Many parents stress to their children the importance of finishing all the food on their plate.
But we spoke to children’s nutritionist Charlotte Sterling Reed to get her thoughts on whether this might actually do more harm than good.
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Charlotte is the founder of Charlotte Sterling Reed, a baby and child nutritionist, author of How to Wean Your Baby and How to Feed Toddlers, and her top tips for working on mealtime with your child. are shared.
A child nutritionist explained to us that he would never let his child eat a plate. In fact, this is something parents should avoid.
She explained: “Some children eat more than these portions, others less.
“My advice is to always use them as an idea of how much to serve.
“Responsive feeding of babies and toddlers is about recognizing and following hunger and satiety signals.
“The purpose of this is to help young children learn to follow their appetites and learn to eat healthily and autonomously.
“Learning skills like walking and speaking takes time, but so does learning to eat and respond to your hunger and satiety.”
Nutrition experts stressed that encouraging children to finish their meals can actually feel very pressured and often do more harm than good.
She continued: “I often see a lot of ‘encouragement’ for children to eat at mealtimes, which can be interpreted as pressure for children.” There is a possibility
“Please finish the peas” or “Just a spoonful” are common and very natural reactions for children to eat.
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“But these gentle pressures can actually prevent them from listening to their body’s signals in response. It discourages them from enjoying food and teaches them to overeat.” It’s even possible.
“The pressure to eat (in any form) is rarely helpful in the long run, and this is also backed up by a number of studies.
“It’s very important to see only what your child eats in one or a few meals.
“Rather, looking at what a child eats over a period of days or a week is a better indicator of a child’s eating behavior and consumption.”
