A paediatric dietician has warned parents to avoid one mistake that can make their children’s fussy eating worse.

Lucy Upton, who regularly shares recipes and health tips with parents, has taken to TikTok to deliver her insights on dealing with fussy children at mealtimes. In a recent video, she highlighted the phrases parents should avoid when trying to get their kids to eat: ‘one more bite’ or ‘just try it for mummy’.

She urged parents: “One: ultimately it is pressure to eat and children tend to respond the opposite way when we over encourage or pressurise them to eat even in a positive way so back off. You will often find when you stop adding layers of expectational pressure children eat better.

“Two: you are telling your child to ignore their internal feelings of hunger and fullness. In reality, we want children to listen to their bodies whether they’ve had one bite or a whole plateful.

“Ultimately, they should be listening to their own appetite, we want them to keep doing that and three tends to be that children who feel pressured around meal times or over encourage tend not to enjoy meal times that much and if we’re all honest as parents, including me, we want our kids to come to the table and enjoy meal times and enjoy their food.”

Lucy’s TikTok video has so far amassed 122,900 views, along with 1,308 likes and a flood of comments. In her post, Lucy confessed she understands why parents urge their little ones to eat: the “temptation to encourage your children to eat at meal times” comes naturally, feeling that making sure the kids are “well-fed with full tummies feels like parental instinct.”

She pointed out that it’s all too easy for mums and dads to fall into the “fall into the trap of over encouraging with lots of phrases like ‘just take one bite’, ‘three more bites and we’re done’ etc.” Lucy stressed that words like these can “are perceived as pressure by our kids and we may be asking them to do something they quite simply don’t want to do or feel like doing.”

She added: “Pressure around food and meal times is also shown repeatedly both in the literature and across the 15 years of practice I’ve seen to actually increase reluctance to eat foods at mealtimes and also reduce mealtime enjoyment for children. So if you have a picky or selective eater, if you do just one thing this week I’d encourage you to stop any over encouragement, lower expectations and focus on positive ways to create calm connection at meal times without talking about the food!”

She noted that for kids with additional mental or developmental issues, “specific or tailored advice is encouraged – as each child’s needs are different.” Lucy’s video resonated with TikTok viewers, sparking a dialogue around the topic.

One user confessed: “As a 34 year old, I feel so guilty about leaving food on my plate cos I was always made to finish my meal even if not hungry. Now I struggle with my weight and overeating.”

Curiosity led another viewer to ask: “What’s specifically wrong with the ‘one more bite’ please?” To which Lucy responded: “I guess the question is to think about who should decide how much a child eats? Most would agree the child, as you wouldn’t expect to be told how much you had to eat.”

One parent shared their dilemma online, saying: “So should I just ignore mealtimes and give her food when she asks? At mealtimes she has a few bites and then runs off, then asks for food 30 minutes later.”

In response to this, Lucy offered some advice: “So I wouldn’t ignore mealtimes as such, I would have clear routine of meal and snack times (avoiding grazing as a general rule) and make sure there’s 1-2 accepted foods (she normally eats) at mealtimes.”

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