Early childhood nutrition is important in reducing childhood mortality and certain diseases, which are well documented in multiple studies worldwide. Poor nutrition can cause stunting of growth which is irreversible and can have long-term effects on cognitive development, school achievement, and economic productivity in adulthood and maternal reproductive outcomes.

Fussy eating is one of the most common issues faced by most parents during growing stages of their child. Fussy eating is most common in toddler age group and can go beyond this age group, if not tackled at an early stage. Establishing healthy eating patterns is important to avoid problems such as obesity and eating disorders later in life.

Researchers at Bristol University in England have discovered that delaying your baby’s introduction to lumpier foods may contribute to fussy eating habits. The study focused on a group of babies who were not given lumpy foods until they were 10 months or older. They found 1 in 5 of these babies were fussy eaters by 15 months. Research also indicates that while 27 per cent of toddlers are fussy eaters, 22 per cent of them have parents who admit to being fussy eaters, too.

Food refusal is common especially when new food is introduced. Do not be put off; keep introducing the new food few times as it takes almost 10 attempts before baby will choose to eat it (Australian research). Parents always fear and feel guilty if baby has not had good feed,sometime end up force feeding without knowing the psychological effect of force feeding. Force feeding can results in aversion to food and might make eating habits even worse. Kids can reduce or even stop taking the food they liked before. If food refusal begins to affect a child’s growth, the family should be referred to appropriate healthcare professionals such as a child psychologist, dietitian, speech and language therapist or paediatrician.

It is important to change to relevant food textures at appropriate age. We all have protective mechanisms which stop us from choking; this is called ‘Gag Reflex’. Some babies and children have sensitive gag reflex. These children will be fine to take smooth, pureed food. But when pureed food has lumps in it, they tend to gag, face can go red and some even vomit. This can be tackled by giving evenly grainy food rather than lumpy food. For example, adding cooked broken rice to rice puree or kanji to make it uniformly grainy. Once the child starts to tolerate it, slowly increase the grainy consistency in the food. Some children are better if they can feed themselves than parents try to feed them, as the child will decide when to stop.

Introduce “Messy Play” with food for toddlers so they play with food and get to know textures. It may look messy, but this way small kid will learn to have touch food and taste it. Avoid frequent meal times and kids eating through the day, as you will be surprised on how these little snacks can make the child not have hunger to eat normal meal. By ensuring adequate gap between meals, kids will get the “hunger cycle” and would eat larger portions compared to having frequent small meals.

Some children may have iron deficiency which may affect their appetite. Hence, it is important to give iron rich food from the time weaning is started. Pulses, red meat, green leafy vegetables, different types of spinach, dry fruits, finely chopped/powdered nuts (beware of risk of choking) can be introduced. Lots of evidence is emerging from large research studies where micro-nutrient deficiencies can lead to multiple health issues in children and programme their body to develop adulthood diseases.

In this age of busy lifestyle and office going parents, early morning chorus of getting kids ready to school is time consuming. There is a culture of breakfast being offering at school. This has led to kids skipping their breakfast. School going children must definitely have their complete, balanced breakfast as they are breaking a long overnight fasting. This holds good even for adults. Avoid skipping breakfast interferes with cognition and learning ability of children.

It is important to introduce right food at the right age and avoid food restrictions in growing children. Seek medical advice at the earliest to tackle fussy eating as it may be more than fussy eating. Fussy eating can lead to nutritional deficiency and long term eating and behavioral issues.