This week we’re once again talking about mealtime with toddlers! Our expert, Jenny Best, founder of Solid Starts, lays out two of her three top tips for preventing picky eating– and how best to implement them. 

ASK AN EXPERT: Mealtime with picky eaters

We sat down with Jenny Best, the Founder of Solid Starts, A Baby Food Revolution. The Solid Starts team consists of parents, feeding therapists, swallowing specialists, pediatricians, an allergist, pediatric dietitians, lactation consultants, and a nutritionist. To learn more, check out their website, Instagram, or brand-new app.

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[This interview had been edited for time and clarity.]

In our last edition, we were talking about toddlers and their picky eating. You have three concrete tips for parents, right? 

One– Set a feeding schedule and stick to it. What often happens with a toddler is they’ll skip dinner and then 15 minutes later say that they’re hungry. So then you say, ‘Ok, I’ll make you a sandwich, or have this snack or shake (or whatever is easy to make).” And then toddler learns that they can do that every night. 

So what do you do instead? 

So if after dinner time there is no planned after-dinner snack or dessert or whatever, don’t offer it. And it might be hard for a couple of days as your child learns the natural consequence of hunger. That is not a harmful thing you’re doing to your child. You’re helping them learn that “Oh when I skip dinner my belly rumbles.” And it’s ok to say, “Hey, it sounds like maybe you ARE hungry. Do you want to have a second chance at dinner? Ok, fine, then maybe we break the rules for a little bit and go back to dinner, but we’re not offering a second meal or something different, or going back to the kitchen and offering mac and cheese.” 

So again, set your menu and set your feeding schedule and try to stick to that. 

What’s your second tip? 

Offer choices at the same time. This is critical. Most toddlers just want to be in control and you can help them FEEL like they’re more in control of the menu by engaging them. You can say, “Do you want strawberries or bananas with your oatmeal this morning? Ah, strawberries, do you want to help me cut those?” Those kinds of choices and empowerment are everything to toddlers. 

And I imagine you don’t want to let them go back on those choices? 

Right, so the choice piece of advice is not that you sit down and the toddler changes their mind and says, I actually wanted bananas. Nope, we decided on strawberries. 

Another way to go about the choice is to simply offer both strawberries and bananas with the oatmeal and let your toddler put whatever toppings that are available on the table into their oatmeal. 

I’ve seen on your Instagram kind of like a make-your-own yogurt option. How does that work? 

We have a great structure for this called ‘build your own yogurt’ where the parent sets out three topping choices– could be sprinkles, crushed nuts, anything– and the toddler gets to choose of these three toppings on the table and build their own oatmeal or yogurt. The more you can make your child feel in control of the meal by setting out choices at the same time, the happier they’ll be and the fewer battles at your house. 

Editor’s Note: A big thanks to Jenny Best for taking the time to chat with us. In our next edition, Best will lay out her third and final piece of advice when it comes to toddler eating. To learn more, check out the Solid Starts’ website, Instagram, or their brand-new app.