How can I prevent my baby from being a picky eater?

I think eating habits develop in a child from the day you start feeding your child anything other than milk. And child picks up the eating choices from the person who is feeding the child. I will give you a live example, I am a mother, and I like to take more salt in my food, so whenever I prepare food for my daughter I put more salt, so she has developed the habit of taking more salt. I never liked sweet lassi, so always have fed salt lassi to my girl, so what has happened is, she has no taste for sweet lassi. On the other hand, there are times when her father feeds her, so she has developed the tastes for the things he likes (which I really don't). All I am trying to say is, WE as mothers, fathers, grandparents etc; make the kids picky eater. Well! No matter how insane that reads, but I think that holds some weight. I deciphered this theory from my personal experience, may not hold true for you, and in that case, I think, one should make the child try everything. Do not think that yellow dal is not good to look at even to your own eyes, so how can your child like that. Feed your child all eatables that are healthy.

Ah, picky eaters and mommies have a long history :) Although I haven't yet perfected the art of dealing with a picky eater, here's a thing or two I have learned along the way : 1) Show equal enthusiasm for foods that YOU like and those that you hate. Kids do tend to pick on parents' enthusiasm. If you say ice cream with unforeseen zeal and ugh karela, don't be surprised if your little one picks ice cream. 2) If she's already uninterested in certain foods, try to present interesting and attractive recipes. For example, my daughter stopped eating spinach at one point but she loves spinach maggi which is simply a single spinach leaf rolled and presented in a noodle format. 3) Never force them to eat something they don't want to. It will only make them more resitant to the food. 4) Let kids have a few options -- e.g., paneer, broccoli, carrots -- all in the same plate. Any one thing she picks is a win-win situation for you! There's definitely more but for starters, these should suffice :)