In general most children are good eaters and will eat most foods at home and at nursery. However some children have periods of not eating, and this may be for a variety of reasons, but when this happens it causes great anxiety for the parent and also concern for the nursery.

Some children who find it difficult to settle into nursery will refuse to eat or even be fed by a bottle by the nursery staff. Fortunately this is usually short lived and once the child is more familiar with the nursery staff the problem will disappear.

A number of children find that when they are under the weather their appetite disappears and a child may go for 6/7 days without eating solid foods. During this time they may accept milk or other drinks, often reverting to a bottle for milky drinks. This is fine for most children and is usually only a temporary stage. Parents often get very distressed by this and the nursery needs to offer the parent support during this time, by providing milk and liquids at regular intervals to the child. If a child refuses to take any liquids then there is the danger of dehydrating and a visit to the Doctor or Hospital is necessary.

Some children just have little interest in food and need to be encouraged to eat. The sociability of a group of children eating together usually acts as an encouragement and eating becomes a part of the daily routine at nursery. Children with little or no interest in food will often not eat at home, especially if they are fed at separate times from their parents. Making the mealtime a ‘family sharing time’ may encourage a child to eat better at home.

A few children are ‘fussy eaters’ and only like certain foods or even food kept ‘separate’ on their plate. The nursery soon begins to recognise these individual traits and children who do not like certain foods or prefer ‘finger foods’ to a meal eaten with a spoon and should be flexible enough to cater for such a child. This may be only a short term solution and eventually the child will begin to join the eating pattern of the other children in the nursery. Either way it should not become an issue or the child will feel in constant conflict and become distressed before and during every mealtime.

Some children feel that they get too tired to eat, this is often when they are in transition from two sleeps one the morning and one in the afternoon, to a single afternoon sleep. Or the child may have been awake very early or had a disturbed night. An early lunch for some children may be the answer or even saving the meal until the child has had a sleep. Altering the child’s eating pattern for the day or even for a few weeks until the child’s routine is more settled usually does the trick. Either way the nursery needs to discuss the matter with the parents and offer the support needed by the individual child.

Small children are great psychologists and they soon learn how to manipulate their parents. The aim is not to let food and mealtimes become an issue between parents/nursery and the child. By sharing information with the nursery, who should offer support, encouragement and if required advice to the parents, then the issues will in time be overcome. Parents may need assurance that it is not anything that they are ‘doing wrong’ but just a part of their child’s individual development, they should not feel guilty or that they are to blame.

By the parent and nursery staff working together, any issues with food or eating problems can be overcome. The nursery will have dealt with most concerns with eating before and it is only in extremely rare situations that a child’s eating problems leads to parents seeking professional advice.

Article written by:

Alison Thomson

Operations Director,

The Spinney Day Nurseries