Addressing the Fear of Imbalanced Nutrition for Recently Weaned Children
Aubrey Phelps MS RDN CLC
You’re newly weaned! How exciting!
But now your child has gone from receiving a balanced diet of a completely perfect nutritional formula to….yogurt, plain pasta, and an occasional strawberry.
Is that ok?
Is my child safe?
These are common concerns and questions we get from newly weaned families. So, what happens when your new eater doesn’t eat much variety?
First, we expect new eaters to be less adventurous. Remember, the majority of always-oral kids had 6+ months to build their eating skills and solids variety. They didn’t start with a wide variety and balanced plate right off the bat, either! And for recently weaned, brand new eaters, there are often foods that feel safe and foods can seem scary and unpredictable. This is especially true for those who are just coming off of tube feeds: they’ve already had to make some huge leaps of faith just to accept foods orally, and while they know they like that white smooth puree you’re calling yogurt, they’re not sure what that green mash you called guacamole will taste like, feel like, or anything else.
Can your child live on just a handful of foods for months on end? Probably not. But for a few weeks? A month or two? Absolutely. And if your child expands their food variety more slowly, there are ways to add in multivitamins to cover nutritional gaps and to ease some anxiety, too.
Remember, toddlers are notorious for being selective eaters, surviving on goldfish crackers, bananas, and attitude. Even always-oral toddlers go through these phases! And no one panics because of their limited repertoire of foods. Similarly, avoid worrying if your new eater doesn’t have a lot of variety in their diet from the get-go. No, they can’t wean to JUST yogurt, but we can absolutely build on a few favorites.
So when it comes to worrying about variety, keep a few things in mind:
What is never offered, is never accepted. So avoid the temptation to only offer the foods you know that your child will eat, and work to pair those familiar favorites with the foods that you want your child to grow to love. If fruits and vegetables are important to you, make sure you always offer them! Frequent exposure will lead to interest, and interest coupled with Division of Responsibility will – in time – lead to eating. So, utilize the stoplight method consistently, offering new foods over, and over, and over again for repeated exposure and opportunity!
What’s more important than your child’s current or initial variety is how you’re handling their initial hesitancy or refusals.
Do you deviate from your DOR jobs to try to “get” them to try new foods?
Do you offer unlimited amounts of those preferred foods out of fear that they won’t eat enough otherwise?
Do you bribe them to try a vegetable by offering the ice cream or the crunchy (or another preferred food)?
Do you rescue low intake meals by offering a food you know they’ll eat at the end of a meal (or with a never-ending circle of different options)?
If you are stuck in any of these patterns, it’s time to re-evaluate the way you approach mealtimes, and return to Division of Responsibility, which is the way to bring enough emotional regulation so that children can listen to their curiosity to explore new foods.
In other words? Variety is a marathon, and not a sprint. But it won’t happen if the basics like Division of Responsibility and calm, unpressured meal times aren’t in place. If your child is hydrated, stooling, happy, and energetic, trust that the limited diet you see now won’t stay limited forever. There are so many ways to build upon those preferred foods to open your child’s interest in eating everything they need to meet their nutritional needs and to grow as a happy, independent eater!