack.  More than likely if he missed the last eating time, he will be ready for the next one.Limit the amount of juice you serve your toddler to less than 6 ounces a day. 

Toddlers and preschoolers can fill up on milk or juice and not have room for a wider variety of foods.  Children ages 2 to 8 should consumer 2 cups of low-fat milk products per day.During the Terrible 2s period toddlers like to assert their independence.  This is quite normal for this period of time in their life. However, the dinner table can become a source of conflict between the toddler and the caregivers or parents. 

A helpful tip here might be to give them some control or at least make them “think” you are giving them some control by providing small portions.  They can finish the small portion and then ask for more.  The asking for more here is what makes the toddler think he is somewhat in control here, and is a good thing both for his mental and emotional development as well as for the sake of his good nutrition. 

A good rule of thumb on portion size is one tablespoon per each year of your child’s age.

More tips along these same lines are:

Do not force children to clean their plates.

Do not threaten or punish children for not eating what you offer them.  Threats and punishments only reinforce the power struggle between you.

Act like it does not matter to you what the child eats or does not eat.  Clean up as usual and wait for the next meal or snack time.  Of course if the child refuses to eat several meals or snacks in a row over the course of an entire day, especially if this behavior is a change from the previous days, you can suspect he or she may be ill as the reason for refusing to eat.

Throughout the week most children get plenty of variety and nutrition in their diets even if they skip a few meal or snack times.  As long as your child is energetic and growing he or she is doing fine.

Introducing new foods:

• Always introduce new food in a neutral manner.  Point out to the child the food’s color, shape, size, aroma and texture, but not about whether it tastes good.
•Be patient with your child’s food investigative habits.  They may touch and smell the new food.  They may even take tiny bites into their mouth and then back out again.
•Children often need about 10 exposures to a new food before they accept it.  Be persistent in introducing new foods to your child.
•Start by placing a small portion of the new food on your child’s plate next to the familiar foods.  Keep in mind that new foods will seem more appealing if your child has not just finished a snack.
•Some children will try a new food if it is fun to eat.  An example of this would be to serve broccoli with a favorite dip or sauce, or to cut foods with solid textures into various fun shapes with cookie cutters.
•Let your child help select new fruits, vegetables, whole grain items and yogurt flavors at the grocery store for the whole family to try.
•Involve your child in the food preparation at home.