Every child goes through a stage where they refuse to eat or will only eat sweet food. For some it is a day and for others it can be weeks. It can also come at any time. There will sometimes be days where your child has a poor diet or refuses to do anything but nibble. For babies there will be days where they revert to just wanting a bottle or breast feed and turn their nose up at solids.

This is normal and should not be any cause for concern but here are�a few tips to help you through those annoying times:

Tip 1: Try not to obsess over what your child eats on any one day. Look instead at a�5 - 7�day period and what your child has eaten over that time. In most cases you will find that, although your child has had days where they have refused to eat or only eaten select food, over the period of a week their diet has been acceptable.

Tip 2: Do not push your child. Put the food in front of them and try to get them to eat but do not make a battle ground out of it as this may cause more deep set problems in the future.

Tip 3: If your problem is with a newly weaned baby refusing to eat savouries then try mixing sweet and savoury (such as vegetable puree mixed with apple) or try feeding baby a spoon of sweet then a spoon of savoury and alternate

Tip 4: If a child or baby is being a picky eater or refusing to eat because they are ill try to concern yourself more with ensuring that their fluid intake is sufficient. In the case of babies their intake of formula will often provide most of the vitamins and nutrients that they need.

Tip 5: If your child is refusing to eat altogether and this goes on for more that a few days consider visiting your doctor or health visitor for advice.

Tip 6: Watch out for any underlying problems which may be causing the fussiness/ refusal to eat. With younger children it will often be an early warning that they are about to get a cold or that a new tooth is about to come through. With older children ask them calmly why they do not want to eat

Tip 7: Try cooking with your child then congratulating them on the lovely meal they have made for themself

Tip 8: Arrange food into the shape of a face and get your child to eat the nose, eyes and mouth

�Tip 9: As a short term solution (especially if the cause of the refusal to eat is because of illness) make smoothies, milkshakes, frozen fruit iced lollies and home made juices. This way you can be reassured that even if your child is off their food at least they are still getting some of the vitamins and minerals that they need

Tip 10: If the problem is as simple as your child refusing to eat vegetables then puree the vegetables and hide them with food they like such as using them as a pasta sauce for fun shaped pasta, as a spread on toast or as the base of a pizza that your child is allowed to top with cheese them self.

Tip 11: When your child does begin to eat properly again do not hold back on the praise.

Important note; If the refusal to eat anything continues for over a week or if you have a particularly young baby then see your doctor