Any pediatrician will tell you that picky eating is a normal phase in your child's emotional and behavioral development. Parents should expect this period to begin when their child is somewhere between 2 and 4 years old. Furthermore, the reasons behind this sometimes abrupt change in eating habits are numerous, but the most obvious ones are:

· A toddler's appetite depends on how much nutritional resources he/she needs for growing in that specific period of time.

· Testing how the world works and especially the cause-effect relationship may lead to your child challenging everything he/she is told to do, including eating.

· Sometimes toddlers like routine better than new experiences or new foods, for that matter.

Studies show that children's aversion with trying new foods is mostly inherited. Thus, 78 percent of the fussy eating cases are genetic and the rest of 22 percent is environmentally determined. With this in mind, parents should be more patient and more understanding with their child's eating whims, although it might seem that the child is trying to undermine their authority. Also, it is very important not to get anxious or worried if your child eats nothing but biscuits and apples all day while exhibiting an amazing energy surge. The good news is that this picky eating phase will soon pass; meanwhile you can adopt a different culinary perspective to delivering foods rich in nutrients and to making them more appealing to your little one. Here are a few tips that are sure to make the eating experience a lot more enjoyable for the whole family:

· For the toddler that will refuse eating any fruit start with home-made fresh juice and if that does not work you can always add coconut or chocolate sprinkles to a fruit salad to make it more desirable.

· If your child avoids eating vegetables, either raw or cooked, there is nothing left to do but disguise the vegetables so well that he/she cannot actually tell the difference. Texture and taste is very important so that pureeing the vegetables might work better than if you hide them under a blanket of pizza sauce.

· For the toddler hooked on fast-food, you can address this rather serious addiction problem with home-made food that resembles the commercial alternative but that actually tastes better. By doing this you can also control the vitamin and mineral intake closely.

· When your child is obsessing over macaroni and cheese, eating it for 2 weeks straight, the time has come to diversify in a sneaky, yet ingenious way. You can start off by adding a few other ingredients to the dish and with repetitive exposure chances are that your child will eventually find another favorite dish.

There are also other methods to help your child get over the fussy eating phase, like serving small portions or adding to the dish something you know they cannot refuse, but the whole process should be approached patiently and without making a big deal out of it.