HEALTHY FAMILY
Make Mealtime
Less Stressful
Local experts offer tips for parents
of picky eaters
BY KATE OCZYPOK
Start small
P arents deal with all sorts of child-
related frustrations throughout the
day, but frustration at mealtimes can
be a whole other level of exasperation.

“It’s easy to feel defeated and focus on what
the kids aren’t eating,” says Jennifer Anderson,
a registered dietician and founder of Kids
Eat in Color, a local resource with 1.4 million
Instagram followers. “Feeding kids is a long
game, though.”
Anderson recommends serving micro portions
of new foods — about the size of a pinky nail
— to reduce a child’s anxiety about it and to
reduce waste. Even with such tiny portions,
“it can take many exposures to a new food,
sometimes hundreds, before a child tries
it,” she says.

Have safe foods
While it is important for parents to expose
children to different foods Hart recommends
serving at least two foods at each meal that you
know your child will eat.

Anderson echoes this sentiment, saying
it’s important to always include a safe food
at meals to prevent table tension. “A meal
consisting of all new foods or foods that are
hit-or-miss for your child can cause stress,”
she says. “Make it a habit to make meals that
usually include familiar non-familiar foods.”
Make it flavorful
“Parents tend to go for more bland foods, but
kids like spicy, tasty foods,” Hart says. She
recommends offering young children food
in all different flavors, including spicy, bitter
and sour.

Put them to work
“The more your child invests in the preparation
of your meal, the more likely he or she will be
excited to try it,” says Ju. She suggests taking
children grocery shopping, letting them pick
out a new fruit or vegetable and then finding
an interesting recipe to try together.

Look for signs
Although many kids dismiss certain foods
because they don’t like the taste, some refuse
to eat them because of how they feel afterward.

If you notice a pattern of physical ailments
after they eat a certain food or food group,
try eliminating the food in question and then
reintroducing it to determine the source of the
problem, says Ju.

“If you have serious food-related concerns, a
discussion with your pediatrician or a registered
dietician is always in order,” she adds.

Classic examples of something more serious
include physical ailments such as diarrhea,
loose stool, excessive gas, stomach upset or
pain and skin issues like hives.

“If the child acts out after eating
something he or she didn’t like, but then
acts fine when presented with other foods,
chances are it’s more of a preference,”
says Nancy Piho, a registered dietician
nutritionist at Good Food Nutrition Group.

“The body doesn’t lie when it’s an allergy,
intolerance or sensitivity, so be sure to look
for signs and patterns.” n
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CLARKANDCOMPANY / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS
First, it’s important to remember that
most children are a bit picky, especially
around age two, according to Mandy Hart,
a pediatric speech-language pathologist
and drama therapist in Bethesda, Maryland.

One of Hart’s specializations is feeding
disorders. “If a kid doesn’t like foods like broccoli,
cauliflower or lettuce, that’s okay,” she
says. “Kids are allowed to have personal
preferences.” That said, kids’ preferences are often fickle;
sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to them.

Christine Ju, a registered dietician
nutritionist in Washington, D.C., and part
of the Good Food Nutrition Group, advises
parents not to give up.

“As parents, we all get frustrated when
our kids don’t eat something we want them
to eat after multiple attempts,” she says.

“Sometimes, if a child rejects a food once,
the parents assume that the food is forever
banned, but that’s not the case at all.”