Picky Eaters - Successful Strategies Part 1

What is in a name?

The answer is everything!

Jo J. of Victoria, Texas said that her son was a very picky eater between the ages of four and six and refused to eat many of the dishes she made, until she discovered the art of renaming recipes.

"One evening I discovered that he would eat ANYTHING he thought might be on the diet of the characters of his favorite TV show at the time, 'The Young Riders.' Oh, yeah," Jo says, "The Kid's Beans, Teaspoon's Favorite Casserole, Young Riders' Skillet, and many others became sudden favorites of my picky eater son. To this day, he still enjoys dishes that were once refused simply because of inventive renaming!"

While most adults and some children look forward to new food experiences, understand and accept that your picky eater will look forward to eating the same foods over and over again. This often gives them a sense of comfort and security, which is generally not hazardous to their health unless it is sugar or sodium laden.

Studies have shown that repeated exposure to foods greatly increases the likelihood even a picky eater child will eat it. Some experts feelthat new food has to be offered anywhere from 8 to 18 times before it is acceptable. You can prepare the food in different ways, but offer it on a consistent basis, especially when your picky eater child will be the hungriest. Offering food as part of a nutrition activity or snack may make it more interesting. Also seeing other children sample foods may encourage a picky eater to become more adventurous.

If you know in advance that one or more of the food choices will be met with howls of disgust, have something else available that your picky eater will find pleasing to his or her palate. Encourage your picky child to taste one of the "repulsive" foods before chowing down on one of the more desirable ones, but do not be offended if he or she refuses.

Sherry P. from Miami, Oklahoma is a daycare provider and has been working with children for almost 40 years. One of the ways she encourages her young charges to eat more vegetables is to let each child take turns at picking one each day. "Of course I limit the choices to two or three - say corn, peas, or green beans," she advises. "That way they feel like they have some control over what they eat. I also give them some choices that they can say 'no' to such as pickles or salads.

Being able to have a say in what they eat seems to help." Sherry also adds more fruit to their diet by adding it to Jell-O, which they really seem to like. "Another thing that I do is to use meal times as a time to talk with each other. I ask the kids about things that are going on in their lives and they do not even notice what they are eating," she says.

Often, parents worry that if they do not prepare the specific foods that their picky eater children like to eat, they will wither away. However, Dr. Karen Sadler, a pediatrician in Boston, MA, and panel expert at the Baby Zone (www.babyzone.com), says that hunger is a powerful drive and young children will not starve themselves to the point of danger. To help promote a lifetime of better eating habits, she makes the following recommendations:

Offer your picky eater child a few nutritious food choices at the dinner table. What is not eaten in 20 minutes can be wrapped up and offered as a later snack. Give your child the power to choose, but from among healthy choices, berries or orange wedges, for example.

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