Don’t Give Up on your Picky Eater

Feeding a picky eater can be one of the most stressful things a parent has to do. It’s frustrating, worrisome, stressful, annoying, disappointing and downright exasperating at times. It can be really easy to just throw your hands in the air and give up trying to get your picky eater to eat new or healthy foods. After serving something three or four times and having your child refuse to even give it one nibble it might feel like you’ve given it your best shot and it’s time to move on. But did you know that it can take at least 10 exposures to a new food before it is accepted? That number grows for very picky eaters so the message I want to share with you is not to give up too soon! It’s also important to note that I said exposures, which doesn’t necessarily mean bites of food are even eaten. An exposure might be touching the food, smelling it, licking it. Interacting with new or non preferred foods is building helpful steps towards eating them. Slow and steady is the key when you are training taste buds. I speak from experience; it took me two years to learn to like peppers. Getting back to the 10 exposures, it is very easy for the 6th or 7th time to feel like a million when you are trying to get your child to try a new food, so it’s really important that you actually keep track of how many times you have offered a new food. Relying on your memory isn’t usually effective for us busy parents! That is why we created a free Today I Tried chart to provide you w...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - Category: Pediatricians Authors: Tags: Perspectives Nutrition Source Type: blogs