Are you dealing with a picky eater??
By: Sarah Remmer, RD, CDE
If you have a picky eater in your household, you are not alone! Almost every child is a picky eater to a certain degree. Your child may eat a lot one day, and hardly anything the next. Or they may love one food one day and then refuse it the next day. This is all normal and nothing to panic about. When it comes to appetite and hunger, toddlers and young children are very in tune with there natural hunger and satiety cues—for the most part, they’ll eat when they’re hungry and stop when they’re full. You can trust, for the most part, that your children will eat enough for proper growth. The challenging part, as a parent, is introducing new and different foods to help them achieve a healthy balanced diet—and to have your children like them! Your children may warm up to unfamiliar foods slowly and may have to see, watch you eat, touch or taste a food many times before learning to like or accept it. This may take a little bit of patience on your end as a parent. Some children require exposure to new foods over 20 times before they warm up to it. Keep trying! Some children are especially cautious with new foods. Some kids will only ever eat their favourite foods, get upset at the sight of unfamiliar foods and cry or complain at meal and snack times.
Your cautious child can learn to like new food, but it is extremely important that you as a parent do a good job at feeding your child properly and being patient. According to Ellyn Satter, RD, an internationally recognized authority on eating and feeding and author of the Division of Responsibility in Feeding, it is extremely important that you as a parent maintain the division of responsibility. This means you do the what, where and when of feeding and your child does the how much and whether of eating. It is important to provide regular, repeated, and unpressured opportunities to learn about food, meaning that different foods randomly appear again and again on your family table and you eat and enjoy it—even if your child doesn’t. Teach your child to eat politely at the table and behave nicely saying "no thank you" rather than "yuk". As hard and frustrating as it may be, try to accept "no thank you" for an answer. Don’t pressure your child, in any way, to eat and don’t let other adults pressure them either. Try not to remind, badger, reward, applaud, or withhold dessert until your child eats all of their vegetables—or anything else. Don’t trick your child into eating either. That will likely make your child pickier. Instead, Ellyn Satter offers a few tips to keep your children from being picky eaters—or to address pickiness once it starts:
Get started with family meals.
If family meals aren’t a part of your routine, now’s the time to start. Be family—friendly with feeding. Do not short-order cook or limit your menu to foods that your child already happily accepts. We all know that family meals are important, and research definitely back this up. Adults, who have regular family meals eat healthier, and maintain a healthier weight. Children and adolescents who have regular family meals do better nutritionally, socially, emotionally, and academically. They are also less likely to gain excess weight, abuse drugs and engage in early sexual behaviours. In fact, regular family meals have a more positive impact on children than family income, regardless of whether the child has one or two parents living in the home, after-school activities, tutors, or church. But unfortunately, North American families often eat on the run, picking up fast food, or skipping meals all together. Family meals support both adults’ and children’s ability to learn to enjoy a variety of food. What’s more is that family meals give a great opportunity do to check in, giving emotional support and keep up with what’s going on with family members.
Include your child in meal planning and preparation
Children like to feel as though they have some control over what they are eating. Include your kids in planning meals and have them offer some suggestions about what kind of vegetable, grain or starch and protein choice you will have in your meal. Give them 2-3 choices of veggies and have them choose—you choose the other two components (starch and protein) in the meal, or vice versa. Have them help with one component of supper such as tossing the salad, mixing the rice, buttering buns, or putting raw veggies out before dinner. This will make them feel as though they are part of the process of preparing their meal and that they had some control over it.
Provide your child with sit-down snacks
Providing snacks in between meals will help to prevent your children from feeling famished come meal time. Offer your child 2-3 options for a snack instead of just one. For example; offer popcorn and milk, a homemade banana muffin and sliced cheese, or yogurt and fruit. Have your child choose their favourite choice. Your child will feel more in control of what she or he is eating, but also set boundaries. Encourage your children to sit at the table when they eat there snack. This gives a nice opportunity to catch up after the school day.
Pair unfamiliar foods with familiar ones or foods that your child doesn’t like with foods they do like then let them pick and choose from what you provide on the table. It may seem easier to offer foods that you know your child will accept and like rather than experimenting with new foods that they may turn her nose up at. However, if your child is never exposed to new foods, there won’t be many opportunities to develop a taste for them. Even though it may seem wasteful and frustrating, keep offering new foods. New foods will seem safer to your child when they are paired with familiar foods. For example, instead of putting peanut butter and jam on toast, try putting peanut butter and sliced banana on toast. If your child has never tried cottage cheese before, mix it with yogurt and put some fruit inside. If you would like your child to try hummus (chick pea dip), have raw veggies and pita with 1 or 2 familiar dips as well as hummus so that she can try it.
Encourage your child to use her napkin to get food out of her mouth if she doesn’t like it and doesn’t want to swallow it. Give her permission to do this—this will make her feel that trying new foods is safe—she can test the waters and then get out if she wants to.
Sarah helped me get a better understanding of my body and what changes I needed in my eating habits. With her help and ideas I feel more energetic and have gotten rid of the cravings and overeating I have always had. She is personal and passionate and I would recommend her to anyone that is looking to understand their nutrition more.
Chris G.
age 33
Geologist