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How to get stubborn picky eaters & toddlers to try new foods in 3 fun ways

April 1, 2019 by Julie 12 Comments

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Inside: How to deal with stubborn picky eaters and toddlers. Do you know how to get a picky toddler to try new foods?

“Mommy, can I have a raspberry?” my four-year-old asked me.

Picking my jaw off the floor, I attempted to be cool. “Sure, honey. Go right ahead!”

Why is this a surprising encounter for me? Because my 4-year-old is a picky eater and it is almost impossible to get him to eat new and healthy foods. He was stuck in his carb and dairy diet, and there was little we were able to do about it.

is your toddler a picky eater or is it something else

Until recently that is. Keep reading to learn how we are getting our picky eater to try new foods. Here I’m sharing the great tips we learned at therapy for how to get a stubborn toddler to eat. Feeding therapy taught us how to end mealtime battles.

 


Table of contents

Dealing with picky eaters toddlers

  1. What is a picky eater?
  2. How to get a child to eat when they refuse? How to get picky eaters to eat?

How to get 3-year-old or 4-year-old to try new foods

  1. Build with new foods
  2. Use all the senses when trying new foods
  3. Play games and challenges with new foods
  4. Most importantly, don’t pressure a child to eat new foods

What to feed picky toddlers

 

how to deal with picky eaters toddlers

3 ways to get picky eaters to try new foods tall

Dealing with picky eaters toddlers and How to end mealtime battles

What is a picky eater? target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”

“Picky” eating is when a child refuses foods often or eats the same foods over and over. Picky eating starts around age one and usually peaks in the toddler and preschool years. (Source)

Understandably, parents are concerned about their picky eaters because we fear our child is not getting enough nutrition.  I tend to rely on helper products to ensure (see what I did there?) that my child gets adequate nutrition. Our favorite is Sidekicks. Because how do you get a picky 3-year-old to eat? How do you get a picky child to eat good food? It is possible!

We also focus on giving our child the best vitamins to help bridge the gap with any nutrients he is missing. We love First Day gummy vitamins because they’re made with over 50% less sugar and have more great ingredients like vegetables. Yes, vegetables!
Every gummy is made with 12 organic fruits and veggies full of good-for-you antioxidants and phytonutrients. Real food. Real simple.

Do you know who are picky eaters? Toddlers! That’s such a typical stereotype that we almost expect little tiny humans to eat poorly. But some toddlers are willing to eat certain foods, and some toddlers refuse to eat! So what do you do to get how to get a picky toddler to try new foods?

How to get a child to eat when they refuse? How to get picky eaters to eat?

It is so hard to get a toddler to eat when they don’t want to. My picky eater is so stubborn he makes himself gag (sometimes even throws up) if he doesn’t want to eat something. It is horrible! I would struggle with the concept of how to get picky kids to eat.

As an infant, my son was a “food goes in here” machine. Open mouth, insert all the food. Shortly after his first birthday, he flipped a switch, and he suddenly wouldn’t eat anything that isn’t bread, cheese, and peanut butter. He became the embodiment of the “fussy eater toddler” monster we’ve heard about.

Recommended Post:  Tips for Managing Expectations as a Working Mom in an Overwhelming World

We recently started speech therapy for my child, and part of speech therapy includes feeding therapy. They began observing for sensory issues and checking his jaw strength for chewing and such.

You might also LOVE this challenge: No More Picky Eating Challenge: A Free 5-day Dinner Table Transformation to Banish Power Struggles in 30 Minutes a Day! 

 

Do you have kids who are picky eaters, toddlers or preschoolers?

 

How to get 3-year-old or 4-year-old to try new foods

Here are some tips for how to handle picky eaters ages 3-5.

Here is what we did in our speech therapy class, the second part which was food aversion therapy.

I brought in several foods, some preferred (meaning he will eat them willingly), and some unpreferred (foods he won’t touch).

Each week (our therapy class was weekly) I would try a change a little in the foods I would bring, but continue many of the same ingredients.

I would almost always bring a yogurt, he loves those, and later started bringing those cute Babybel cheeses (the little round ones you peel the red outer layer out). He loves opening them up, and always asks for them, so we started using them as a “prize” for trying other foods during therapy.

I also bring fruits and vegetables, since that’s the goal to get him to eat. I’m starting simple, with items like carrots, raspberries, and blueberries. He’s not willing to eat any of those at home.

Then the therapist leads us in food exploration and tasing.

3 FUN WAYS TO HELP PICKY EATERS TRY NEW FOODS

 

Build with new foods

One thing that was kind of weird to me at first was the playing with the food part. The therapist would have us all (me, her, and my son) put some of each item on our plates. Then we talked about what we could build with the food.

Sometimes we built a little train. Sometimes made a face. The building process required manipulating the foods, sometimes biting chunks off to have smaller pieces for wheels or eyes, for example.

It was kind of strange, but I understand. Toddlers learn through play, and playing with food makes it less scary to them.

 

Use all the senses when trying new foods

Another tactic our therapist used was to taste, smell, and feel the new foods. This also helped with the speech therapy portion of our session. We talked about how the food item feels in our hands and how it smells. We discussed whether the food was salty or sweet, and soft or crunchy.

Focusing on answering the questions helped my child concentrate less on the taste of the food, and he was more receptive to playing along.

Play games and challenges with new foods

My four-year-old is already quite competitive. We started playing racing games. Who can eat this item the fastest? He can’t handle being last, so he has to try it to win.

We also play magic tricks. Can you make this raspberry disappear? Abracadabra!

Recommended Post:  How to practice Mindfulness as a Busy Mom

I also like the “if you can eat two raspberries, you can have a piece of cheese” challenge.

 

Most importantly, don’t pressure a child to eat new foods

This one was the hardest for me in dealing with my stubborn picky eater. My gut feeling is stubborn kids need to be shown they are not boss. I’ve always been raised with the “you will do as I say” approach and I thought it made sense to do that with my child.

But that’s when the gagging started. Why is my toddler gagging when eating? I still can’t tell if he’s doing it on purpose, or if it’s truly an aversion or sensory reaction to the food.

But taking the pressure off is what helps. Letting the child have exposure and playtime with the foods. And then removing the fear and pressure to keep eating it.

 

Enjoying this post? Pin for later!

is your toddler a picky eater or is it something else

What to feed picky toddlers

It was important to provide many food choices, letting him eat what he is comfortable with, plus trying something new.

It’s best to keep things simple and try realistic toddler meal ideas and allow the picky eaters and toddlers to control how much of the foods they are willing to eat and sample.

If you’ve seen those fun feeding toddlers photos, you’ll see divided plates with a variety of foods on them, touching most of the food groups and spanning many colors. These picky-toddler-eater food items are what we as parents want our kids to be eating, though it isn’t always realistic for extremely picky eaters.

Put an End to Picky eating - easy 3 step process to raise adventurous eaters
Back to the story. Why did my child ask to eat a raspberry?

I was getting out the package of raspberries to put in a baggie to take to speech the next morning. I got distracted and left the container on the counter. Suddenly my son notices the raspberries and asks to eat them. Of course, we agree, and he divides up the package between Mommy, him, and Daddy. It was such a wonderful win, and I praised him for his excellent choices and sweet sharing. I hope to see more of those moments in the future.

My goal is to get my little boy to enjoy eating berries and simple vegetables like carrots and peas. I know it is a gradual process, but we’ll get there if we keep up with this feeding therapy and the tips we learned to help picky eaters try new foods.

How are you dealing with picky eaters?

how to deal with a picky eater


Further reading:

Want more parenting advice? Check out this amazing Positive Parenting Solutions program!

how to get picky eaters to try new foods in 3 fun ways

 

Read more articles on Parenting

 

Read more articles on Toddlers

 

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Categories: Most Popular, Parenting, TopPosts Tags: good toddler meals, healthy toddler recipes, Toddlers

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Comments

  1. Chris L. says

    September 20, 2021 at 2:27 am

    Thank you for sharing very helpful content. I agree with you.

    Reply
  2. Jenni says

    December 12, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    Great tips! I have a picky 4 year old, and some of these are what we do. Great post!!

    Reply
    • Julie says

      December 12, 2019 at 12:58 pm

      Thanks Jenni!

      Reply
  3. Talya says

    June 14, 2019 at 8:09 am

    I love the idea of playing games and challenges – I recently got my daughter to eat a lettuce by making her and her friends race against each other to eat it!

    Reply
  4. Talya says

    May 22, 2019 at 7:49 am

    Such a useful post my daughter was a terrible eater but with time she grew out of it – thank goodness!

    Reply
  5. Anita Ojeda says

    April 4, 2019 at 10:25 am

    I have to deal with picky teenage eaters 😉 (my students). Our kids are out of the nest, but I’ll pass this on to my daughter who might find it interesting her son is more of a notional eater than a picky eater.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      April 4, 2019 at 10:53 am

      Thanks Anita! Then what is a notional eater?

      Reply
  6. Jean | Delightful Repast says

    April 1, 2019 at 11:46 am

    PS Here’s another post I like on this subject of picky eaters:
    http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/2014/04/raising-kids-who-arent-picky.html

    Reply
  7. Jean | Delightful Repast says

    April 1, 2019 at 11:37 am

    Julie, I don’t even have a small child, but I’m still fascinated by this subject. Pinning! From what I’ve observed, kids survive a “picky” spell if parents make sure that the three {or whatever number] items junior will eat are nutritious–like plain (not sugary or artificially sweetened) yogurt perhaps with a little plain fruit stirred in, pieces of real chicken (not fake nuggets), you know, something “real” rather than a bowl of cocoa puffs or other sugary “treat” that might as well be a bag of candy. This playing with food method is most interesting.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      April 4, 2019 at 10:54 am

      Thanks Jean! Yea you’re right we use these sugary treats as crutches to get them to eat something but it continues to contribute to the issue.

      Reply
  8. Samantha says

    April 1, 2019 at 9:54 am

    Very informative post! I too deal with a picky eater. He used to eat EVERYTHING, but that started to change around 15 mo. His picky habits progressed and now he is down to about 6 choice foods which change periodically (depending on him). I’ve tried a lot of the things mentioned here. We would make some progress, then a complete 180 would happen! I’d given up. With so many other ‘issues’ that my son is currently dealing with (He is autistic and non verbal), I felt like I didn’t have time, at least he’s eating SOMETHING!

    Your post gave me hope! I’m ready to start trying again. I too was raised with a ‘do as I say’ approach and I have to admit, I approached the picky eating agenda in the same manner (which is no surprise as to why I got the ‘lack of results’ I have).

    I was also told to ‘sneak’ the food in. Which isn’t a bad idea, but I want my little one to grasp the concept of eating these healthy foods. And not just giving them to him blindly for nutrition and self satisfaction purposes. Thank you for sharing this information. It is definitely helpful and I’m sure many parents are experiencing this as well.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      April 1, 2019 at 10:10 am

      Thanks Samantha! I try to sneak some foods in (like blending spinach in eggs and such) but he’s outsmarting me now. I mean, I give him the Sidekicks for only nutritional value so he gets all his vitamins but he’s not learning anything with that crutch.

      Reply

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About Julie

Julie of Fab Working Mom Life Welcome! My name is Julie :) I am a Texan living in Hawaii (military life). I'm a mom, a blogger, and also work full-time in environmental compliance. I write about being a working mom to help myself and other working moms in our journey to find a balance between our family, responsibilities, and hobbies. I do this because we moms need a support network to thrive both at home and at work.

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