This Is Often The Impetus For Less Nutritious Food Habits, Says A Parenting Expert

"A lot of tastes are formed in childhood," parenting expert Emily Oster, Ph.D., shares on the mindbodygreen podcast. Meaning, kids don't just wake up one day and crave the less nutritious foods we typically associate with the kids' menu (mac and cheese, nuggets, what have you); with the right resources, some parents actually have the ability to shape their children's food preferences by exposing them to nutritious players early on.  

The appetite slump is just how it sounds: "At some point early on in toddlerhood, like around 2 or 3 [years old], kids get less hungry," Oster says. "They're not eating quite as much as they did before, and sometimes they'll get a little bit pickier." 

It may seem like the child is never hungry—for parents, this is understandably a jarring scenario. That's why many parents typically turn to those "easier" flavors—the mac and cheese, the nuggets—to get their kids to just eat something. It's a common response, but "That can exacerbate the pickiness aspects because kids learn very fast," says Oster.

According to Oster, parents should refrain from offering the defaults, if possible: "That sort of eliminates the opportunity to try [different] foods," she says. This window of time is precious—not only do kids learn very quickly, but they also tend to hold on to those eating habits later in life. It can be unsettling when your kid doesn't eat as much as they had before, but just know that the appetite slump is a very real, research-backed phenomenon during toddlerhood, and they should eventually return to baseline.