Children's Wellness

What Can I Do For My Picky Eating Child?

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What Can I Do For My Picky Eating Child?

Mar 21, 2019

3 tips for you to grant a stress-free holiday trip with your kids:

Does kids’ mealtime always put you in pain? Fussy eating habit makes you worry about their nutritional status? In fact, you are not the only one who have these worries. According to Canadian Pediatric Society, approximately 25% to 35% of toddlers and preschoolers are described by their parents as poor or ‘picky’ eaters [1]. Picky eaters usually denote having strong food preferences, consuming an inadequate variety of foods, restricting the intake of some food groups, eating a limited amount of food, or being unwilling to try new foods. Picky eating, seemingly a minor attitude problem, but in fact it will lead to health condition such as food allergies, constipation and undernutrition (stunting/wasting) [2]. Therefore, before your child’s food preferences mature, consider these tips for preventing mealtime battles.

Dos Don’ts
  • Be role model in picking up healthy eating habits.
    If parents eat a variety of healthy foods, your child is more likely to follow the suit. Parents need to be mindful that the choices and actions are being watched and absorbed by your children.
  • Don’t be a short-order cook.
    Serve one full meal for whole family and resist the wish to prepare small meals if your child rejects what is served. Also, each balanced meal should include at least one favorite food of your child which gives familiarity and curiosity for both favorite and new food.
  • Be patient with new foods.
    Sometimes, the child’s taste buds are unable to accept certain taste at the first go. Therefore, parents should try for several times at introducing new food items to your child with different cooking methods.
  • Do not serve large portions.
    Just the same as adult, your child has a sense of fullness too. They will select their most preferred food to eat first before going into other food items on their meal plate. Just ensure the portion of the balanced meal that you provide them is adequate.
  • Pair with kids-friendly supplement.
    In recent decades, there are a lot of kid’s friendly supplement available in the market. An appropriate amount of supplement, such as Lysine, able to help in boosting your child’s appetite which can positively affect nutritional status with the better nutrient intake.
  • Do not take food as reward or force act.
    If parents always use food (especially confectioneries) as a reward, your child will recognize it as their “favourite food” and will increase their desire to get more. Conversely, if parents force their child to take certain food like vegetables, the unpleasant emotion will cause them to refuse the same food again in future.

BiO-LiFE Kid’s Colostrum Cal-D Plus Lysine contains Lysine, a type of essential amino acid that our body unable to produce which need to obtain from food sources. Lysine helps to naturally stimulate the appetite, by supporting a proper body metabolism [3]. If there is too little lysine in the diet, loss of appetite may occur. Study also shown that Lysine able to increase the absorption of copper, iron, zinc, and calcium as well as improve children’s weight [4], height [5]. BiO-LiFE Kid’s Colostrum Cal-D Plus Lysine also contains calcium and vitamin D to give optimum bone formation which is utmost important during growth [6]. Other than that, the colostrum content able to increase children’s immune system especially for gut health. [7,8]

References
  1. Society C. The ‘picky eater’: The toddler or preschooler who does not eat | Canadian Paediatric Society [Internet]. Cps.ca. 2019 [cited 20 February 2019]. Available from: https://www.cps.ca/en/documents/position/toddler-preschooler-who-does-not-eat
  2. Taylor CM, Emmett PM. Picky eating in children: causes and consequences. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2018 Nov 5:1-9.
  3. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to L‐lysine and immune defence against herpes virus (ID 453), maintenance of normal blood LDL‐cholesterol concentrations (ID 454, 4669), increase in appetite leading to an increase in energy intake (ID 610), contribution to normal protein synthesis (ID 609, 1612), maintenance of normal bone (ID 663, 1915), and increase in calcium absorption leading to an increase in calcium retention (ID 609, 1612) pursuant to Article 13 (1) of Regulation …. EFSA Journal. 2011 Apr;9(4):2063.
  4. Wikramanayake TW, De Silva CC, Fernando PV, Jayawickrema L. Lysine Supplementation of a Rice and Milk Diet Fed to Children Recovering from Kwashiorkor and Undernutrition. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 1961 Sep 1;9(5):625-31.
  5. Jia L, He C, Song L, Guan Y. Guiding value of L-lysine in children’s diet and health food consumption. Journal of Food Safety and Quality. 2018;9(14):3819-23.
  6. Calcium/Vitamin D Requirements, Recommended Foods & Supplements [Internet]. National Osteoporosis Foundation. 2019 [cited 20 February 2019]. Available from: https://www.nof.org/patients/treatment/calciumvitamin-d/
  7. Solomons NW. Modulation of the immune system and the response against pathogens with bovine colostrum concentrates. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2002 Jul 25;56(S3):S24.
  8. Davidson GP, Daniels E, Nunan H, Moore AG, Whyte PB, Franklin K, McCloud PI, Moore DJ. Passive immunisation of children with bovine colostrum containing antibodies to human rotavirus. The Lancet. 1989 Sep 23;334(8665):709-12.
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