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Sweet toothed toddlers are not uncommon. Who wouldn’t want to eat sweets? They’re delicious and often times satisfying too. But of course for toddlers who won’t eat anything other than sweets is scary and not to mention a potential health threat.

Peaches isn’t one of the sweet toothed toddlers – Thank Heavens! I didn’t expose her to too much chocolates or candies. I explained to her that too much could give her cough or sore throat or worse both.

Maybe it helped that she had sore throat already and felt how uncomfortable it is that’s why it was easy for me to make her understand what too much sweets can do to her. I also make it a point not to store too much of those sweet treats but save them on special occasions and I make healthy sweets instead.
Examples are patillas de leche and yema (soon I will post the recipe for these two), apples dipped in sugar, sweetened banana, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, Peaches still eats sweet stuff but in moderation and with constant guiding and help from me, she can go without them. I can say that she eats healthy food and I’m happy about it.
So, what do you do to make your toddler eat healthier?

Here are some tips:

1. Keep in mind that you are responsible for whatever food you bring in to your home. You decide which food your family eats. And so you alone could decide how much sweets you want to bring in for them.

2. Explain. Your child is old enough to understand what you’re saying. He or she will probably test you for a thousand times but later on it will surely pay off.

3. Know your child’s eating pattern. It’s “safer” to give your child sweet treats when you know it won’t ruin her appetite for the next meal.

4. Know your child’s eating capacity and limitation. These are kids and total banning of sweets is like asking them not to enjoy childhood anymore so you might just want to limit their sweet intake in a day or week. Involve them with the decision making on when or what time they want to eat their sweet treats and how much they can eat in a day.

This is just a step in making your child eat healthy. I hope next step is making him pick and eat his broccoli.