Fish N Chips for a picky eater

Ever since he turned 1 year 4 months, Irfan has turned into a picky eater. It is so hard to make him eat his food now and he totally refuse to eat rice. He'll take plain pasta sprinkled with cheese, but don't even dream of making him eat it with the sauce. As a mother, of course I become worried that he won't get enough nutrition as he don't take vege that I usually add in his rice, and will eat a little bit of chicken and fish depending on his mood on the day.

Thus, because he is quite fond of fish and chicken, last few of days I decided to make him fish and chips using ikan kerapu and the frozen french fries, cowboy style. I googled the recipe on the net and omitted things that I didn't have in stock and added a few things just because they're available in the fridge. So this was what he had for lunch and dinner on that day. He loved them, and though the portions was quite huge, he was able to finish them up. But just like his father, he refused to eat them when I dipped it in the mayonnaise.

Nampak macam cucur udang kan? Haha..

Anyway, my mum is an ardent fan of The Star newspaper and she has them delivered to her doorstep every single day ever since I can remember. So she found an article in the paper entitled "Anxiety Bites!", which revolves around the issue of the picky eaters.

It was written there that in US, a study found that 50% to 60% parents reported their child as having feeding difficulties but after closer inspection only 25% to 35% of those children have real feeding difficulties.

It is said that feeding difficulties is not the only reason why a child refuse to eat, there could be other factors such as :

1) Oral-motor-development - Depends on child's readiness and adequacy in oral motor skills, such as licking, sucking, biting and chewing.

2) Fear of new foods * - also known as neophobia, common between ages 2 and three.

3) Environmental factors* - Chaotic work schedules and cultural beliefs of eating, e.g unpredictable mealtimes schedules create inconsistency in eating habits.

4) Social development *- the time when a child starts to asserts his independence, causing him to have interest in other things than food. And also he wants to show his independency by refusing to eat, or prefers only one type of food for days on end.

I can relate * with Irfan's being a picky eater. He totally refuse to eat foods he's not familiar with nowadays. And I also realize that I was inconsistent with his mealtime, but now I try to be more strict with his eating schedule. And of course at the age of one and a half year, he has started to asserts his independency by wanting to eat on his own (though he can't feed the food into his mouth yet he is adamant to do it by himself), choosing only certain food and at times totally refuse to eat at all.

I hope this stage will pass quickly, and of course as a mother I have to try my best to coax him into eating nutritious food. I don't want my child to be under-nutrition, I want him to grow up healthy!