7 Tips for Picky Eaters

Access to a variety of healthy foods throughout the day with as little distractions as possible. There is a time and place for the more distracting or convenience foods, but it is rare for children to choose broccoli over pizza or a handful of nuts over a bag of crunchy snacks.

Prepare meals by offering at least one thing you think each child will enjoy and hope for the best. This means there will be days your children will be incredibly disappointed with the choices you have made. As a parent, I don’t get it right each time. I sincerely wish a private chef presented me with all of my wildest dreams at each meal, but I think disappointment and flexibility are feeding and life skills that will come in handy as they move from our homes into the world. Children are unpredictable beings, so we do our best and enjoy the ride! Celebrate the wins and remember there is always tomorrow.

Forget the power struggles. Give children the room to decide if they will eat and how much they will eat. This can empower children to create a healthy relationship and independence with their food. We did our job as a parents, now we can try to give them the space to do their job. It is normal for children’s appetite to fluctuate over time, so try not to invest too much energy on the occasions when they barely touch their plates. With the separation of our responsibilities, our children have the space to explore their hunger cues, learn how to eat appropriate portions to fuel their body and cultivate the language to articulate when they are full and when they are hungry. In most cases, children are incredibly capable of knowing how much to eat to fuel their bodies when given a range of great choices.

One way to start to increase variety in a child’s routine, is to start by offering foods they will eat in a range of preparations (ex. if they like raw carrots, try steamed carrots, roasted carrots, carrot puree soup). Once they find more flexibility in how they are willing to eat foods they already enjoy, you can expand from there.

Research confirms that it can take kids 10-20 experiences before they will enjoy and accept a new food. It is normal for children to be cautious around novel foods and flavors. The food experiences we are cultivating for our children in utero and beyond are developing their taste buds. From an early age, try to offer a range of foods and flavor profiles and introduce your children to the foods your family enjoys. Repetitive exposure of new foods will help your children flex their muscles at being willing to experience a larger range of foods.

When possible, avoid the easy out. Our family does not create a second meal on the days we have gotten it all wrong with the kids. If there is always another option around the corner, it will be hard to convince them otherwise. Again, see my earlier comments about learning to live with disappointment and flexibility! On these occasions, I sometimes offer a healthy alternative when my children leave the dinner table and are still expressing their hunger. For us this might include a handful of nuts, olives, banana with almond butter, applesauce, or carrots.

Stop searching for your children’s favorite foods, as what we feed children influences what they like. Their food preferences will prevail over time as we expand their horizons. If children are given the same foods over and over again, this can lead to a small list of foods they are willing to eat.

Feeding kids is easy…said no parent ever! As a mom and student, I know feeding our kids is challenging and requires a significant investment of our time and resources. Parenting has a steep learning curve and shifting your child’s relationship with food will not happen over night. Please know all parents are making compromises.

Thanks Ashley for sharing your brilliant ideas. Find more on her site Vibrantly Healthy Kids.

Comments

Hello, Liz,

I read your blog, but haven’t commented before. I am a pediatric nutritionist. This philosophy is Ellyn Satter’s. More information is here: ellynsatterinstitute.org

Thank you!

These are some of the best tips I read! I don’t have kids but I hope it’ll help some mothers out there who are struggling with this! 🙂 ❤️

Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com

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