
- our son asks for something and then won’t eat it
- my daughter likes a food and then refuses to eat it the next day
- we always have the same nuggets but all of a sudden my son says they are different and won’t eat them
I cooked my daughter’s favourite meal and she said it looked yuck
Why do picky eaters reject foods all of a sudden?
There are many variations on this but these are the sort of things I hear from parents of picky eaters all the time. I know this causes both frustration and confusion. It also makes buying, preparing and serving foods a nightmare.
Toddlers
If you have a toddler then they are often on a roller-coaster of emotions and finding their place in the world. It’s normal and natural for them to seek independence by making decisions (that are not always logical).
Even so, much of the flip-flopping when it comes to food decisions is based around basic eating confidence. The more comfortable they are around food, the less likely they are to reject things.
Older children
For older children it is mostly about that comfort level. A child who is confident will easily accept minor or even major changes and still be able to eat happily.
A child who is more anxious around food approaches it differently. They are looking for it to be predictable, to be as they are expecting, for everything to look/feel/smell/taste the way they’d like it to be. The more extreme the discomfort the more precise the food will need to be.
What can we do?
Our job as the parent is to build that food confidence. To support our child to become more resilient in their food approach. When we do this we start to avoid the “eat now, but not tomorrow” scenarios.
Building this confidence is multi-layered.
Things we can work on now:
- Give our child confidence by being confident ourselves. If we are sure that our child is able to do something, over time it gives them the confidence that they can too.
- Building a comfort level around foods for our child. This is done by serving things repeatedly but without pressuring them to eat.
- Ensuring our child is relaxed at the meal table. The more relaxed we are, the more likely we are to eat. When we are pressuring them in any way it can really backfire.
- Showing small changes to enable them to accept change. Change is the precursor to new. Presenting foods in a new way, pairing or mixing them with a different food or sauce or using a new method of preparing them prepares our child for the next step.
- Being very positive around food and ensuring everyone else does the same. Negative words and actions can quickly halt steps forward.
Judith is an AOTA accredited picky eating advisor and internationally certified nutritional therapist. She works with 100+ families every year resolving fussy eating and returning pleasure and joy to the meal table.