Do you have a Picky Eater? Raising Adventurous Eaters!

Have you ever thought your child was a picky eater? Almost every parent has struggled through a picky eating phase with their child. A time when your child refuses to eat anything except honey and plain yogurt for a month, only to one day announce, “No more honey and yoggie!” Getting your child to eat new foods should be simple, right?

But for some children, new foods with new textures, smells and tastes can be a bit overwhelming. Keep these tips in mind to help end mealtime battles, create positive relationships with food for the whole family, and support your child in becoming a more adventurous eater.

Many children go through stages of being selective about their food. Between ages one and three, they are curious explorers. They’re expressing their independence about everything, including food.

Children generally grow quickly in their first year, but growth slows down in the toddler years, leading to a need for less food and less interest in eating. Their appetites will fluctuate day to day and sometimes from meal to meal. This time is full of change as children learn new skills like talking and walking. They may often seek sameness as much as possible, like sticking to a small group of food.

When children are hesitant to try new foods, it usually takes time for them to learn to enjoy them. They want to see, touch and think about it several times before even tasting the food.

Some children are extra sensitive to to:

• taste
• smell
• texture

Your child may refuse a food based on a certain color or texture. For example, she could refuse foods that are red or green, contain seeds or are squishy.

Ellen Satter, an internationally recognized pediatric feeding expert and dietitian, guides families through their roles to create healthy eating behaviors. She describes our jobs as parents as being responsible for buying and preparing a variety of foods, offering regular meals and snacks, and making the eating environment as pleasant and calm as possible.

The rest is up to your child. Whether they eat, how much they eat and what they eat is their job. Allowing children of all ages to learn what it feels like to be hungry and then full, along with providing the ability to choose foods one likes and enjoy those foods without extreme restrictions, aids in creating a positive relationship with food. These concepts are even more important to remember during picky eater phases.

Some children are less likely to try new things based on their temperament—their individual way of approaching the world. Try putting new foods next to food that your child already likes. Avoid preparing special meals but do try to include something on the plate that your child likes. Sometimes children need to be offered foods 10 -15 times before they eat it.

Toddlers may often seem picky because they want to feed themselves. Offer safe finger foods or offer your child a spoon to hold while you are feeding him. Sometimes letting your child guide where they want the food on their plate can ease the anxiety of having a new food item placed on it.

As they grow into preschoolers and school-age children, talk to your kids about food and the exciting places food comes from, including local farms. Try recipes from around the world to help open taste buds to the novelty of new foods. Read books about food and watch cooking videos, along with inviting your child into the kitchen to help prepare meals.

These are great ways to get kids to try new foods. Grow your food and involve your child in the garden. Working together in the kitchen and garden can improve children’s motor and math skills as well as increasing knowledge of produce, which can lead to your child trying more fruits and vegetables.

Remember to make food fun, especially when you have a picky eater. Unleash your young artist and use food as a creative art project. You can make fruit and veggie stamps by using apples or potatoes. Make jewelry out of uncooked whole-wheat pasta and dried fruit. Avoid using small food items with young children as they can become a choking hazard. Like adults, children eat with their eyes. Use cookie cutters to making appealing shapes, such as heart-shaped pancakes.

It may sound unusual, but let your children play with their food. Play a color sorting game to help cultivate your child’s acceptance of new textures. Chop brightly colored produce such as green kiwi, red bell pepper and orange cantaloupe into small pieces. Sort foods by color while saying the name of the color aloud. Focus on the game rather than their hesitation of trying a new food item. Again, take care and avoid a choking hazard by not cutting bites too small. When encouraging food play and exploration, it is okay to get messy! Handling, touching and smelling food helps your child get comfortable with the idea of eating it. This experience with food is a healthy developmental part of eating.

Make regularly scheduled meals a family priority and turn down the noise of the day. All children need the reassurance of structured meal and snack times. Toddlers and preschoolers are easily distracted by almost anything, especially screens, including TV and tablets.

School-age children are heavily influenced by their peers and environment and often look to their parents to be good role models. Your attitude about food and eating behaviors affects theirs. As you gather for mealtime, serve children the same foods as the rest of the family, taking into consideration appropriate portion sizes for their ages. Lead the dinner table talk about fun and happy things and give everyone a chance to join in.

Take away the pressure on you and your child since it pulls away from the fun of being an adventurous eater. Give up on having every eater eat every food at every meal. Try not to nag, yell, make deals or force a child to eat. Forcing children to eat teaches them to rely on others to tell them how to eat and what they are feeling rather than allowing them to listen to their internal hunger and satiety cues. Allowing your child to choose what and how much they eat embraces their ability to self-regulate their food intake.

Trusting your child to listen to their body promotes a healthy relationship with food and typically results in children enjoying a wider variety of food. It also can lead to fewer power struggles between parent and child around food. If you become concerned with your child’s eating habits, be sure to talk it over with your child’s health care provider or a dietitian.

Picky or selective eating is generally just a phase, but it is a phase that can seem long and challenging. Try not to look at foods as good or bad. Food is how we nourish ourselves and can be a way to bring people together. As parents, we should remember to eat a range of healthy foods and make sure that our food choices are in line with the foods we want our children to eat and enjoy. Take time to make those heart-shaped whole-wheat pancakes with your children, get messy with apple art, and get dirty in the garden. Let food be a happy, adventurous experience!