Why Is My Child a Picky Eater?
Eating is a difficult and complex task. From start to finish, there are SO many different skills that we are asking our child to do! Think about it: We need to sit up straight in our chairs, modulate all of the sensory information coming in (tastes, smells, textures), engage in social conversations, coordinate our hands and fingers to use forks and spoons effectively, get the food to our mouths, understand how much to put in our mouth at a time, chew it down until it’s a manageable bolus, swallow, and do it all over again! It’s no wonder that our children need step-by-step guidance. As a parent, you can be your child’s best teacher. It is important to know and understand how certain areas may be impacting your child’s ability to successfully eat during snacks and meals.
Postural control
Making sure your child is seated in an appropriate chair that fits their needs and body is the first step to setting them up for a successful meal. Kids who don’t feel stable and secure in their posture use all of their energy to sit up straight, which means less mental and physical energy for eating their dinner!
Delayed oral motor skills
Do you notice that your child struggles specifically with meat, raw fruits, and vegetables with peels? This may be because they have delayed oral motor and chewing skills which are required for these types of food. Your child may not have the skills necessary for specific foods and therefore avoids them because they are difficult.
Sensory processing difficulties
We have 8 senses that help us to take in and respond to the world around us; Taste, smell, vision, hearing, touch, interoception, vestibular, and proprioceptive. All of these senses tell our bodies what is happening in our environment and how we should adaptively react to it. Because of the nature of food, our sensory systems may over- or under-react to sensory qualities such as the sticky texture of a mushed banana, the loud crunch of a cheerio in our mouth, or the strong smell of garlic.
Stress response
Increased levels of adrenaline can decrease a child’s appetite before they even sit down at the dinner table. If your child is in fight or flight mode, the body shuts down the ability to produce hunger hormones and sends blood flow to the arms, legs, and brain.
Environment cues
Does your child only eat off his favorite Paw Patrol plate? Or eat a full balanced meal at home, but at Grandma’s house won’t touch a bite? This may be due to the conditioning complex built around food. In a world of increasingly scary-good food marketing, our children are conditioned to notice specific brand-name fonts on a bag of chips, mascots like Tony the Tiger, and even specific logos.
Grazing
Grazing AKA snacking every 2-2.5 hours can cause feeding issues because it allows children to eat just enough to take the edge off their hunger. On average, children who graze may take in up to 50% fewer calories in a day, than if they are on a schedule.
It is important to remember that feeding difficulties are just the tip of the iceberg. Children do not refuse to eat because it is “behavioral”. There are often underlying skill deficits at play that need to be addressed to help your child feel successful with eating.
