01/27/2021
How to get children from pushing food away to diving in (sometimes literally).
You know the scene: you are desperately trying to get your child to eat more, so you put a scoop of yogurt on a spoon. You bring it to your child’s mouth and it's immediately pushed away.
So maybe you try to make it more fun by making the spoon an airplane. You may get a brief smile, but it’s still pushed away, followed by a whole body turn away.
The trick is to get your child to come to the food on his/her own.
Trying to put the food in your child’s mouth is NOT the way to go.
Toddlers are coming into their independence more and more, which means they are going to say “no” as much as they can.
If your child is older, you’ve already been through this phase and know that you cannot force food into your child’s mouth.
Whether you have a toddler or an older child, here’s what I recommend:
Start by putting a small dollop of the yogurt (or peanut butter, hummus etc.) on your child’s plate or tray.
Next, dip your fingertip in the yogurt and make 3 small dots on the plate.
Then drive your finger through the dots making some sort of noise that’s fun to your child, like ZOOM for toddlers. A classic fart sound may be better for older children. You know your child best, so trust your instincts.
The idea here is to get your child engaged with the food. You can say “your turn” if your toddler is still just watching. Elementary school aged children may prefer to draw a picture.
After your child is playing with the food on the plate or tray, bring the play to the face. You can do this by putting the yogurt on your lips, like chapstick, or making dots on your tongue.
Some children even like to dive in and lick the food right off the plate!
You may be amazed at how willing your child is to taste the yogurt this way.
A 2 year old I worked with yesterday quickly progressed to dipping 2 then 3 fingers into the yogurt that was replenished on his plate.
From here we moved the yogurt from the plate to a spoon and in less than a minute he was grabbing the spoon and putting it in his mouth on his own.
But he had to go through all these other steps 1st before he was ready to put the spoonful of yogurt in his mouth.
Why?
Because he needed time to warm up to the look and smell and feel of the yogurt. AND it needed to be HIS idea to put it into his mouth.
So the next time you're stuck with your child, remember to return to play in a way that encourages your child to actively engage with the food.
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