Picky eating can be a major obstacle for a parent, especially when it comes to getting your child to eat healthy.
However, childhood is when lifelong patterns are formed, so it is crucial to help your child develop healthy habits. No single trick will solve picky eating for every child, but the following tips may put you on the right track:
Start early: Flavor preferences are established early in life. There is even evidence that a child is influenced by the flavors that their mother eats while pregnant or breastfeeding. As you introduce your child to solid foods, also offer foods with various flavors. During this stage it is important, however, to introduce only one new food at a time so food allergies can be readily detected. Some picky eating may be normal. During the preschool years, it is normal for a child to have resistance to eating new foods. Some suggest this is a behavior adaptation that serves to keep your child from eating dangerous-nonfood items. However, picky eating may be a bigger concern if they reject familiar, previously accepted foods.Try, try again. It can take up to five to 10 exposures before a child develops a taste for a food. Keep exposing them to the foods, trying different methods of preparation, such as roasting, pan searing or steaming. There are many ways to introduce your child to foods such as gardening, reading stories or cooking together. Get creative. Something as simple as cutting food into bite-size pieces or fun shapes can help make it acceptable to your child. Offering dips and condiments can be another great option. However, it is important to read labels before buying a product, as many sauces and dips are high in sodium, sugar or fat. Another tried-and-true trick is to add veggies into favorite foods, such as shredding veggies into taco meat or blending them into pasta sauces or soups. Don’t become a short order cook. When it comes to mealtime, it is your responsibility to decide what, when and where to eat. This will save you time and money on wasted food. However, your child has the right to decide if they will eat a food and how much they want to eat. Food should not feel like a reward or a punishment. Furthermore, you don’t want to teach your child to ignore their natural signals of hunger in fullness. Either scenario can lead to lifelong struggles with food. Instead, make mealtime a positive experience and avoid turning the dinner table into a battleground. If you want to encourage your child to taste a food put a positive spin on it, with statements like “this food tastes good, you might like it.”
Lead by example. A child models what they see in the home. Food is no exception. Teach your child to eat healthy and try new foods by embracing it yourself. Make a game of trying new foods together. Use menu planning and meal preparation as opportunities to show them how to make healthy choices. Avoid using “yuck” to describe food and demonstrate how to politely pass on food instead. Remember your child is an individual. It is OK for them to say no and to have their own food preferences, as long as they are eating a varied and balanced diet. Likewise, these tips cannot be uniformly applied to every child. Exercise your best judgment to know when to encourage tasting and when to be flexible. No one knows your child better than you, so develop the techniques that work best for you and your family.
Katie Maloney is a graduate of Colorado State University with a master’s in nutrition. She is interning at the CSU Extension Service office in Durango to be a registered dietitian.
