Ask:

My 2 year old won’t even pick new food up to try it. What works for you? Right now he’s on a very limited diet of chicken nuggets and PBJ sandwiches. I’ve got to do something!

Answer:

Answer 1:

I work with kids with autism, who are notorious for being extremely picky eaters. Trying new foods is one of the things we work on with them. Here is the program that has turned a child like yours into one who will at least take a bite or two of anything we put in front of him:

First, make three lists: 1) things he will eat, 2) things he’s eaten before but now refuses to eat, and 3) things he has never tried but you think he’d like if he tried them. List 3 can include pretty different foods, but it can also include foods that are similar to foods that he already likes, but just different enough that he won’t try them.

Now pick something off of either list 2 or list 3 that you want to start with. Let’s pretend it’s macaroni and cheese. We’ll call it our “target” food. There will be several “steps” that you’ll go through for each food, and your first job is to get him familiar with those steps and not scared of them. You can do this by first using a food that he likes.

So first, put a little piece of chicken nugget in front of him and tell him “touch it”. When he does, praise him and give him a food reward, so that he learns to associate trying new foods with a good taste in his mouth. The food reward can be candy, or a piece of PBJ sandwich, or his favorite juice, or a different chicken nugget, etc, but don’t use the same chicken nugget that we are “working on”! Step 2 is “hold it”, step 3 is “smell it”, step 4 is “lick it”, step 5 is “hold it in your mouth”, and step 6 is “eat it”. Make sure after each step you give him a food reward.

Once he is pretty familiar with the steps, you can start using the real target food! So start with “touch it” (let him see the food reward out). Give lots of praise for this and when he touches it, give him the food reward. DON’T tell him to go further unless you can see that he is obviously very comfortable with touching it. If he touches it but looks uncomfortable, then after he does this a couple times and gets the reward, then let him go and take the target food off his plate so that he can see that you’re not going to try to make him eat it.  Continue reading How to get picky toddler to try new things? →