Feeding your fussy eater is stressful at the best of times, but at Christmas it can feel 100 times more so.
We’re busy, we’ve got visitors to get ready for, presents to wrap and lots of pans to juggle – the last thing we need is to fight with our children about eating.
So, here are my five golden nuggets for feeding your fussy eater this Christmas:
- Start talking to them now about the different food that will be on offer so that they know what to expect and get them involved as much as possible so that they start to feel comfortable around these foods.
- Encourage them to try but don’t force them.
- Have safe foods/meals (foods that you know that they like and normally eat well) in between the festive food as well as something you know they’ll eat on the table at each meal.
- Don’t stress about them not eating at mealtimes or not eating as well as usual. They’ll catch up.
- Routine often goes out of the window at Christmas – just stay calm and go with the flow, allow them to eat when they’re hungry (have plenty of nutritious snacks/mini meals available for when they need them) and things will improve when you’re back into your normal meal and snack routine eating the foods they’re familiar with.