Healthy food for picky eaters

It’s normal for toddlers to be picky eaters – that is, to not like the taste, shape, color or texture of particular foods. But they’ll probably be less picky as they get older. It’s also normal for children to like something one day but dislike it the next, to refuse new foods, and to eat more or less from day to day. The good news is that children are likely to get less fussy as they get older. One day your child will probably eat and enjoy a whole range of different foods.

This all happens because fussy eating is part of children’s development. It’s a way of exploring their environment and asserting their independence. And it’s also because children’s appetites go up and down depending on how much they’re growing and how active they are. After the rapid growth of infancy, when babies usually triple in weight, a toddler’s growth rate and appetite tends to slow down.

Toddlers also are beginning to develop food preferences, a fickle process. A toddler’s favorite food one day may hit the floor the next, or a snubbed food might suddenly become the one he or she can’t get enough of. For weeks, they may eat 1 or 2 preferred foods and nothing else.

Try not to get frustrated by this typical toddler behavior. Just make healthy food choices available and know that, with time, your child’s appetite and eating behaviors will level out. In the meantime, here are some tips that can help you get through the picky eater stage.

1. Offer picky eaters a few healthy options and let them choose what to eat. Offer a variety of healthy foods, especially vegetables and fruits, and include higher protein foods like meat and deboned fish at least 2 times per week. Help your child explore new flavors and textures in food. Try adding different herbs and spices to simple meals to make them tastier. To minimize waste, offer new foods in small amounts and wait at least a week or two before reintroducing the same food.
2. Offer a variety of nutritious foods from the five food groups at each family meal. Go for variety yourself – show your child that you’re willing to try new foods and that you enjoy them too. Healthy family food and an eating environment that encourages a positive attitude to healthy food make a great start for your child.
3. Family style. Share a meal together as a family as often as you can. This means no media distractions like TV or cell phones at mealtime. Use this time to model healthy eating. Serve one meal for the whole family and resist the urge to make another meal if your child refuses what you’ve served. This only encourages picky eating. Try to include at least one food your child likes with each meal and continue to provide a balanced meal, whether she eats it or not.
4. Making mealtimes pleasant. If your toddler refuses a meal, avoid fussing over it. It’s good for children to learn to listen to their bodies and use hunger as a guide. If they ate a big breakfast or lunch, for example, they may not be interested in eating much the rest of the day. It’s a parent’s responsibility to provide food, and the child’s decision to eat it. Pressuring kids to eat, or punishing them if they don’t, can make them actively dislike foods they may otherwise like.
5. Break from bribes. Tempting as it may be, try not to bribe your children with treats for eating other foods. This can make the “prize” food even more exciting, and the food you want them to try an unpleasant chore. It also can lead to nightly battles at the dinner table.
6. Try, try again. Just because a child refuses a food once, don’t give up. Keep offering new foods and those your child didn’t like before. It can take as many as 10 or more times tasting a food before a toddler’s taste buds accept it. Scheduled meals and limiting snacks can help ensure your child is hungry when a new food is introduced.
7. Pleasant, low-stress and regular mealtimes can help with fussy eating. Your child’s willingness to try food will depend partly on the eating environment. Pleasant, low-stress mealtimes can help.
8. Making healthy foods fun. Toddlers are especially open to trying foods arranged in eye-catching, creative ways. Make foods look irresistible by arranging them in fun, colorful shapes kids can recognize. Kids this age also tend to enjoy any food involving a dip. Finger foods are also usually a hit with toddlers. Cut solid foods into bite size pieces they can easily eat themselves, making sure the pieces are small enough to avoid the risk of choking. Turning food into something ‘precious’ can also make healthy eating fun.
9. Involve kids in meal planning. Put your toddler’s growing interest in exercising control to good use. Let you child pick which fruit and vegetable to make for dinner or during visits to the grocery store or farmer’s market. Read kid-friendly cookbooks together and let your child pick out new recipes to try.
10. Tiny chefs. Some cooking tasks are perfect for toddlers with lots of supervision: sifting, stirring, counting ingredients, picking fresh herbs from a garden or windowsill, and “painting” on cooking oil with a pastry brush, to name a few.
11. Crossing bridges. Once a food is accepted, use what nutritionists call “food bridges” to introduce others with similar color, flavor and texture to help expand variety in what your child will eat. If your child likes pumpkin pie, for example, try mashed sweet potatoes and then mashed carrots.
12. A fine pair. Try serving unfamiliar foods, or flavors young children tend to dislike at first (sour and bitter), with familiar foods toddlers naturally prefer (sweet and salty). Pairing broccoli (bitter) with grated cheese (salty), for example, is a great combination for toddler taste buds.

Picky eating key facts

These facts can help you understand why children sometimes fuss about their food:

• It’s normal for children to be picky eaters
• Children’s appetites are affected by their growth cycles. Even babies have changing appetites. At 1 to 6 years, it’s common for children to be really hungry one day and picky the next.
• Children have different taste preferences from grown-ups.
• Life is too exciting for children sometimes, and they’re too busy exploring the world around them to spend time eating.
• Children learn by testing the boundaries of acceptable behavior. They can be very strong willed when it comes to making decisions about food (to eat or not to eat, and what to eat). It’s all part of their social, intellectual and emotional development.
• If your child is healthy and has enough energy to play, learn and explore, she’s probably eating enough. But if your child eats only a very small range of foods or won’t eat entire food groups for a long time, see your doctor or a dietitian.

Tips for handling fussy eaters

Here are some tips handling fussy eaters:

• Make mealtimes happy, regular and social occasions. Try not to worry about spilled drinks or food on the floor.
• Start small. For example, start by asking your child to lick a piece of food, and work up to trying a mouthful. And praise your child for these small attempts.
• Never force your child to try a food. He’ll have lots of other opportunities to try new foods.
• If your child is fussing about food, ignore it as much as you can. Giving fussy eating lots of attention can sometimes encourage children to keep behaving this way.
• Make healthy foods fun – for example, cut sandwiches into interesting shapes, or let your child help prepare a salad or whisk eggs for an omelette.
• Turn the TV off so your family members can talk to each other instead.
• Set a time limit of about 20 minutes for meals. Anything that goes on too long isn’t fun. If your child hasn’t eaten the food in this time, take it away and don’t offer your child more food until the next planned meal or snack time.

Sometimes toddlers are too distracted to sit at the family table for a meal. If this sounds like your child, try having quiet time before meals so she can calm down before eating. Even the ritual of hand-washing can help.

Giving picky eaters independence with food

It can be a good idea to support your child’s need for independence when it comes to food. You provide healthy food options for your child. But let your child decide how much he’ll eat.

You could also try letting your child make choices within a range of healthy foods. Just limit the options to 2-3 things, so your child doesn’t get too confused or overwhelmed to eat. For example, instead of asking your child to pick what she wants from the fridge, you could ask, ‘Would you like grapes or carrot sticks?’

Another top tip is getting your child involved in preparing family meals. For example, your child could help out with:

• picking a recipe
• getting food out of the fridge
• washing fruit and vegetables
• tossing a salad
• planting and picking herbs at home.

He’ll feel proud of helping and be more likely to eat something he has helped to make.

Sometimes your child will refuse food just because it gets an interesting reaction from you! If children refuse to eat a food, it doesn’t necessarily mean they dislike it – after all, they might not have even tasted it yet. They might just be putting on a show of independence to see what you’ll do. Try to stay calm when this happens.

Introducing new foods to picky eaters

If you have a picky eater who doesn’t like trying new food, here are some tips that might help:

• Keep offering new foods at different times. Your child will probably try them and eventually like them – but she might have to see a food on the plate 10-15 times before she even tries a taste.
• Put a small amount of new food on the plate with familiar food your child already likes – for example, a piece of broccoli alongside some mashed potato. Encourage your child to touch, smell or lick the new food.
• Make food attractive. Offer your child a variety of different colors, shapes and sizes and let your child choose what he eats from the plate.
• Serve your child the same meal the family is eating but in a portion size your child will eat. If your child doesn’t eat it, say something like, ‘Try it, it’s yummy’. If she still doesn’t want it, calmly say, ‘OK, we’ll try it another time when you’re hungry’.
• Offer different foods from each of the five healthy food groups. For example, if your child doesn’t like cheese, he might enjoy yogurt instead.
• Try not to let your child fill up on drinks or ‘sometimes’ foods before introducing new foods. She’s more likely to try food if she’s hungry and doesn’t have the option of something else to eat.
• When possible, look for opportunities for your child to share meals and snacks with other children – he might be more willing to try a food if other children are tucking in.

Punishments and bribes for picky eaters

Punishing your child for refusing to try new foods can turn new foods into a negative thing. If your child refuses to eat it, calmly take it away and offer it to her again another time.

It’s tempting to offer your child food treats just so he eats something – for example, ‘If you have a carrot, you can have some chocolate’. But this can make your child more interested in treats than healthy food. It also sends the message that eating healthy food is a chore.