Spice Up Your Little Ones Taste and Smell Senses – How to Tackle A ‘Fussy Eater’

I work with lots of parents 1-2-1 in my practice in Warlingham going through the “Fussy Eating Stage”

I have also been the expert on many radio phone-ins on fussy eaters whether they are 2 or 22 !

If you suddenly have a fussy eater on your hands – you’re not alone!

This daily diary will help you to plan your child’s diet, ensuring that they get just the right amount of proteins, vitamins, and carbohydrates that are so important.

Click Here to download for free my “Fussy Eaters Diary”

Click => Here to listen to my podcast on this topic.

Today I’d like to introduce you to Zainab Jagot Ahmed, the author of “Easy Indian SuperMeals for Babies, Toddlers and the Family.” Available to buy now from Amazon.co.uk.

Zainab is my guest blogger today and here is her advice.

“Fussy eating behaviour affects all parents at some point during parenthood – ‘I don’t like that’, ‘I don’t eat green food’… there’s always something wrong! It can be very stressful.

Fortunately for me, my three year old is a good eater and isn’t fussy. She has her moments when her little fussy pointy finger will come out and she’ll say ‘what’s that?’, ‘I don’t like that’. But overall, she is a good eater.

So how have I done this?

Well I always wanted my little one to be exposed to aromatic spices from a young age. Not just to be in touch with her culinary heritage (being British Asian), but to broaden her palate and to get her accustomed to trying new tastes and flavours. With nutritionists advising parents to limit daily salt intake for children, aromatic spices act as a wonderful substitute offering masses of flavour in children’s meals. Lots of flavour means tasty meals that are more likely to be gobbled down leading to a well-balanced diet.

There’s also some science involved here as our sense of taste and smell are both very closely linked, so much so that food would taste bland without our sense of smell.

“Most of what we consider our taste sensation is actually from our sense of smell.” – Patient.co.uk

Cooking meals with aromatic spices releases a delicious aroma in the air that will make little mouths water. So even though no salt or sugar has been added to meals, the aromatic spices will stimulate a child’s senses resulting in a desire to eat. As children grow eating delicious flavoursome meals they’ll not only be well-rounded healthy eaters, they’ll also be conditioned to know that home-cooked food means delicious food.

So my advice – if you can, don’t try to tackle fussy eating behaviours, stop them before they begin by cooking with aromatic spices from infancy. However, if you’re in the depths of despair with a toddler who will only eat three different types of food, these tips may help:

• Add aromatic spices to everyday meals. It will make meals taste delicious and the gorgeous aromas released will be so tempting it will make your little one’s mouth water.
• Toddlers want to enjoy the same meals as the rest of the family so cook up a family meal and simply remove a portion before any salt is added. Just remember to keep portion sizes in accordance with little appetites.
• Don’t be afraid of food rejection – keep introducing different tastes and flavours as taste buds develop over time.
• Set a place for your little one at the dinner table and try to eat together as a family.
• Never force your little one to eat and remember to say please!

So stay focused on your mission and remember you can still help your little one develop a taste for
delicious food, and stop a fussy eater in his or her tracks.

Explore Zainab Jagot Ahmed’s website here

Written by Zainab Jagot Ahmed, author of Easy Indian SuperMeals for Babies, Toddlers and the Family. Available to buy now from Amazon.co.uk.