6 ways to help your children have a healthy relationship with food

Parents can take steps to encourage their children to develop positive eating habits plainpicture/artwall Nancy Bostock is increasingly worried about the messaging children and parents are receiving around food. A paediatrician at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Bostock has worked in a children’s weight-management clinic and a children’s inpatient mental health unit, and co-led the development of a food strategy for the new Cambridge Children’s Hospital , making her uniquely positioned at the intersection of paediatric physical and mental health. “I worry that parents are overwhelmed with advice from so many different places and so may end up doing things that aren’t necessarily helpful for their child,” she says. Bostock spoke to New Scientist to share six simple, science-backed approaches to help children develop a healthy relationship with food. 1. Notice the social and emotional aspects of food Food, parenting and anxiety have an interlinked relationship. Sometimes this can develop early on. In some families I’ve met, the first few weeks after birth have contributed to anxiety around food. Parents feel pressured to breastfeed. I mean, breastfeeding is really good for your baby, but a mum being able to cope is also very important. Common difficulties that babies have in their early days and weeks – low blood sugar, jaundice and weight loss (which is normal to a certain degree in the first few days of life) – may feed into parental guilt about their ability to provide nourishment for their baby. This anxiety may result in an over-focus on food for some parents, where they become very anxious about their children eating enough. This can lead to parents focusing much more on what and how much their children are eating than on the relationship they have with food. Remember that the vast majority of children will eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty. I have met many parents that worry their children don’t drink enough. However, if your child is well, you don’t need to check their water bottle or nag them to drink – their body will do that for them. Being mindful about the social aspects of eating in your own family is also important. Just reflecting on what the experience of mealtimes is like for your child can be helpful. Do you all eat together? Are mealtimes relaxed, or joyful? Is there happy conversation? Try to see food as a social and joyful thing. Read more We may finally know what a healthy gut microbiome looks like 2. Don’t say, “You can’t have pudding until you’ve finished your food” Allowing your child to manage their own appetite will help them get attuned to their bodies and manage their intake better as adults. Try to limit parental intervention. Instead, sell the concept that food is nourishing for your body and gives you energy, your body knows what it needs – try to take out the noise around it. Behavioural approaches, such as saying, “You can’t have pudding until you’ve finished dinner”, teach...

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