A child’s eating habits are developed early in childhood between the ages of 3 and 6 years old, and as parents, how we approach feeding our vegan kids directly impacts their eating habits.

In today’s episode, I am sharing my own eating and meal challenges I experienced with my oldest daughter during her time at a new pre-school. I share how her anxiety around food stemmed from the feeding environment and feeding style she experienced at school, and how that impacted her overall eating.

You’ll walk away with knowing what to do at home to foster healthy eating habits long-term and continue supporting your vegan child’s growth.

Here’s what we cover:

>> A look into the four common parental feeding styles and how that impacts a child’s eating
>> How my oldest daughter’s picky eating significantly changed with a certain feeding style and environment at school
>> My top 4 recommendations to do at home to foster healthy eating habits long-term
>> How a child can regulate their own intake with more autonomy
>> What I did to transform meal time battles into more food acceptance
>> The power of food play to help your vegan child try and accept plant-based foods

Click here to listen to the episode

Links mentioned in the episode

>> Episode 12 - How I do it: Boost vegetable intake with these 5 strategies
>> Vegan Kids Nutrition Blueprint course

Read the transcript

References

1. Arlinghaus, K. R., Vollrath, K., Hernandez, D. C., Momin, S. R., O’Connor, T. M., Power, T. G., & Hughes, S. O. (2018). Authoritative parent feeding style is associated with better child dietary quality at dinner among low-income minority families. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 108(4), 730–736. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqy142

2. Chen, B., Kattelmann, K., Comstock, C., McCormack, L., Wey, H., & Meendering, J. (2021). Parenting styles, food parenting practices and dietary intakes of preschoolers. Nutrients, 13(10), 3630. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13103630

3. Ningning, W., & Wenguang, C. (2023). Influence of family parenting style on the formation of eating behaviors and habits in preschool children: The mediating role of quality of life and nutritional knowledge. PloS One, 18(7), e0288878. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288878