Thanksgiving is coming and that means lots of food. Often, grandparents and family members come and prepare many different types of food and they appreciate when others eat and enjoy their food. Thanksgiving often includes foods with many different tastes, textures, and temperatures that are different from childrens’ typical weekly menu.
Some children are willing to taste any new food. Some children are only willing to taste new crunchy food, or new sweet food. Food sensitivities and aversions can become ever prominent at Thanksgiving with the eyes of the entire family on your child.
According to “Managing the ‘picky eater’ dilemma” most children who are labeled picky eaters actually have appropriate growth patterns. Common characteristics of picky eaters include:
- eating a limited amount of food
- accepting only a few types of food
- preferring drinks over food
- having strong food preferences
Authors of “Managing the ‘picky eater’ dilemma” recommend shared responsibility between parents and their children. Parents take responsibility for preparing the appropriateportion sizes and food combinations.The child is responsible for how much they eat, or even to not eat.The parents also take responsibility for deciding on the location and time to serve the meal,providing a pleasant, distraction free and safe environment.
When picky eating is more than a passing phase it can be a challenge to determine whether it is a control issue, a sensory aversion, or if a decreasing appetite is the result of organic causes. Therefore it is important to follow up with a careful physical examination.
Children with red flag signs and symptoms may require further evaluation and/or referral to relevant specialists.Applied behavior analysis, occupational therapy, and physical therapy can help your child with sensory issues or motor skills. Speech therapy can help with chewing and swallowing challenges. Social workers and psychologists can provide helpful insight into social dynamics. (Ong, C., Phuah, K. Y., Salazar, E., & How, C. H. (2014). At SBS, our feeding therapy approach involves very gradual systematic desensitization, only changing one variable at a time – taste, temperature, or texture. Our approach has successfully enabled many children with significantly restricted diets to eat a more age appropriate variety of food and, as such, be able to more comfortably participate in social gatherings.
Below is a list of basic feeding principles:
- Avoid distraction – Seat children at a table for meals and snacks.Ween the use of toys, tablets, television, or books at mealtimes as this takes away from the experience of eating. Rather, occupy children using food or by allowing them to feed themselves.
- Feed to encourage appetite – Children respond well to routines and schedules. Serve small meals and snacks at consistent times of the day with an appropriate amount of time in between. This allows for the child to get hungry before the next mealtime. Wait until the end of mealtime to provide your child with milk or juice to prevent them from getting full from these beverages.
- Eat together as a family – Eating together makes the experience more fun and allows for bonding and interaction. Use this time as an opportunity to model and teach healthy eating habits and appropriate table manners.
- Encourage independent feeding – Allow for an age appropriate mess and spillage during mealtimes. Being prepared with floor coverings can make such messes more manageable.
- Serve age appropriate food – Offer food appropriate for the child’s oral motor development and use reasonably small helpings (e.g. size of the child’s fist).
- Limit duration – Eating should begin within 15 minutes of the food being served.Meals should last no longer than 20-30 minutes and when the meal is over all food should be removed and only offered again at the next planned meal.
- Maintain a neutral attitude during feeding time – Do not get overly excited or animated nor should you become or appear angry. Avoid bribes, threats, and punishment.
- Systematically introduce new food – provide some of the child’s favorite foods together with small amounts of new foods. These are the principlesof systematic desensitization and positive reinforcement. We start by presenting a VERY small amount of the new food, that again, is only different across one dimension, and present it to the child in a “first, then” format such as, “When you eat this tiny crumb, then you can have more macaroni and cheese.” Once the child successfully eats that small crumb and sees that it’s ok, we gradually increase the amount – always followed by a highly preferred food.
Ong, C., Phuah, K. Y., Salazar, E., & How, C. H. (2014). Managing the ‘picky eater’ dilemma. Singapore medical journal, 55(4), 184–190. https://doi.org/10.11622/smedj.2014049
Here’s to happier family meal times with a variety of new foods!