Tips to help with toddlers who are fussy eaters

Last Updated on November 6, 2024

Meal times can be really stressful when you have a toddler who is a fussy eater, or when your toddler has a toddler tantrum because they don’t want to eat.

Most toddlers go through a stage of fussy eating, which makes meal times frustrating, results in angry toddlers and parents, and can add a lot of extra stress to meal planning activities, which are stressful enough.

If you have a toddler who is a fussy eater, and you’re finding it increasingly frustrating trying to feed them, here are some tips to help.

As well as tips, this post also discusses what fussy eating is, what causes fussy eating, when toddlers are likely to stop being fussy eaters, and gives some dinner ideas for fussy eaters as well. All of which I hope makes you feel better about your toddler’s current food habits.

What is fussy eating in toddlers?

Fussy eating is when your toddler decides what they want to, or don’t want to eat, and is a normal part of toddler development as it’s how they learn about the world, and how they exert their independence.

As it’s part of toddler development, it means that many, if not all toddlers will go through a fussy eating stage, where they’ll eat, or won’t eat particular foods, or meals, and may even love something one day, and dislike it the next.

What causes fussy eating in toddlers?

As well as being part of a toddler’s development, other reasons why a toddler may become a fussy eater include:

• Where they are in a growth cycle. If they’re in a growth cycle they may be hungry more often, therefore eat a wider variety of food. If they’re not in a growth cycle, they may eat very little food
• Their energy levels, if they’re tired they’re less likely to eat, if they have too much energy they’re more likely to want to do more active things, such as play
• They have much narrower tastes compared to adults, so they don’t like a wide variety of food
• They’re at the stage where they’re testing boundaries and exerting their independence, and a big part of this is choosing what, when, and how much to eat

When will a toddler stop being a fussy eater?

As toddlers get older they become less fussy, which is great news.

However, knowing this doesn’t help if you’re currently going through a fussy eating stage, so here are some tips to help with fussy eating to get you through this stage.

Tips to help with toddlers who are fussy eaters

Here are some things you can try to help make meal times with toddlers easier.

Stay calm

This is definitely easier said than done, but try not to get frustrated with your toddler if they don’t eat a meal or a particular food, as this will only make meal times stressful.

Instead, praise them on what they did eat, even if it was only a small amount, and calmly take the meal away from them, and give it to them another time.

Introduce a variety of foods

Introduce a variety of foods to your toddler as early as you can, as this will give them the confidence they need to try new food as they get older, and also gives you more food options to fall back on if you give them something they don’t like.

You can do this by introducing a new food with an existing favourite food, or giving them a small amount of the new food as a side dish.

Whenever introducing new foods, or feeding your toddler food they already love, don’t force them to try it, or to finish everything on their plate.

Try disliked foods another time

If your toddler decides they don’t like something, try giving it to them a few days later, because it can take 10-15 times (or more) for toddlers to try a new food, making perseverance and patience key.

Keep things simple

Another tip to help with fussy eaters is to keep meal times simple.

You can do this by sticking to a few different food types on your toddler’s plate, such as one type of meat and two vegetables, or giving your toddler finger food that they can eat easily.

Prepare disliked foods another way

Sometimes toddlers like to assert themselves for reasons that make no sense.

For example, my toddler doesn’t like sliced apples, but loves whole apples. If I give him sliced apples he won’t eat them, but if I give him a whole apple to hold himself he’ll eat the whole thing.

If there’s something your toddler is fussy about try preparing it a different way. For example, cheese or carrot slices could be grated, and strawberries could be cut into diced pieces.

Eat meals together

Toddlers learn how to do things by copying others, so getting them to eat at the same time as the rest of the family is a great way for them to copy eating how everyone else is, which may also encourage them to try new food.

Make meal times fun

As well as getting everyone to eat together, making meal times fun for toddlers by letting them touch their food to experience the texture, cutting their food differently, or having a family chat over dinner may put your toddler in the right mood to eat.

Reward your toddler for trying new food

Toddlers love rewards, so perhaps your toddler would respond well by having a reward chart, where they receive a sticker each time they try something new.

After a certain number of stickers, they may get a small toy.

Don’t make good or bad food associations

Rewarding your toddler with stickers and a toy for trying new food is different to bribing them.

Try not to bribe your toddler for trying a particular food, or finishing their meal, for example by saying “if you finish dinner, you’ll get dessert.”

Doing this makes them think sweets are good and vegetables are bad, which may decrease their willingness to finish meals with vegetables as time goes on.

Limit snacks

This is something that I need to work on, which is limiting snacks before meal times so your toddler isn’t too full to eat.

If your toddler does want a snack before a meal, give them a healthy toddler snack, or get their dinner ready so they can eat it while they’re hungry.

Dinner ideas for fussy toddlers

If you’re interested in trying some new dinners for your fussy toddler, here are 10 dinner ideas for fussy toddlers that you may like to try.

I hope you’ve found some tips on how to cope with fussy eaters that will work for you, and that will make meal times less stressful and frustrating.

I also hope that by knowing fussy eating is a normal part of toddler’s development that you feel better about this stage of toddlerhood, and that you’re definitely not alone in any feelings you have towards it.

Do you have any tips on how to cope with fussy eaters?