If you have a toddler that is a picky eater, you have probably searched high and low to find advice, tips, and tricks on how to get your child to eat to your satisfaction. We went through this same exercise many times looking for answers with our son. What we found was that there is quite a bit of information and advice out there on how to get a picky eater to eat. However, information on the reasons why toddlers or babies are picky eaters was scarce. This article will focus on reasons why children are picky eaters in an effort to help understand why some tricks work and some do not. If we have an understanding of the underlying cause, we are better able to find our own solutions.
First, you are not alone. If your child is a picky eater, he is the norm, not the exception. The general consensus is that most toddlers are very picky eaters. The majority of toddlers will either eat a few bites and then want nothing to do with the food, or decide that they will only eat one food for a prolonged period of time. Now let’s look at the underlying causes of picky eating.
Toddlers Don’t Want to Sit Still
Toddlers are always on the go. Their mission in life is exploring new things and ideas. They love to play, run, throw, and wrestle, but they don’t like to sit still. Toddlers do not like to be forced to sit still without having something some other distraction that is interesting to them. Have you noticed that your child will eat while strapped into the car seat on a ride or in the stroller on a walk? This is likely because they don’t mind sitting still because there is a great amount of external stimulation and they don’t realize they are sitting still. This is also why many toddlers will eat better while watching TV.
Picky Eating is Way for Your Toddler to be in Control
Part of a toddler’s normal development is to begin to exert control. This is often associated with the terrible two’s. Eating is one of the first areas that they can exert almost total control. While you can force a child to give up a toy, not go outside, or not participate in an activity, you really can’t force them to eat if they don’t want to. They find they can push away food, close their mouth, and turn their head to get their own way. This lets them be in control of the feeding situation. Your toddler is not trying to be difficult, he is learning independence.
Toddlers Don’t Need as Much Food
During the first year of life your baby is growing at an incredible rate. Sometime around the first year, your toddler’s metabolism will slow and they do not need to consume as many calories. Keep in mind that your toddler’s stomach is only about as big as her clinched fist.
Toddler’s Tastes are Different Than Ours
A toddler’s taste buds are developing. Their tastes are nowhere near as developed as they will be. A food that a parent might find bland could be overwhelming to a toddler. A dislike for a particular food may be short-lived or last for years. My parents told me I didn’t like pizza as a young child and boy has that changed.
Acceptance of Something New
Some toddlers take a while to accept new foods. It is not uncommon for a toddler to be presented with a food 10-15 times before eating it. Things we take for granted such as texture of foods can be very unusual for a child.
Our Own Perceptions
Sometimes the problem is not the toddler, but us as parents. If we have false perceptions about what is normal for a child learning to eat table food, we can easily frustrate ourselves over feeding. Every parent is a first time parent at some point and we really don’t know what to expect. Thinking that a toddler will sit and enjoy family meals from the get go is probably not very realistic. We have to teach our children how to eat just like we teach them how to walk and talk.
Even though we might get frustrated and annoyed at our picky eaters, if they are generally happy, healthy, and sleep through the night maybe just maybe we are doing a good job and they will turn out just fine.
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