Mommy Monday: Dealing with Fussy Eaters!

I am by no means an expert when it comes to parenting advice but recently I feel like we've experienced a bit of a breakthrough as far as fussy eating goes. I was really lucky with Emilia & Eduardo in the baby stage as they were very good eaters. But around the time Emilia turned 18 months she started to get very picky about food. Incidentally this was right about when Eduardo was born so as you can imagine, I probably wasn't very focused on her nutrition as I had been before so I found myself giving into her a lot. Of course this only made her fussy eating worse! As a child I was the complete opposite and I would eat almost anything my parents put onto my plate, so I didn't really understand how to approach this problem. I figured because Jonathan is a picky eater, maybe Emilia had inherited that from him!

By the time we moved to the UK I found myself with a toddler who would only eat Nutri-Grains, ham & cheese sandwiches, pasta and milk. It was a bit of a nightmare, but like I said with the stress of moving country and a newborn baby to look after - it took a backseat on my list of priorities and I figured it would sort itself out. Needless to say, it didn't. I asked our public health nurse for some advice and was told "no child has ever starved to death due to fussy eating...if she won't eat something don't give her other options but you have to be strict". Although I took that advice on board and in theory it made sense, mealtimes were becoming incredibly stressful and I found myself giving in to Emilia for the sake of getting something into her belly. To me, the idea of sending my child to bed with an empty stomach went against all of my mummy instincts! 

Fast forward a year and Emilia's fussiness hadn't changed all that much, but even worse Eduardo (who by then was also a toddler) seemed to have picked up on some of these bad habits! He was getting clever and would spit out his veggies, push away fruit, demand "choclit" and was starting to figure out that bread baskets are a fussy toddler's best friend. I felt completely frustrated and knew something had to change...I figured if my parents could do it then so could I so I did LOTS of research! I read articles online, asked healthcare professionals, asked my mum, talked about it with other mummy friends and finally one day after months of perseverance I feel like I've cracked it. Being honest, my kids are not perfect and of course if given the option they would choose cake over broccoli but for the most part they are a million times better than before! I've compiled a list of tips that helped me the most and wanted to share them with you, as I know this is such a common problem that mums & dads face! So here they are...my top tips on how to deal with fussy eaters: 



Hopefully this helps some of you...I wish I would have known how to tackle this sooner but I suppose as with most things in life you learn from your mistakes. Also a lot of this advice sounds obvious but put into practise it is soooo much harder than you would think. Often as parents I think we give in or settle for the easier option because it means a peaceful home or mealtime whereas actually in the long run, it could create more problems. I really hope this helps some of you! Let me know your tips for dealing with fussy/picky eaters! 

15 comments

  1. Hi Anna! This is so helpful. I have a 6-month old and have only started to introduce his first foods. I'm pretty sure we will go through this stage at some point, so will definitely bookmark this! You are a wonderful mum to Emilia and Eduardo!♡ All the best!😙

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  2. Good for you Anna! :-) I'm not a mom yet, but will definitely go back to this when that time arrives.
    Love your blog lately! You are in such a good cycle vlogging/blogging/and fit-wise! You must feel amazing :-)

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  3. Don't worry, Anna - you'll get there! Before you know it, they'll be eating everything x
    http://my--socalledlife.blogspot.com.es/

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  4. I love the book "How to get your kid to eat, but not too much" Very positive and all about not making food an issue. I agree its hard when your child refuses to eat and you know they must be hungry but stay strong! I have a 17 month old and he is a great eater now that he knows mommy won't make him a peanut butter toast if he won't eat dinner.

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  5. Hi Anna, I do think that this post is really helpful. I don't have kids yet but if I have someday, I might need these tips. I never would have thought of giving them 30 minutes to explore their food. I think that my boyfriends mum would totally understand your situation, since he was really fussy. Fortunately it's not like that anymore.

    Thanks for sharing and best wishes from Germany
    Tanja

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  6. Thank you soo much for this post! I'm so guilty of giving in and giving my girls other options but I am going to start next week with your tips and really focus on getting a better routine with meals. Your tips are great!

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  7. Great post! I go through this with my toddler. Definitely will try your tips!

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  8. This video was very helpful, I have a baby, 2MO, and my ideias of feeding him proper food was like you said, but was nice to know that sometimes we see them not eating and we might change our thoughts. So was good to know that we need to stick with it, and the tip of waiting 30m was good. Thanks for sharing :) xoxo

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  9. Thank you this is really helpful!! I have a 15month old and started to notice some of these bad habits creeping in so I will follow your tips now and see how we go!

    It would be great to see more parenting videos like this... I'd be really interested to see you do one for your sleep routine/ nap times.

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  10. Thanks I love this! My little is just now one and is starting to only want fun things like toast and pasta! Gah! I miss when he ate anything I put in front of him. I just found your blog and your accent is killing me! My husband and I always play the where are they from game and your America? with British overlay was super fun. :)

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  11. Toddlers can be so funny at meal times! Aria can LOVE something one day, then hate it the next! I actually did a TODDLER MEAL IDEAS post this week on my blog, alongside a vlog for my YouTube channel that tries to help tackle the fussiness!

    Nicola x
    www.lovelittlepoppins.co.uk

    PS I love your hair in this video!

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  12. It's definitely a relief to know I'm not the only mother to struggle with a fussy eater. I found this video helpful. It was nice to hear you have gotten stressed and felt defeated. I'm not alone. Thanks. This has helped me make meal time a chilled time and persistence will pay off, hopefully. Not yet. X

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  13. This is really helpful information. I am currently dealing with a fussy eater in the form of a 14-month old little girl. Precious as she is, she is giving mommy and daddy fits with her eating. All of these tips are fabulous! I know that you currently do "What I ate Wednesdays." Have you ever thought about sharing some of the meals you make the kids? I think part of this can be a problem for parents as well. Thanks!

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  14. Yasmine Bachir8 March 2016 at 11:39

    Really enjoyed reading this post Anna! The video is super helpful and I like your balance and use of different media. Just to let you know your twitter icon doesn't lead through to your twitter page. Also, I'd love to get in touch, do you have an email I could contact you on? I struggled to find it on your blog. Thank you :) Look forward to hearing from you.

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  15. I know I'm watching this late, but this was SO helpful. Just what I needed for the week, I have a 19 month old son, and he has been so picky lately I honestly was letting myself get stressed and or angry about it. But it REALLY helps to know I'm not alone in this process, and hope I'm not starting too late with being more firm about meal time being ONE option and that it. JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL. Thank you for sharing Anna! Your kids are adorable and I watch yours and Jonathan's channels daily lol.
    God bless y'all! (were from Nashville TN : ) lol)

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Please be nice...the world could use some positivity! :)

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