27 Sep Can a Nutritionist Help a Picky Eater?
Mealtime can become battletime. Instead of being a time to share with family, many parents describe their frustration and feelings of helplessness when it comes to sitting down at the table with their children. Since when have family dinners been so difficult?
What is considered a picky eater?
Picky eating is not considered an eating disorder. In fact, it’s something most parents will use to describe their children at one time or another. Technically, when your child eats only one or two foods from each food group, they can be considered a picky eater. Here are some key characteristics of picky eaters:
- Picky eaters have about 30 foods they will eat, at least one from each food group.
- If they tire of a food, after eating it so often, they’ll usually go back to it after a week or so.
- Picky eaters will tolerate new foods on their plates, and oftentimes, after being exposed to these foods around 15 times, they will even try them.
- Picky eaters will often touch, and even taste, new foods.
Key differences between picky eating and ARFID:
While many picky eaters may eventually outgrow their selective eating habits, ARFID is a more serious and persistent form of food restriction. It is an eating disorder, classified in the DSM-5. Children with ARFID tend to avoid specific textures or colors of food, refuse to eat in social settings, or limit themselves to a small list of “safe” foods. Unlike typical picky eating, ARFID may not improve on its own. It usually requires a specialized eating disorder treatment team that includes the child’s pediatrician, a child dietitian nutritionist, and a therapist.
Can a child nutritionist help a picky eater?
Your mealtimes are not doomed. In fact, by working with an expert pediatric dietitian nutritionist, you and your family can start to enjoy sitting down for meals again.
A dietitian nutritionist on our team can provide you and your family with guidance and treatment to help manage picky eating. Here’s how:
- Nutritional assessment: We will evaluate your child’s diet to identify any nutrient deficiencies. This information can help us modify their diets to ensure they’re getting essential vitamins and minerals.
- Gradual exposure to new foods: Together, we will create a plan to introduce new foods in a non-threatening way, helping to expand the child’s palate over time. This plan also gives parents the framework to manage picky eating without feeling frustrated.
- Meal planning: We will design balanced meal plans that incorporate foods your child likes while gradually introducing variety.
- Behavioral strategies: We provide tips and support on how to handle mealtime struggles, including positive reinforcement and non-coercive methods to encourage trying new foods.
- Food texture and taste modifications: We can suggest modifications in food preparation to make textures or flavors more acceptable to the child.
- Address food anxiety: We can help you and your child identify underlying anxiety related to food and provide strategies to reduce fear or discomfort around eating.
- Collaboration with other professionals: Our child dietitian will work with your healthcare team to ensure comprehensive care. This includes pediatricians, therapists, or psychologists if there are deeper emotional or sensory issues involved.
This is kind of a cool fact. Our biology might be to blame for picky eating. Scientists are studying how tastebuds and the gustatory regions of the brain communicate. One finding is that picky eaters have more tastebuds. They taste things more and differently than others and experience physical reactions (oftentimes not pleasant) to these new tastes!
At the end of the day, we believe family meals matter. By working with a pediatric dietitian nutritionist on our team, you can get the tools and strategies you need to improve your child’s food intake and, in turn, improve mealtime!