10 ways to help your child eat new foods, especially fruit and veg

There are some tried and tested ways to approach food to support a child to eat competently and well, and to make feeding an easy and pleasurable experience for parents.

One of the simplest of these is to create good habits and routines around eating. This also supports eating more variety and being able to tackle some of the more challenging foods like fruit and vegetables.

Having defined parameters works really well for young children. Knowing what is going to happen and when, with consequences for not operating within the boundaries is comforting. It is also a key factor in supporting a fussy eater to eat well, especially a super selective one. This can seem counter intuitive but is something I have seen work time and time again.

The beginning of the year is a great time to check whether you have some simple things in place that can make a big difference. Creating an environment conducive to eating is something everyone can all work towards.

Once this is in place, you can look at strategies specific to supporting your child to eat more of the foods you’d like them to.