Introducing New Foods
Does your child eat a lot some days, and not so much on other days?
Do they eat only one or two foods at every meal?
Do they seem interested in a food one day, and ignore it the next?
Before you worry or lose confidence in your feeding ability, remember your child is learning to eat what you eat. Keep in mind that all foods, even those that are familiar to you, are all new to your child.
Learning to eat a variety of foods is a process, and just like any other skill such as reading or riding a bike, this learning takes time. Each child explores food and develops eating skills at their own pace.
The best thing to do is stay grounded and be patient as you follow the Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding. Avoid pressuring your child to eat certain amounts or types of food. Resist trying to get your child to eat more or less than they want to. These controlling tactics backfire.
Instead, serve a variety of foods, eat with your child as you share the same meal, and teach your child how to behave appropriately at mealtime. Trust that sooner or later (for some kids much later) your child will learn to eat and enjoy the foods you eat.
Avoid Pressure!
Pressure can be hard to detect: Ask yourself why you are feeding in a certain way. Is it to get your child to eat more, less, or different food? If so, it is pressure.
- Pressure can be positive: praising, rewarding, cheering.
- Pressure can be negative: bribing, withholding dessert or fun activities, physically forcing, threatening.
- Pressure can seem like good parenting: playing games, insisting on trying 1-2 bites, reminding the child to eat, hiding vegetables in certain dishes.
While the use of pressure is common, it is not effective and will lead to more challenges in the long-run when it comes to feeding children. Instead of pressure, choose to trust your child to eat in a way that is right for them.
There are several common eating behaviors that happen when a child is beginning to explore new foods. You may notice your child experimenting with food in the following ways:
- Looks at the food, lets the food be close, but does not want it on their plate.
- Puts food on their plate, but does not taste it.
- Tastes food by putting it in and out of their mouth, but doesn’t swallow it.
- Swallows food, but doesn’t eat more of it.
- Eats a food one day, ignores it the next.
Some foods are easier to learn to like than others. Higher-fat, higher-sugar foods have a lot of taste appeal, while other tastes and textures that are more challenging might take a lot of learning to enjoy. This explains why your child may readily eat ice cream after having it at one meal, and still be apprehensive about trying broccoli after seeing it at 30 meals.
Expect your child to eat like a child. Beyond doing your part with structured, sit-down family meals and snacks, you do not have to do anything to get your child to eat, it will happen.
Set your child up for success by offering a variety of food at family meal times
- Pair familiar foods with unfamiliar foods. When introducing new foods, serve these foods along with 1-2 foods the child generally enjoys so if they are not ready to try the new food, they feel reassured they can fill up on something else at the meal.
- Start with setting a small amount of a new food on the table. If possible, serve meals family style so the child can decide what foods to put on their plate.
- Teach your child to use a napkin if needed if they decide to taste a food, but they do not want to swallow it.
- Let your child have seconds or thirds of what they enjoy, even if they ignore the rest.
- Take “no, thank you” for an answer. No bribing, cheering, praising, forcing them to eat or finish one food before having more of another, or telling them the food is “healthy” for them.
It’s helpful to know that this learning process can take months or even years. Your child may need to see a new food 20 or more times at multiple meals and snacks before they decide to eat it. Even after your child eats a food, they will not always eat it every time it is offered. This is all part of the learning experience. Stay neutral, and avoid making comments or drawing attention to what foods are accepted or avoided at meal times. Regularly providing your child with the opportunity to explore and learn to like a variety of foods supports them on the path to becoming a competent eater.