Top reasons your kid is refusing to eat

It is normal for parents to get frustrated when their child constantly rejects food that they’ve lovingly prepared. You’d think that the Myanmar saying “try and try until you succeed” might only be applicable to a point, especially in feeding a picky eater children.

Before scolding or bribing your little one with a yummy treat for dessert, learn the top reasons why your kid is refusing to eat. 1,

 

  1. Developing Taste Buds

At a young age, children’s taste buds are still developing. While they have mature, sweet taste buds, their bitter and sour taste buds are not yet fully mature. This is why vegetables, which have many bitter compounds, are naturally rejected by kids.

 

That said, children also have more sensitive taste buds in general compared to adults which means that feeding them a variety of healthy food can help them develop a palate for a broad selection of healthy food. It is just a matter of a parent exposing them to these nutritious foods.1,2

 

  1. Timing of Meals

Even with a structured meal and snack routine, children will sometimes ask for more snacks in between times. A couple of things could be happening here. They could be undergoing developmental leaps which in turn requires more energy, especially if they’re asking for carbs. Or more often than not it can be because they are hungry, mostly likely because they didn’t eat well at the last meal.1

 

  1. Distracted Eating

Eating while watching TV or iPad, bringing toys to the table to mindless eating or eating not in response to hunger. When children are eating mindlessly, they are not interacting with the food. There’s no learning happening, thus they are not experiencing the sensory properties of the food. They are also not paying attention to their hunger or their fullness cues. This can lead to them either overeating as they grow up or it can lead to them not eating enough. 1

 

  1. Tiredness

Dinner is often the worst meal of the day for many children. It’s the end of a busy day and they’re getting ready for bed. This is when often children gravitate towards junk foods like chicken nuggets and hot dogs that are pre-processed before they eat them, so they don’t have to chew as much. A solution to this would be to switch meals around. Make lunch a bit more substantial and dinner something a bit more low key, and introduce a bedtime snack alongside milk.1

 

Reference(s):

  1. https://www.childrensnutrition.co.uk/full-blog/toddlers-wont-eat
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2721271/