Feeding Your Picky Eater, Part 2

The topic of Extreme Picky Eating in children is complex and layered. In last week’s blog, we addressed ways to identify picky eaters from children with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) or Extreme Picky Eating (EPE.) Today, we’re offering up five helpful tips to provide a starting point from which you may begin to help the young person in your life who is struggling with food.

1.)    First, rule out medical. Has your pediatrician noted that your child is not growing at an appropriate pace according to his or her growth curve, or has failed to gain according to growth in height from the previous year? Has your child has recent bloodwork done? Have sensory issues and functional problems with chewing and swallowing been addressed?

2.)    Check in, and get a baseline on your own anxiety level. It’s necessary to consider parental anxiety around your child’s eating. What is scary about the behaviors you see in your child? (Judgement from others? Fear of social exclusion? Lack of nutrition? Or tumult from witnessing your child’s own anxiety around eating?)

3.)    Eliminate pressure around mealtimes! You will get to the root of this. Pressure increases anxiety, and anxiety decreases appetite. Power struggles and bribes will not work, but taking the pressure off will help more than you can know.

4.)    Give mealtime jobs, and make mealtimes at a consistent time of day, with as many members of the family present. Get table games, or come up with original ‘hot topics.’ Tell jokes. Enjoy one another’s company! Levity and lightheartedness will boost cohesion and set the stage for a happier, more connected shared food experience. If a family member makes a negative comment about another person’s plate, remember the adage, “don’t yuck my yum!” We can feel how we feel, but it’s not fair to ruin a food to another person who enjoys that item.

5.)    Remember the Division of Responsibility (DOR): you decide when, where, and what foods are offered, and your child decides how much.

For additional pointers on how to language with children about atypical eating patterns, we are available for individual and family consults to discuss your unique situation. As with everything, always try to connect before you correct—and have a great weekend from the LIFT Wellness team!

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