Most parents can relate to the daily challenge of finding foods that their children will eat. When it seems like the only things your child will happily consume are chicken nuggets and fries, it can lead to worrying about their health and nutritional deficiencies. Children naturally have a distrust of new things and fussiness about food is a normal part of a child’s development.

However, there are some things you may not have considered about the food you’re giving your child and how those things might be discouraging them from eating their meals.

March is Nutrition Month and we are sharing what factors could be leading to food aversion and how you can make changes to encourage more enthusiastic eating.

Food aversion explained

First of all, it’s important to understand why kids can be picky about their food. As adults, we’ve been desensitized to a wide variety of food textures, flavors, and smells. Kids, on the other hand, are being exposed for the first time to countless new textures and smells—and even if they’ve had it before, they may be experiencing it with a higher sensitivity than us.

When kids display picky eating, it’s usually because the taste, smell, or feeling of a food is being processed in their brain as unpleasant in some way. The good news is, children’s brains are far more plastic than an adult’s, meaning their brains can easily make new connections and associations (i.e. learn new things). The more positive experiences a child has with a certain food, the less opposed they’ll be to consume it.

Now that we have a better understanding of what’s going on, let’s move to food factors that you might not have realized were an issue, and how to slowly and gently work with your child.

Texture

Texture—the visual and physical quality of a surface—is a common hang-up that deters children from particular foods.

Foods come in many textures, such as grainy, soft, crisp, dry, mushy, hard, crunchy, smooth, and lumpy. You can desensitize your child to various textures by having them put their hands in a variety of sensory bins (i.e. bins of rice, beans, salt, birdseed, coffee grinds, etc.) several times a week. If there’s a specific texture of food they don’t like, try to find a non-food item that has a similar texture and allow them to feel it or play with it in a fun way.

**Foods have many textures, such as grainy, soft, crispy, dry, mushy, hard, crunchy, smooth, and lumpy.**

Inviting your child to cook with you in the kitchen is another great way to expose them to a variety of food textures. Experiment with cooking a dish with them that includes a food that they don’t normally like the texture of. Sometimes encountering it in a new way can help to desensitize them to that food.

Mouthfeel

Mouthfeel refers to the physical sensations in the mouth caused by a food or drink. For example, let’s say your child doesn’t like how banana feels in their mouth. You can encourage them to eat a banana by using a food chain.

In this method, the chain begins with a food that your child will reliably eat (potato chips, for example) and ends with the goal food (a banana). If your child loves potato chips, start by giving them a few chips, then give them some dried banana chips. If that goes well, give them some frozen banana slices. If they willingly eat that, then give them the goal food, fresh banana.

Aroma

Some children can be put off by the smell of certain foods. This can simply be due to a lack of exposure or a negative correlation. It’s important to not push food on your child that they don’t like the smell of, as this would further ingrain their distaste for it.

Instead, try cooking the food together. Having your child help prepare the food gives them a chance to warm up to it slowly, gives you a chance to talk about the smells in a positive way, and distracts them from focusing solely on the smell as multiple sensory experiences emerge while cooking, such as sounds and touch.

You can also help improve your child’s smell sensitivity by exposing them to more smells in general, possibly in nature, a flower shop, or shops and stores (within appropriate social distancing measures). Talking about and exploring different scents can help brain process smells better in general.

Temperature

Sometimes, a simple change in temperature can help improve your child’s desire to eat a food. For example, maybe you unintentionally served their pasta too hot once and it burned their tongue and now they’re scared to eat it again. If that’s the case, explain to them that their food is now safe to eat and won’t hurt them again.

**A quick zap or letting it cool for a few minutes can make all the difference.**

Talk to them about the temperature of their food and depending on what they say, experiment with offering it at different temperatures. Sometimes, a quick zap in the microwave or letting it cool down for five minutes before serving it can make the difference between eating it or rejecting it.

Size of pieces and ability to cut the food with utensils

You might be surprised that cutting food into smaller or bigger pieces can instantly make a food seem more appealing to a child. Try cutting your child’s chicken into small pieces and serving it with a yummy dip. Make the eating experience fun by pretending the little pieces of chicken are baby dinosaurs jumping into a pond of ketchup. Adding a little imagination can go a long way in encouraging your child to eat.

Also, sometimes your child might be put off by a food simply because it’s hard for them to cut. In that case, cutting it for them or helping them cut it is an easy problem solved!

Find what works for you and your child

According to Feeding Matters, a single swallow takes 26 muscles and 6 cranial nerves working together to move food and liquid through the body. Sometimes, these considerations about food are not enough for what can be a more challenging Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) in which case, our coaching team of therapists are here to help—or for free resources right away, check out the Self Help and Adaptive Functioning category of Qi iQ.

Don’t forget to have fun

Sometimes, we focus so much on trying to get children to eat foods, and forget about all the fun and pleasures that come from exploring the properties of food (taste, texture, color, smell). Parents and caregivers, we encourage you to take some of the pressure away from eating and to enjoy the process of creativity and creation in making and trying foods with your kids, from simple sunny side up eggs to elaborate finger food platters and step-by-step baked treats.

Work together as a family to become more mindful of the various characteristics of your child’s food that might be deterring them from eating it. Once you find some clues, implement the different strategies discussed above along with a solid routine, and you’ll likely see some significant changes in your child’s eating habits. Lastly, remember to celebrate the food exploration journey. Bon appétit!