Written by Holly Howard, Founder of Nanny Cooks

Hi, I’m Holly a paediatric food consultant, Norland Nanny and Founder of Nanny Cooks!

I support and empower parents through the challenges they face with fussy eaters with tried and tested tips, tricks, recipes and meal plans. I help to take the stress of meal times off their plate and add a spoonful of fun!

Having nannied across the world, I have supported young ones from babies who are weaning all the way up to 12 year old children. I have come across a fair few fussy eaters along the way. This has allowed me to create a bank of resources to help deal with the challenges of fussy eaters and test tricks to help prevent it.
How can we help our little ones through this stage?

I am often asked by parents what are my go to tips, so here are five of my favourite:

1.     Giving children choice: Letting children choose recipes for the week and be involved in the meal planning process. This helps to empower children to have a say over what they are eating, but also increase the chances of them consuming a meal. To help ensure they have a balanced diet across the week you can select recipes for your children to choose from. This allows you to control the meals that are prepared, whilst still giving the child a ‘perceived’ choice and a sense of autonomy. Let’s be honest, if a child was given complete free-rein over what they are eating, they would opt for dessert every time!

2.     Children cooking: Involving children in cooking is a fun way to teach them where their food comes from, establish healthy eating habits and how to prepare food safely; whilst supporting other areas of their holistic development. Cooking together, helping to create a positive bonding experience and increasing the chances of a child trying the food due to taking ownership over what they have created. Children can be involved in cooking in many ways, including the measuring and preparing of ingredients using child-safe equipment.

3.     Play it safe: We have all been there spending time sourcing and preparing new dishes, exciting for a child to try, for them to push it away the second it hits the table. This feels disappointing, right? Whilst it is important to expose children to new tastes and dishes, it can be overwhelming for a child and put them off the whole meal. We want to empower children to be creative eaters and this is where playing it safe comes in. Encouraging children to try new foods whilst including a ‘safe’ food or something you know they will like. For example, serving a lentil curry with pitta bread fingers to dip in.

4.     Sharing boards: These boards can take a mealtime from a slow dull process to a fun, sociable occasion for the whole family. Serving dinner up on the board and placing it in the middle of the table allows children to choose what they put on their plate. Bringing us back to that perceived choice. Before serving a meal I like this it's important to consider non-negotiables, this may include the children selecting two portions of vegetables and at least one serving of a protein ensuring they're still eating a balanced diet.

5.     Eating together: Can create a positive bonding time for your family and let's be honest it saves you having to cook twice (win-win). Whilst family life can be fast paced and busy it is helpful to consider how you can build this in when meal planning. Eating together gives you the time to connect as a family, but also demonstrates healthy eating choices and table manners. Children will observe your attitude towards food and will often mirror these, increasing the chances of them eating the food you have prepared. This can open up new conversations about where the food has come from and how it’s prepared, helping to increase their general interest in food.

I know this can all seem overwhelming, trust me I have been there with screaming children, tired and unsure what to cook them for dinner and how to encourage them to eat it. However, with the help of meal planning and these five tips this can all become part of your everyday routine, helping to take the the stress of meal times of your plate and adding fun for the whole family!

For more information on how I can support you and your family, head over to my website www.nannycooks.co.uk

While you are here we have lots more blogs on various topics which you can find here, as well as our downloadable webinars on topics such as behaviour and emotions, sleep and toilet training.

Don’t forget that we offer parent consultations should you need support with anything from sleep to behaviour and so much more!  Details of the packages we offer can be found here.

We also have a Podcast ‘Newborn to Teen and Everything in Between’, you can listen here.