Nishu Verma

Is your baby a picky eater? Dealing with a child who is picky about his food is nothing less than a challenge, especially when it is about newborn babies.

Being a mom you must have noticed and experienced that when your baby started eating solids and semi solids, he was just too interested in having it all. Call it out of curiosity or otherwise, there was just no hassle of making him eat whatever you wanted to. But as your baby’s taste starts developing, their eating habits and preference change significantly.

My daughter would finish her entire bowl of cereal when I first started it. But if I talk about it now, she just simply refuses to even look at it. This leaves me, the mom, wondering what I can make for her that she will actually eat.

ALSO READ – How To Deal With A Growth Spurt

Trust me, making a baby eat what you want them to eat is a challenging job and when you have a picky eater, it becomes all the more difficult. Considering this, here are a few things you should keep in mind if your baby is starting to or has become a picky eater.

1. No Distractions 

If your baby is distracted, maybe he is exploring the new toy you gave him, there is a likely possibility that he may not want to eat what you feed him at the moment. When you’re feeding the baby, try to keep him away from all the distractions.

2. Keep an eye out for a growth spurt

Read our article on growth spurt if you haven’t already. Babies on growth spurt have a very different way of eating foods. And every baby acts differently. Some may show more hunger while others may only want to thrive on formula or breast milk alone. So if your baby is on a growth spurt, wait until the phase is over to see whether he is actually picky or not.

3. Let the taste develop

I remember one of my nieces would not eat anything at all. She was solely on milk when she was a toddler. So her mother would give everything to her in a pureed form and she would gulp it down easily. What we later realized was that she had a hard time transitioning from breast milk alone to semi solid foods. So give it time to your baby to develop taste and get used to the foods you’re feeding him.

4. Try new food recipes and options

We all like a change in our food right? So do babies. If you keep giving your baby the same or bland thing over and over again, he will not be able to develop a taste for other things. So always keep a variety of options available to eat for your baby. If you’re giving him cereal in the morning, try to give him something like oats powder mixed in a mashed banana in the afternoon and then maybe some khichdi (Kedgeree) later in the evening. Don’t forget boiled veggies and fruits in between though.

5. Let him eat on his own

Sometimes babies like to put their hands on what you’re making them eat and when we stop them from doing so (because we want to feed them), they get discouraged. So let him eat on his own if he wants to. You’ll see how it changes things.

Before starting to write this article, I was trying to feed my baby a pear and she wouldn’t eat (even in mashed form). So I handed over her a whole slice and very curiously she’s tasting it and enjoying every bit of it.

ALSO READ – Baby Food Diversification – Diversifying Your Baby’s Diet

So, try a different technique every time your baby starts to show a disinterest in the item you want him to eat. Babies are not picky eaters, they just sometimes want to experiment with food on their own. So let them!

What techniques have you applied on your baby to feed him food he simply would not? Do you have any questions for us regarding your baby who seems to be a picky eater? Let us know.