Navigating Picky Eating: What worked for us
It feels like it will last forever, your child being so aggressively selective about their diet. What I learned navigating picky eating with my kids is that it really won’t last forever, but there are some things you can do to try to make the reaction to a surprising or undesirable food a little bit better.
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If your child is loving ONE food, like pasta, for example - get a different pasta shape for every night of the week. Monday is bowtie, Tuesday fettucine, Wednesday macaroni (maybe even these crazy noodles). We found this gave our child the impression that they were less picky than they really were, because it introduced a very tolerable variety of shapes (at least).
You can also make this really fun with products that have different, unusual flavors, like Goldfish. Doing a “taste test” and taking notes or votes on what was different about each flavor. This works well with drinks too. If your child will tolerate it, you can even try to do a blind taste test.
Fun plates, utensils or food picks - This one is pretty classic - make mealtime fun. I think reducing the quantity of food on the plate is helpful (to reduce overwhelm). The picks are really fun to include no matter the meal. My son still uses these after several years.
Introducing chopsticks can be really fun too if you have them! I also like to always put whatever the adults are eating in a small (pretty) bowl on the child’s plate.
Include the picky eater in meal prep - don’t be shy, too! Especially if the child doesn’t eat the standard meal that the adults are eating, including them in preparation offers them safe exposure without risk. They get an opportunity to smell, squeeze and cut new foods.
Trying something really crazy like this could be fun too. Not intended to freak them out, but showing the process of how foods are made can help form those open-minded connections.
After they’ve been helping for a few months, introduce tools that feel riskier (under supervision, of course). The feeling of danger (using a knife!) can help improve confidence. Kids knives are a great place to start, but once you feel confident in their abilities, graduate on to something sharper (again, with supervision). Chefs wear aprons - get a child-sized apron to help sell the role.
I don’t love using cookie-cutters because a) it’s extra work and b) food should be food-shaped. Although they are fun.
Unrelated to food - continue to expose your child to new and novel experiences. Allowing them to try new things they are excited about grows confidence in all ways. I remember gymnastics being a huge mover for my son. New sports is what I will always recommend!
Avoid announcing that your child is a picky eater. I know it’s challenging not to, and you can’t control everyone around you. But keeping that commentary more open-ended and positive (“you’re still learning to enjoy new foods”) can help to keep their experience with food separate from their identity. It’s a small thing that helped our kids a lot.
Bonus, so many of these tools would make great stocking stuffers!
