Is Your Toddler a Picky Eater? Learn How To Explore New Foods Together

Is Your Toddler a Picky Eater? Learn How To Explore New Foods Together


Are you worried that your baby will become a picky eater? If so, you’re not alone! There are a number of reasons why children become picky with their tastes at 12-18 months old. Is your baby in the process of teething or just not feeling well?1 Is he already full?2 These are very common short term causes of pickiness, and if they seem to be the cause, don’t worry, he will be back to himself very soon! In these cases, just let your baby eat what he wants, and try again at the next meal.

Sometimes, though, fussy eating can be a longer phase. This is still not uncommon, but the causes run a little deeper. In part, this is due to human evolution.3,4 Initially, it’s a good thing for babies to want to put things in their mouth, ensuring that they are getting enough nutrients in the first couple years when they are growing so much. But over time, their taste buds change. They become more averse to eating sour and bitter foods (while still loving the sweet and salty!), and much more cautious about trying new things.

This survival mechanism made more sense in hunter-gatherer days. You wouldn’t want your baby wandering off and trying any strange plants that came his way. They could be poisonous, and a bitter taste was an important indicator of toxins. So while this was a practical survival skill back in the day, it is definitely more frustrating when what he’s rejecting is the delicious, healthy meal you’ve placed in front of him!

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In addition to the survival mechanism of avoiding toxins, there’s a biological reason your baby prefers sweeter foods: it helps his brain develop! Harry T. Chugami, M.D., at The Dana Foundation, reports that a child’s brain consumes twice the energy as an adult brain and uses more calories for energy than an adult.5 As such, growing children need sufficient glucose (simple sugars from the digestion of fruit, vegetables, grains, protein, and fats),6 oxygen, and water for ideal brain growth and function.7 In addition, eating naturally glucose-rich foods helps build your baby’s learning foundations by increasing his attention span and ability to focus.

So even though there are some very good reasons for your baby to be hesitant around new foods, never fear, very few children become lifelong picky eaters! And there are strategies to help you cope with your picky eater, and even get him to try some new things.

Offer choices, making sure they are healthy ones. Don’t offer “junk” foods, which will just fill up your baby with empty calories and make him less likely to eat healthy options later on. If one food is rejected, simply try another during the next meal. Initially, sweeter tasting fruits and vegetables, such as winter squash, corn, and carrots, may be easier for your baby to accept than more bitter ones, such as broccoli, cabbage, and dark greens.4 Using these sweeter foods can help him learn not to fear new foods.

Let your baby explore the new food by touching, smelling, licking, or tasting it.1,2 This will help him get used to the new food’s look, aroma, and texture as well as capture his interest in the food through sensory exploration. And remember, it may take a child 10-15 tries before eating a new food.2,3

Having your baby help prepare the meal can often make him more interested in trying new foods. If he takes pride in helping to grow his food or prepare a meal, he will be more likely to give it a try.2 So go ahead and try planting some simple vegetables together or letting him play chef in the kitchen while you cook up dinner! Be sure to pick kitchen tasks suitable to his age and abilities, beginning with things such as stirring or pouring.

Also, make it a habit to prepare only one varied, nutritious meal, and feed your baby what you eat. This takes advantage of his desire to copy everything Mommy and Daddy do. Above all, avoid showing dislike when you try a new food!2 As mentioned, he likes to copy you, whether the behavior is good or bad! The more open and excited you can be about new foods, the more likely your baby will be too.

Play Tips:

Do you want to know how you can support your baby’s development of these Healthy Food and Eating skills at this age? It’s easy! Read on for some simple tips to incorporate into your daily play time together.

  1. Offer nutritious, glucose-rich foods to your baby.7 To encourage brain development and learning, offer your baby a carbohydrate-rich diet full of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that contain essential nutrients. Also include protein for growth, hormone production, and a healthy immune system and a moderate amount of fats for absorbing vitamins and keeping cell membranes in good shape.9 Avoid offering your baby too many convenient foods made with processed sugars, such as sugary baked goods (eg. cookies, pie) as these foods can add up to a lot of empty calories. Juices, while they do come from fruit, should be avoided or limited as well, since they offer a lot more sugar and less nutrition than the whole foods. Instead, encourage him to drink water and plain milk and to eat fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grain breads with natural nut butters (be sure he’s not allergic) in lieu of sweet snacks.
  2. Prepare a meal or snack together. By letting your baby help with food preparation, he will be proud of what he’s made and more likely to try it. If you have the option, you can start the meal by picking vegetables out of a home garden. Again, if he has helped to grow the vegetable, he may be much more excited about trying it.
  3. Encourage your baby to explore new foods through sensory exploration.7 Children learn through the “trial and error” of exploring things through their various senses. While your baby relies on his many senses to learn about the world, he will gradually use his mouth and tongue more to taste things rather than to “feel” out information (as most infants do). Help make eating new foods fun by exploring the different tastes, textures, and temperatures of foods together. As you experience a new (for him) sensation or flavor, point it out in a positive and excited manner so that he can follow your lead in delighting at this new discovery too!

(SPECIAL OFFER: Sign up for Playful Bee’s Bee Well developmental learning program to give your baby the best start in life. The first 10,000 children enroll for FREE! Sign up today.)

Developmental Milestones:

Has your baby achieved the following Healthy Food and Eating developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all the skill(s) she has already mastered to date using Playful Bee’s developmental milestones tracker. It’s absolutely FREE and easy to use, just click HERE!

  • Begins to show food preferences.

 

Sources:

1Alli, Renee A. (2012). Is Your Baby a Picky Eater? WebMD. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/picky-eater.

2Zero to Three. How to Handle Picky Eaters. Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/health-nutrition/how-to-handle-picky-eaters.html.

3Severson, Kim (2007). Picky Eaters? They Get It from You. New York Times: Dining & Wine. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/dining/10pick.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

4Mullen, Mary and Shield, Jo Ellen. Why Is My Child a Picky Eater? Kids Eat Right.Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://www.eatright.org/kids/article.aspx?id=6442467922.

5Chugani, Harry T. (2004). Fine-Tuning the Baby Brain. The Dana Foundation. Retrieved February 10, 2014 from http://www.dana.org/Cerebrum/Default.aspx?id=39174.

6Augustine, Jodi (2012). Sources of Glucose. GroupHealth. Retrieved February 10, 2014 from http://www.ghc.org/healthAndWellness/?item=/common/healthAndWellness/conditions/diabetes/glucoseSources.html.

7Gellens, Suzanne R. (2013). Building Brains. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

8Stamm, Jill, Ph.D., and Spencer, Paula (2007). Bright from the Start. New York, NY: Gotham Books.

9McKinley Health Center. Macronutrients:The Important, of Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign McKinley Health Center. Retrieved February 21, 2014, from http://www.mckinley.illinois.edu/handouts/macronutrients.htm.

Playful Bee

Education Team at Playful Bee
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