Picky Eating

Believe it or not this is one of the most common complaints I hear from parents. It’s super common for toddlers to suddenly reject eating meat, even if they ate meat totally fine as a baby. There can be many reasons that your toddler won’t eat meat, but most of the time, it’s not something that you need to stress too much about.
If your family is vegetarian or vegan, there is no reason that you NEED to serve your child meat (or any food). This is more for families who usually eat meat, but are finding that their child has been rejecting it.

Toddler preferences are a part of parenting. One common concern parents face is that their toddler prefers milk over solid foods. Whether it’s breastmilk, cow’s milk, or a milk alternative, a toddler needs more than just milk to meet all of their nutritional needs. While breastmilk and/or formula make up the bulk of your child’s nutrition prior to age one, after age one, milk should become more of a supplement.

You were probably told many times to not play with your food as a child, so you may find it very surprising that I am recommending food play to help with picky eating. Sensory play in particular can be incredibly helpful for picky eating. Many picky eaters are hypo-or hyper-sensitive to different sensory experiences, so exploring them during play can help get them more comfortable.

Many parents are surprised to find out that there is an association between ADHD and picky eating. It turns out that it is quite common for kids with ADHD to be picky eaters. That doesn’t mean that there’s nothing you can do about it. Many of the tips that we recommend for neurotypical kids work well for kids with ADHD as well!

You’re so proud, because it seems your baby will eat anything. You think you’ve prevented picky eating and then BAM! Your child stops eating many of the foods they used to love. Sound familiar?
Some level of food preference is expected. There are probably some foods that you prefer and other that you don’t. It’s the same with kids. We all have varying tastes.

Put simply, food chaining is a technique where you make gradual changes over time to introduce your child to a new food. You start with a food that your child prefers and make small changes to it. The change can be as small as cutting a sandwich horizontally instead of diagonally. Once your child has accepted one small change, you can begin working on another. Over time, you can introduce brand new foods.