Helping Your Picky Eater Be More Open to Trying New Foods

There are many different ways to help encourage children into trying out new foods.

Picky eating is a common issue that parents have with their children. Ong et al. (2014) mentioned that almost half of surveyed parents and caregivers in Singapore have the perception that their child is picky in eating (Goh & Jacob, 2012). To define a picky eater, it is when someone consumes an inadequate variety of food (Ong et al., 2014). Some common characteristics of a picky eater include: consuming limited amounts of food, refusal of food, refusal in trying new foods, accepting only a few types of food, preference of drinks over food, and a strong food preference. Picky eating behaviours are usually observed from children aged 1–10 years (Ong et al., 2014). These behaviours include consuming sugary and fatty foods rather than healthy foods, and eating snacks instead of having proper meals. 

There are different ways to help encourage children into trying out new foods. The first method would be to systematically introduce new food to them. When preparing their meals, provide a mix of their favourite foods and a small amount of new food that you want to introduce into their meal. However, if there is still refusal towards the new food, offer them one bite of the new food without tricking, hiding, bribing or forcing them. If the child continuously refuses to try after three attempts, do not forcibly feed the child the new food. The parent/caregiver can attempt to reintroduce the new food after a few days or weeks. Children’s preferences towards food will always change and it can take up to ten exposures before the child willingly tries the new food.   

Another method is to prevent the child from having any distraction during meal time. Allow child to have a comfortable seating position when eating. An ideal position would consist of having the table at the stomach level of the child (Ong et al., 2014). The use of a high chair or booster seat would be recommended if child is still very young of age. Another distraction to avoid would be television and electronics during mealtimes as it takes away the focus and experience of eating. It was also found in a study that physical environment are linked to picky eating such as television during meals (Chilman et al., 2014). Instead, parents can engage child with eating and encourage self-feeding. 

Lastly another method is to have a neutral attitude during meal time with children. For example, do not try to use persuasive feeding or be too excited when feeding them. Also do not incorporate rewards with eating or pressure the child into eating with anger. It was found in a study that parental styles that use these kinds of methods, increases the likelihood of the child becoming a picky eater (Chilman et al., 2021).

Meal times for young children are crucial in building their eating habits as it is essential for good health and their growth. Not to mention, mealtimes also help build a stronger bond between parents and their child when both are enjoying their food. With the high prevalence of picky eating, it is important for parents/caregivers to reinforce basic feeding principles and strategies on their child at an early age to prevent picky eating. 

Written by: Amelia Chee

References

Chilman, L., Kennedy-Behr, A., Frakking, T., Swanepoel, L., & Verdonck, M. (2021). Picky eating in children: A scoping review to examine its intrinsic and extrinsic features and how they relate to identification. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(17), 9067. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179067 

Goh, D. Y., & Jacob, A. (2012). Perception of picky eating among children in Singapore and its impact on caregivers: A questionnaire survey. Asia Pacific Family Medicine, 11(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/1447-056x-11-5

Ong, C., Phuah, K. Y., Salazar, E., & How, C. H. (2014). Managing the ‘picky eater’ dilemma. Singapore Medical Journal, 55(4). https://doi.org/10.11622/smedj.2014049