Parents in our pediatric wellness program get more than just a trusted and experienced provider for their children, but access to our childhood wellness guidance resources online 24/7. As we combine the best of functional, conventional, Christian, and years of parenting without driving you to unnecessary fear, you get our guidance for parenting in this fallen world. Here we offer a sample of our wellness resources for ages Newborn through Five Years that accompanies your sleeping well at night knowing we will work with you to individualize your child’s health care.
Food Habits
Trying to feed a two-year-old can be one of the most challenging times for sure. If your two-year-old is giving you a hard time and you feel like you are losing the battle, never fear: like almost all things while raising children, it is a phase, and you will get through it.
Some tips that might help include giving them choices. “Would you like an apple or a banana?” helps them feel like they have a voice. Also put healthy food on their plates in small amounts one thing you believe they will eat, maybe one thing that is new and other things that look normal to them. Again, this gives them choices.
As they get older, I would caution them to not be a short order cook and give them anything just so they will eat. That can digress into their deciding that they like Doritos and that is all they will eat. Give them healthy foods frequently; put what the family is eating on their plate. They might not eat it but that is okay. Studies show they have to be shown a new food multiple times before they will accept it. So don’t give up after just a time or two. Eventually they will get used to seeing those foods and will begin to eat with you as a family.
Now there are extreme cases. I have heard of a few kiddos with strong food aversions. Despite our best efforts and thinking our second born would eat almost everything like our first born had we had a two-year-old that only ate brown things, pancakes, chicken nuggets, cheese bread. But then out of the blue he started liking broccoli. Keep trying! You never know what they will like if you don’t try.
By Lynn Day PA-C
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
