Each child’s picky eating is different. Although many children go through a picky eating phase, every child is different and so are their likes and dislikes. What is a parent to do?

5 Practical Tips for Dealing with a Picky Eater 

Each child’s picky eating is different. Although many children go through a picky eating phase, every child is different and so are their likes and dislikes. What is a parent to do? Some children will only eat chicken nuggets and plain pasta. Some will eat only “white” foods like saltine crackers, white bread and cheese sticks. Others will mainly eat crunchy and crispy foods like goldfish crackers or french fries.

Luckily most children who are picky will also eat other foods to help round out what they eat over a few days. Other children will not and can become very rigid in refusing to eat almost everything else. But what are some things you can do to help your child? When should you worry? 

Here Are 5 Practical Tips for Dealing with Picky Eaters: 

Be Ready and Plan Ahead

Children are growing fast and have different needs for energy than we do as adults. Children don’t buy, prepare and generally serve themselves food – they rely on us. Also, children cannot easily express what they are feeling, especially when they are hungry. All of these issues can add up to a child resorting to eating (and liking) things that are fast and familiar. 

• Remembering that a child’s body needs food every 2-3 hours, depending on age, can help us understand why we need to plan ahead.
• Planning ahead can help improve what we are offering them.
• Having food available on a regular schedule (3 meals a day and 2 snacks) also prevents their bellies from going into cranky overdrive and refusing any new food right away.
• It is also okay if they don’t eat well at one meal or one snack. Another opportunity will be coming soon. 

Expose Your Child to New Foods Often and Regularly

It is perfectly normal not to want to try something new. You may have had an experience like that sometime in your own life. Do you remember how you felt when someone tried to force you to eat, or do, something that you weren’t ready for? 

• Learning anything new takes practice! Think about learning to ride a bicycle or learning to swim. 
• It can take several attempts for a child to develop a tolerance for accepting a new food. It can take even a few more times for them to like a new food.Try offering new foods again and again. Having your child see a new food in the kitchen, on the table or allowing them to touch it before you prepare it, helps them learn about that food. Exposing your child to a new food can start off without any expectation that they will even eat it.
• Allow them to smell a new food or taste it without any pressure to actually eat it. Staying neutral and supporting them in their decision to taste it, or eat it, helps build trust. 

Make Food Interesting

You can help your child learn to be curious about food. Helping build relationships with foods can set the stage for their interest in eventually eating new foods. Food not only provides energy but brings people together. 

• Having your child help with any of the steps in buying, putting away, preparing or cooking food helps build their experience with food. 
• Talk about food, what it looks like, where it comes from, or even share a personal memory of that food. Ask them what a food makes them think about. Remember this may be the first exposure that they have ever had to this food. As children grow, they are experiencing many things for the very first time. Lots of newness can create stress or anxiety for some kids. Learning about foods without having to eat it right away can help take the pressure off. Kids are more inclined to like a new food when they make the decision to eat it themselves. 

Be Trustworthy

Kids are smart. They also want to trust us as parents. It is okay to sometimes sneak certain spices, or veggies into a pureed sauce without telling them. But be truthful if they ask. If they don’t ask, it’s best to just stay neutral.

• Don’t tell them that you “tricked them” into eating something that was “good” for them. It may backfire next time. It may also make them more cautious about trying something new. 

Lead By Example

Eat a variety of foods yourself and eat together with your child. There is nothing better than sharing experiences with your child. Eating is done several times a day and can be an easy time to bond and share time together. There are plenty of opportunities to let your child see that you are tasting something for the first time too or that your body tells you that you have eaten enough. 

• Children often model their behaviors after what they hear or see their parents do. If you eat a variety of foods, it is more likely that your child will do the same. 

If you are still worried about your picky eater