We know the overt signs of a picky eater and can often
remember what it was like for you or a sibling to be pickier when young.
Pushing items around on one’s plate. Gagging at the first attempt to swallow an
offensive item. Tears and stubborn refusals. Warnings and threats that involve
past generations and starving people the whole world over.
Katie Lopez of Louisians’s KATC has researched
what’s involved with kids who are picky eaters and ways to deal with such
situations.
“It turns out that parents may be to blame,” she points out,
noting recent research that came from a five-year study. They followed a group
of about 300 children and their parents for during a five-year period. “They
found the more demanding and restrictive a parent was, the pickier the child
became. They say those parents are creating negative experiences around food.”
The trick, Lopez says, is for parents to NOT insist kids
clean their plates, avoid using food as bribes, and instead give their children
some control by giving them options while continuing to introduce new foods
often without pressuring them to eat it.
She referenced a new mom who was worried about sending her
child to bed hungry. She eventually tried a food therapist who suggested
pairing foods the kid liked with similarly colored items… Craisins and
watermelon, for example, or carrots and Goldfish
What are the signs of a picky eater? A limited diet of
less than 10 foods in each category of starch, protein and fruit/vegetables;
aversion to foods based on visual, touch, sound, taste, and textural
attributes; a dislike of being messy; turning head away from food during
mealtimes; oral motor weaknesses such as straw or cup biting, drinking from
sippy cup or bottle only, and immature chew patterns; difficulty with weight
gain or needing supplements for weight
gain, and most mealtimes or eating out situations proving stressful.
That cure, again? Patience, Lopez stresses. It all takes
time.