Family foods

To encourage healthy eating:

1. Turn off the television while you eat.Adapt food from family meals or at least prepare foods for your child that you will enjoy if he doesn't eat up. If you haven't slaved over a hot stove for hours preparing tiny gourmet meals, you won't feel personally  rejected if your tot turns his nose up at them. Or try a slight variation: if your child doesn't like rice try couscous; if they won't eat pumpkin or carrot, try blending it into a risotto.
2. Nutritious snacks are important for busy little bodies who don't manage three big meals a day. Healthy snacks will help prevent mood swings and difficult behaviour due to low blood sugar levels. Take snacks and a water bottle when you go out so you don't resort (too often, at least) to junk food to appease hungry tots.
3. Offer finger foods: your child can feed herself independently by choosing what and how much she eats if you allow her healthy choices such as pieces of soft fruit, bread or small sandwiches, lightly steamed or grated vegetables, or cheese segments.
4. Introduce new foods one at a time, serving a new food along with some familiar ones, gradually increasing the amount of the new food. You can keep an eye out for allergies or other adverse reactions (diarrhoea, sore tummy) by changing your toddler's diet slowly.
5. Encourage your toddler to feed himself and praise him when he manages to get food onto his spoon and tries to eat it. You may need to have two spoons (one for you and one for your child) for a just-turned one-year-old so that you can put some food into his mouth between his own sloppy attempts. If he loses interest in the spoon (read, throws it overboard) continue feeding him yourself until he signals he has eaten enough. As your child 'gets it' and tries to feed himself, gradually decrease the amount of help you give him - it will be messy at first but he needs practice to become an independent eater.
6. Encourage your child by praising her when she sits still in her highchair. It is common for one-year-olds to go through a stage of hating to sit still, so you will need to have food absolutely ready before you attempt to seat her and try distracting her by drawing her attention to the food, her spoon or candles on the table before she starts her 'performance'. She may also feel more included rather than trapped in her chair if you remove the tray of the highchair and push her up close to the table.