Picky-eating behaviors are common in children. Here, we’ll learn exactly how to prevent picky eating. Many children go through a picky eating phase around their 2nd year of life. This phase is not expected to last, especially if we use the correct approaches to address it. Before I begin, I would like to recommend that all parents raising children read a book to promote healthy relationships with food. It is:
How does Picky Eating Come About?
When babies are born, they have minimal taste buds compared to ours. As a baby continues to grow and develop, they are also developing their taste buds. Some notable changes to the taste buds happen around the age of 2. That is usually when parents begin to notice changes to their child’s dietary habits.
Other things that are happening around the age of 2 that may also contribute to the picky eating phase. At that age, your child is developing their autonomy and in conjunction with being more active and being more able to express their opinions, you will have picky eating behaviors. They’re able to say “No!” and remove themselves from the situation by walking or running away. This can be frustrating for many parents, especially first-time parents. Some parents panic and inadvertently do things to extend how long this behavior usually lasts.
Before you continue reading, if your child has a medical diagnosis that is contributing to picky eating behaviors, this article may not be entirely helpful and seeking appropriate therapies with your pediatrician’s permission may be the best course of action.
What Parents Should NOT do with Picky Eaters
The primary role of a parent is to be a provider and the feeder. Since birth, you have been responsible for providing food, shelter, and hygiene to a small human who is not yet able to provide those for themselves. To suddenly not be able to provide food to your child is a very stressful situation. It is especially stressful when the food is available and being refused, because you have lost control of the situation. But, that is actually okay.
Picky eating will happen. It is a normal part of being a growing human. What you do after you notice these behaviors is what will make the difference between a temporary phase or an increasingly tense, and dysfunctional family dynamic.
1. Do not force your child to eat. If you force them to eat in the moment, it is a very upsetting experience for them. They may become traumatized around eating and continue to demonstrate picky eating behaviors.
2. Do not prepare alternative meals for your child. Seeing your child miss a meal is more of a stressful event for you compared to how stressful it is for your child. Many parents will panic and prepare alternative meals or moving forward they offer meal that they know their child will eat. They unintentionally continue to limit the food that their child can access.
3. Do not negotiate or bribe your child. It is very tempting to bribe your child with dessert or another reward. However, this perpetuates your loss of control in this situation and your negotiations will have to get bigger. Picky eating behaviors are more likely to continue with parents who offer bribes.
4. Do not allow your child to drink their calories. Some parents will offer a substantial quantity of milk and juice if their child does not eat adequately. These beverages are providing minimal nutrition while making your child too full for their next meal. Some parents seek out nutritional supplement shakes, like PediaSure. While it is more nutritious it continues to perpetuate the picky eating behaviors.
5. Do not use a tablet or television during mealtimes. Eating while distracted is not a long-term solution. It is actually a way to cause a long-term problem. Some parents use technology as a crutch because they might be able to get their child to take a few more bites.
6. Do not allow your child to graze throughout the day. If they are eating all day long in between their usual meal and snack times, you decrease the odds of them eating at their next meal.
How to Prevent Picky Eating Using Proven Methods
1. Always offer a variety of foods. If they don’t like broccoli today, continue to offer a small serving on their plate regularly. The constant exposure will help them revisit broccoli. This method also stops you from being the enabler and not inadvertently limiting your child’s diet. Offer all kinds of foods cooked in many different ways with many different flavors.
2. Offer water as the primary beverage. Children typically do not need more than 16 ounces of milk and 4 ounces of juice per day. However, they do need a good amount of water. Water allows them to be hydrated without keeping their little bellies too full to eat foods. Supplement drinks such as PediaSure should not be offered regularly unless medically prescribed.
3. Meal time should be pleasant with minimal distractions. Provide a safe and cheerful environment during mealtimes. Your child will develop a positive association with meal times. Not being stressed about your child’s meals trickles down into the pleasantness of mealtimes. If you want to go a step further, you can occasionally use cute shapes to make food fun.
4. Dictate how much food you put on your plate but let your child dictate when they are done eating. This helps your child reinforce their newfound autonomy but also teaches them to regulate their hunger and fullness. If your child is done, they are done. This can seem like a scary thing to do but Ellyn Sater goes into a lot more details in her book.
5. Involve your child in meal planning and preparation. Allow your child to help you in the kitchen with age-appropriate activities. Having a young chef in the household will help you offset the stress that comes with preparing family meals. Also, allow your child to feel like they are making a decision with closed choices. For example, “Do you want to have broccoli or do you want to have green beans tonight?” instead of “Do you want to eat vegetables?” that way they are almost tricked into picking something and more likely to eat it.
6. Eat as a family and try to eat the same things together. As age-appropriate as possible, family meals should be the family eating a meal together. You are the role model for their eating behaviors. If you don’t like half the foods you are offering your child, don’t expect them to like it either.
