My Focus on Family Life and Parenting

Snack starved (2)

I experienced the same resistance when my son, Jacobo, was at this stage. It’s also a time when toddlers develop independence with their food choices. So a little curbing of habits on your part will work to their benefit later. Another factor that I considered is the possibility that my son was bored with eating the same food every week. As part of his early speech lessons, I taught him the names of his favorite foods and introduced new ones every week. This considerably lessened the guesswork on my part, since he learned to ask for particular foods he wanted to have.

The next problem for me was that he would rather “order” what was not on the menu that day. So I had to come in again to teach him about not being a picky eater. You wouldn’t want one while visiting relatives over the weekend and have your toddler whining over what was NOT served on the table. Oh, please!

So, be forewarned: It can take a lot of tries before some kids realize that monggo beans, tilapya, and broccoli actually taste good. Keep putting different foods on her plate – you never know what might happen. That said, most children, including picky eaters, don’t need multi-vitamins if they are getting at least some of all the food groups on a daily basis, especially meat, vegetables (all colors), dairy, and fruit. If your child isn’t, visit your doctor to go over her diet to see if a multi-vitamin makes sense – and if so, whether to get one with iron.

If your pediatrician thinks taking vitamins is a good idea but doesn’t have a specific brand in mind, you’ll have to read labels carefully because nutrient amounts vary between brands.