A mother's food choices during pregnancy are linked to picky eaters, according to experts. As such, expecting women should eat a variety of foods when pregnant so that the baby is exposed to as many different flavors as possible. This, in turn, should lead to a child who is more willing to be adventurous when trying different flavor combinations at mealtime and less picky about what he eats.
According to AntaraNews.com expert, Dr. Damayanti R. Sjarif, Pediatrician and Consultant for Nutrition & Metabolic Diseases, as soon as a woman becomes pregnant, what she chooses to eat will determine whether or not her baby becomes a picky eater. Further still, a breastfeeding woman will pass different flavor profiles along to a baby as well.
It is imperative, according to Dr. Sjarif, who is also the head of the Anthropometry Working Group of the Health Ministry, that during pregnancy and breastfeeding to eat as wide a variety of foods as possible. The more foods a baby is exposed to, the less likely he will be a picky eater and only eat certain foods as he ages.
Conversely, if a mother chooses to limit what she eats and is a picky eater herself, that same trait will be passed along to her baby.
A variety of foods should be tried by the infant when he is ready to try solid foods as well. As such, instead of just providing pureed baby food, giving the baby what the family is eating will help to deter picky eating habits as well, according to AntaraNews.com.
According to a 2019 study published in the journal, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, children who are picky eaters face a variety of dietary insufficiencies. Some of those include not having enough fiber in the diet which can lead to constipation, low levels of iron and zinc from not eating enough protein, and even excessive "thinness" as the child ages.
With up to 50 percent of children reportedly showing signs of being picky eaters, according to Nationwide Children's, it is necessary to try to prevent picky eating before it begins.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to make sure that the infant is seeing that the food being offered to them is being eaten by the family as well. When the child sees that different foods are eaten constantly by family members, it will become a norm.
Another way to stop picky eating before it occurs, according to the publication is to make sure when offering new foods to include a few foods the child is familiar with as well. This way the entire meal is not an uncharted culinary odyssey in the eyes of the child.
The bottom line, to avoid picky eaters, it is important to repeatedly introduce infants and children to a variety of foods. The more this is done, the less foreign fruits, vegetables, and proteins will seem. And hopefully, this will lead to making sure that easily avoidable health issues do not occur.
Source: AntaraNews.com, Proceedings of the Nutritional Society, Nationwide Children's