Dear Mommies & Daddies,
I know how you feel: I know the frustration, joy, determination and how hard you all try to feed your youngins whole, healthy foods. And don’t give up! Let’s see what we can explore together to help each other. I am happy to say that many filed into the virtual cooking class “Expanding Your Family’s Palate by Placating Picky Eaters,” last week to share tips and tricks.
The class was led by little ole me, and my friends Kimberly Coleman and Kelsey Banfield. The class focused on methods for getting picky eaters out of their food ruts – along with offering up plain old encouragement for worried parents.
Below is a summary of the online discussion with quotes from the participants and co-hosts.
Picky Eating is Normal – Don’t Stress!
“From my experience as a dietitian, if a child is going to become picky, it will probably kick in around age two. Picky eating is normal,” said participant Liz Weiss. “Best to downplay it and keep offering a healthy variety of foods over and over again. Presentation is key. Eye and texture appeal can make a big and positive difference.”
Stacie Billis at One Hungry Mama had an interesting series of points about picky eating:
– There’s an evolutionary explanation for some picky phases. (some phases come at times of increased mobility, when baby might be exploring places without mama or papa immediately nearby to protect them. Pickiness, natural skepticism of new foods, prevented the cave baby from putting just about anything – like a poisonous berry – in baby’s mouth)
– Some kids have limited palates because of the way they are fed for the first few years of life (kids who are raised on bland and overly sweet processed cereals and packaged baby food can’t be expected to suddenly have a taste for fresh broccoli and cauliflower!)
– Sometimes it’s a developmentally appropriate power struggle (food is one of the few things over which baby can exert control and it’s important that they experiment with this)
“These are not things that can be turned around quickly,” she said. “Rather, it’s a slow process with the goal of helping kids develop healthy eating habits that will sustain them a lifetime.”
Just Try It
Many participants use the “one-bite rule” to get their kids to try a food before simply refusing it.
“Our rule is you just need to take a full size bite, chew, swallow and then say, ‘Yes, please’ or ‘No, thank you,’” said host Jennifer Leal, Savor the Thyme.
Co-host Dara Michalski, Cookin’ Canuck, agreed, but said, “We actually have the 3-bite rule. I think kids are likely to refuse the food on the first bite if it’s something new. If they take a few extra bites, they often end up liking it.”
And Keep Trying It
“Always introduce food several times in several forms,” said host Kelsey Banfield, The Naptime Chef. “Kids will pick up on it eventually.”
“It can take upwards of 6-10 tries for a child to accept a new food – so it’s super important to the course by repeatedly serving healthy foods (openly!) and modeling eating them, too,” added Stacie Billis. “Even when they say they don’t like them!”
Liz Weiss added, “And sometimes it’s the texture that makes all the difference. As tastebuds change and mature, so may tolerance to certain textures.”
and finally: As co-host Brooke put it, “When all is said and done, the fact of the matter is some kids just need time … A combination of clever ideas, never giving up, and lots of patience always tends to win out in my book. Good luck!”
What are some of your successful tactics for getting your picky ones to eat what you serve?
robin says
I’ve also read that kids do better with raw veggies when young because their sense of smell is much more sensitive (and can trigger an actual gag reflex when they put the, say, boiled broccoli in their mouths). Mine were never terribly picky, but they did become more adventurous after we started growing our own, buying from farmer’s markets, & they began to help prepare meals. I think they’re just more aware of how much WORK goes into what is on their plate.
Amy B. says
My son’s picky eating issues stem from SPD. His food issues were one of the first signs. I encourage anyone who thinks their child’s picky eating issues are way beyond the norm to ask a doctor about it.
Teresa says
The rule for my house is you have to have at least one bite. If you don’t like it, fine, but you have to try it to find out if you like it.
Andrea (Lil-Kid-Things) says
This is really interesting. My son just turned 2 and is really starting to be picky. He never has been before and would eat just about anything! For us, I definitely think it’s a control phase. I mean the child refuses pizza and mac n cheese. I just keep saying it’s only a phase…
Jennifer says
Thanks for sharing and visiting Jennifer
Jennifer Bullock says
We ask Miss A to at least try one bite of everything on her plate, we don’t force her to eat or to sit there until it’s all done, we don’t have dessert every night, but we do tell her that it’s good for her body and that she can’t say she likes something unless she tries it, luckily she goes along with it for our sake!!
Maryea {Happy Healthy Mama} says
I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough to enforce the one bite rule. There are so many foods that I know she’d like if she’d just try it. She’s almost there!
Shaina says
Great class, Jen!
Maria says
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
Jeanette says
I’ve found that each kid is so different. Different cooking methods can help as well as trying different vegetables within the same grouping. For example, one of my sons will eat roasted cauliflower but not broccoli, but since both are cruciferous vegetables, I feel like he’s getting something healthy either way. Another example is spinach, some like it cooked, others like it raw in a salad.
diabeticFoodie says
Once we wanted to get my nephews to try grilled tuna. We asked them to help us figure out what sauce would work best with it. They liked the challenge and were forced to take many bites of the tuna while trying to determine the best sauce. We discovered that Nephew #1 has quite the palate!
(Mostly) Healthy Mom says
Thanks for the post. I struggle with trying to give my 19 month old a balanced day of eating every day. I’ve come to term with the fact that some days he eats more than others, and I look at his intake per week and not per day. My latest struggle is that he tends to avoid veggies all of a sudden, and he’s still too young for the “one-bite rule”. I keep canned corn on hand (its the one veggie he’ll eat on its own), and then try to include veggies in stews (I don’t like to hide veggies, and in stews he can see them, but tends to eat them). I also try to throw veggies in omelets and frittatas…only danger there is that sometimes he’ll refuse the whole thing if the veggie offends him. Hoping he’ll outgrow this veggie refusal phase soon – we love veggies in our house!