Encourage your child to play with their food – the food on their plate doesn’t have to go in their mouth. It’s a win even if they accept it being on the plate. Touching or sniffing the food is even better and it’s a step closer to eating it. Try activities at other times of the day that involve food with no pressure to eat it e.g. finger painting (or even not touching it but using a paint brush or sponge) with yoghurt, cream, chocolate spread etc.
Involve children in meal prep – it can be surprising sometimes what children will eat when they’ve made it themselves. My son usually only eats plain pizza but he once eate it with ham and coloured peppers on it, simply because he made it himself at school.
Separate foods – try a divided dinner plate that has sections for different foods e.g. this one. You can put your child’s favourite food in the main section and put a new food to try in a small section.
Introduce one new food at a time – choose something similar to an accepted food. If your child can help with deciding the new food, then it is great to involve them. Routinely introduce the same food at every dinner time. Don’t make a fuss about it, accept that you may need to put it in the bin most days and try to view it as a win if your child even accepts it on the plate. Eventually, your child may try it and routinely using the same food makes it more likely they will accept it.
Start very small – the new food on the plate could be 1 pea or a tiny piece of cheese – it is more likely that your child will touch, smell or lick it if it is small in comparison to the rest of the meal.
Be patient – it can take a long time for a new food to get accepted.
Use meal rotation if possible – if your child has a few meals they like, try to keep rotating them and mixing up the order rather than having the same dinner multiple days in a row. This will help to keep your child used to eating different things.
Accept variability – my son will go through periods of time where he has a relatively varied diet e.g. sausages, chicken nuggets, French toast, pizza, plain meatballs and spaghetti, cereal, toast etc and then suddenly he will he only eat chicken nuggets and nothing else for a month or so. He will then suddenly stop eating chicken nuggets and go back onto meatballs and pizza! It could be related to what else is going on his life at school etc and I’ve learned not to get too stressed about it. His eating goes up and down in waves; bad periods always pass.
Think outside the box - try having an adventurous friend round for tea. Sometimes a child can be encouraged to try a new food that a good friend is eating. Sometimes paying for school dinners at least once a week can also be a good idea as children can be more inclined to try food at school than at home. My son has tried new foods when he thinks we don't want him to have it e.g. when his Dad has said "you can't have that, they're my special daddy snacks" and he's taken a nut and tried it thinking he is being cheeky.
Consider texture, taste and colour – will your child be more likely to eat a piece of apple without the skin, baked, grated? Do they prefer crunchy, chewy, soft etc? And what about taste – sweet, salty, sour? What colours will they be most likely to accept? Pick foods to try that they are most likely to like.
Don’t pressure your child to sit at the table - If you are working on picky eating then work on that first and once they are eating more, then you can try to work on sitting together. If you are already working on something else major in your child's life e.g. a new bedtime routine, then don't try to introduce a new food at the same time - it can be too much. One change at a time is usually best for them and you!
Eating out can be stressful for the child and the family. Consider feeding your picky eater before you go and taking your own snacks if you want to go to a restaurant where there is nothing for your picky eater. Accept that you might have to eat at e.g. McDonalds if you want to all have a meal out together and see the positives in being out together rather than where you are eating.
Timing is everything - my son eate his first piece of apple in the bath – his happy place – he was relaxed and I sat there chatting to him whilst I was eating an apple. I casually offered him a piece of my apple and he took it. He started by seeing if it would sink or float in the bath. Then he licked it and then he pouched it in his mouth for a minute. Eventually, he took it out and started nibbling it but didn’t like the skin so I ran downstairs and peeled it. It took about 15 minutes for him to nibble away at the piece of apple but he eate it with no pressure and afterwards he said “wow that was healthy” and looked so proud of himself (he has been learning about healthy foods at school).
I know it’s hard but keep at it, celebrate the small wins and let me know how you get on.
Hanna |