Pedemy · For parents
Picky eating — notes
Note the pattern below and bring your questions and current medicines to the visit. This record does not diagnose or choose treatment.
Use these notes with your child’s clinician. This tool does not diagnose illness, prescribe treatment or confirm that home care is safe.
Emergency help now
Call local emergency services for severe breathing difficulty, blue/gray lips, collapse, a seizure with failure to recover, or a child who is very difficult to wake. Do not delay to complete this tool.
Contact a healthcare professional
Arrange assessment for weight loss, falling growth, a shrinking food range, nutritional concerns or distress at meals. Coughing/choking with meals, pain on swallowing or recurrent vomiting also need assessment; breathing difficulty during choking is an emergency. A baby younger than 3 months with a temperature of 38°C (100.4°F) or higher needs urgent medical assessment, even if they look well. Do not delay assessment to try medicine or complete a diary.
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Care reminders
- Toddler appetite varies with growth and activity. Look at eating patterns and growth over time rather than one unfinished meal. Persistent restriction with poor growth, pain or swallowing difficulty is more than ordinary picky eating.
- Offer regular meals and snacks with one familiar food alongside family foods. Let the child decide how much to eat; avoid force, bribes and grazing all day. Reoffer small amounts without pressure. Prepare foods safely for age and supervise eating.
- Arrange assessment for weight loss, falling growth, a shrinking food range, nutritional concerns or distress at meals. Coughing/choking with meals, pain on swallowing or recurrent vomiting also need assessment; breathing difficulty during choking is an emergency.