Picky Eating – Online Parent Training in Early Intervention (OPT-In-Early)

In this module we will give you an overview of picky eating, a common problem in young children. We will then review a variety of suggestions for how you can improve your child’s diet and eating habits, increasing the child’s tolerance for a greater variety of healthy foods. For this module, start with Picky Eating in Young Children, found below. Then, work your way through each of these sections in the order listed. When you reach the end of each module, you will find a link to the next.

Picky Eating in Young Children

Many young children are very picky and fussy about what they’re willing to eat. This can be perfectly normal and expected. So first we want to talk about what we might call normal picky eating. Picky eating is usually worst between ages one and five years. However, for some children, it may not really get much better until many years later when they get those big teenage appetites.

Many young children have strong preferences for certain kinds of foods. They may strongly resist trying new foods, especially those that are not like any of the foods they’re used to. They may push food around on the plate and refuse to open their mouths for the food. Or, when encouraged to eat new foods or foods they don’t like, they may throw the food on the floor, give the food to the dog under the table, or whine and cry. Most of the time, although not always, children resist meat and vegetables, which can be tough to chew or have a bitter or strong flavor. Many children in the US like spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, pizza, chips, ice cream, or candy. Children tend to like whatever bland, starchy, salty, or sweet food is served in their culture.

Most picky eaters still get enough calories, and most get an OK balance of the nutrients they need. This is true if they refuse vegetables but eat fruit instead and refuse meat but accept milk, cheese, and yogurt.

A few simple things you can do to make foods more acceptable to young children are:

Give them very small pieces, especially of chewy things like meat

Make sure vegetables are cooked enough to be soft, especially if the child doesn’t like raw vegetables

Try disguising the flavor by putting grated cheese on small pieces of well-cooked vegetables, or adding a sauce, spice or condiment that your child likes. For example, some children like ketchup or fruit-based sauces and spreads. They may be more likely to try new foods when they are served with a favorite, familiar sauce.

A sprinkle of salt or, in some cases, a light sprinkle of sugar may also help to make new foods more acceptable

Remember, you can put less and less sauce, sugar or salt on these foods as they become more familiar and acceptable to your child

Don’t expect a young child to eat large portions of these non-preferred foods. A little is fine, especially at the beginning

And, the Internet is full of artistic ideas for making foods more interesting and fun for children to eat

Ellyn Satter, a social worker who studies eating, says: “Parents are responsible for providing healthy foods at meal- and snack-times and children are responsible for what and how much they eat.” We think that is great advice. As a parent, you should provide healthy foods, but you can’t know for sure how hungry your child is. You want him to learn to pay attention to hunger cues and not eat when he is already full. This will help to prevent eating problems later. So you provide the healthy choices, and let your child choose which, and how much, of those foods he will eat at each meal or snack time. Offer the less preferred, healthier foods, first, when your child is hungriest.

Picky Eating in Young Children

Next: When Is Picky Eating A More Serious Problem?