What you considered a phase with your child’s fussy eating habits might just be a pattern, that is in fact feeding off the habit of an unobservant parent. Consider the case of Murali, who was four years old when he developed an odd taste for combination. His cousin Priyamvardha states, “Of all things, he insisted on having his sambar rice with pepper mint and his curd rice with gems!” Today, Murali is 30 years old and has no such whims because along the way his parents discovered that South Indian food simply didn’t agree with his palate; no allergies, just a preference.
A recent survey in India reveals that as many as 80 per cent of parents face feeding difficulties with their kids. But not all on the list can be taken lightly, says Dr Glenn Berall, paediatrician. “Most paediatricians are trained to recognise medically severe conditions, not something as slight as a feeding difficulty,” says Dr Berall. Here is the shocker: fussy eating habits in children may range from a simple distraction like a cartoon on TV, to being extremely picky about their food, or worse --- a fear of feeding.
If a child suffered a traumatic few minutes of choking in the early years, it could lead to a complex with drinking fluids or perhaps drinking from a specific cup in the house. Dr Berall suggests, “One way of dealing with a trauma like this is to change the child’s feeding methods. For example, you can replace a tumbler with a colourful cup that has a straw attached.”
There is a section of parents who take their children’s eating habits so seriously that they sometimes take extreme measures.
Raji Murthi, a school teacher and mom says, “I didn’t want my son eating junk food. So I’d tell him things like, ‘if you eat chips, you won’t grow taller’ or even, point out to a scene on TV where a woman is crying and say, ‘look she got a stomach pain because she ate junk food’.”
Few parents have the energy or mind space to not only assess their child’s needs but innovate ways to help them develop the right eating habits over the years. Some tell stories, some use bribes and there are even the few that flag off races at the dining table (parental advisory) for the ever-so-common ‘slow eater’.
Shobana Srikumar who owns a children’s library says, “My three-year old son is always running around, and getting me to chase me him with his food.” So she makes him a deal — no running around and then some extra time to play. Ah, the art of negotiation, always a charm when they’re innocent and not all grown up.