To open your child's appetite you can use some strategies such as taking the child to the supermarket and let her help you in the kitchen. In addition, making more attractive and fun dishes can help. However, you need to be calm and patient, as all tips will take effect after being repeated more than once.
Recourse to stimulant appetite remedies is only indicated in exceptional cases when the child is at high risk of malnutrition and should only be used as directed by the doctor or nutritionist.
Tips for Your Child to Eat Better
The lack of appetite in children is normal between 2 and 6 years and therefore, at this stage, children can make tantrum at meal time. However, there are some tips that can be helpful in opening up your child's appetite which include:
1. Set the menu of the day with the child
One way to help the child eat better and to open his appetite is to make the menu of the week with the child, seeking to make healthy and creative recipes and following the child's ideas and suggestions so that he or she feels involved and interested.
2. Go shopping with your child and involve him in the preparation of meals
It is important to go to the supermarket with your child and ask his help to push the shopping cart or pick up small foods, such as fruit or bread.
After doing the shopping, you should involve him in the storage of food in the closet and when preparing meals the child should go to the kitchen with the parents and do small tasks, such as table setting, for example.
3. Eat at the right time
The child should make at least 5 meals a day, eating breakfast, snacking, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner, always at the same times because this educates the body to feel hungry at the same time.
Another important care is not to eat or drink anything 1 hour before mealtime.
4. Do not overfill the dish
Children do not need to have the plate too full of food because small amounts of each food are enough to stay nourished and healthy.
In addition, not all children have the same appetite, and it is normal for the child between the ages of 2 and 6 to have less appetite, as this is a slower growth phase.
5. Make fun dishes
To open a child's appetite a good strategy is to make fun and colorful dishes, mixing foods that the child likes the most, with those she likes less. Here's how: How to make your child eat fruits and vegetables
6. Prepare food in different ways
It is important that the child has the opportunity to try foods prepared from different fomas: raw, cooked or roasted, because it has different colors, flavors, textures and nutrients.
For example, a child may not like raw carrots, but may like grated carrots or cooked with chicken, for example.
7. Avoiding the 'temptations'
At home, you should preferably have fresh foods, such as vegetables and fruits, as well as pasta, rice and bread, avoiding industrialized and prepared foods, as these foods, although they have more flavor, are harmful to health when consumed daily and, lead the child to dislike the taste of healthy foods, because they are less intense.
8. Out of the routine
To increase the child's appetite, parents can set a day of the month to change their routine and eat outside, in the garden, have a picnic or example.
9. Caring for the garden
Taking care of the garden makes the child feel responsible for the vegetables and fruits and, in this way, your child will want to eat what he has grown. If you do not have a yard, you can experiment with planting food in plant pots.
10. Eat together
Meal time, such as breakfast or dinner, should be a time when the family is reunited and where everyone eats the same food, causing the child to realize that they have to eat what the parents and siblings eat.
Thus, for the child to acquire healthy habits, it is very important for adults to set the example for the child, showing a taste for what they eat, for they repeat what adults do. Read more in: How to feed the child.
Watch the video to hear more tips that will help your child eat better.
