This is a guest post written by Rachael Rose - owner, founder, & Speech/Language Pathologist at Creative Speech Therapy in New York City. I asked Rachael to write this blog post because I frequently have clients that have picky eaters, and they’re always looking for guidance on how to make meal time easier for everyone.

As former preschool teacher, who mainly worked with children with special needs, I learnt that every child is different. A lot of their pickiness comes from wanting to be in control. As a parent or caregiver, the best thing you can do is choose your battles and work on the division of responsibility. My friend, Sari Imberman, a Kid’s Dietitian & Nutrition Expert in NYC, always says you determine what, when, where, and how they will be eating, and the kids determine if and how much.

I hope you enjoy this post from Rachael and pick up a few tips and tricks to help your children eat better!

Preparing meals in advance is a wonderful way to help your picky eater. When food is ready to serve at mealtime, the stress of cooking evaporates and leaves you time to connect with your child and have a family meal.

The importance of family meals cannot be overstated. Picky eaters benefit from eating together as a family in several ways: 

• Developing mealtime conversational skills will carry over into schooltime lunches and help your little one learn more social skills. It will also get them ready to eat at restaurants and in new environments.

• Learning self-feeding and utensil use, especially when your child is transitioning to solids, is foundational to their comfortability in eating as they grow. Just watching you eat is a great example for them to imitate.

• Mindful eating will become their go-to. Mindless eating, with an iPad or TV to distract them, can lead to worse picky eating and obesity.

So, you have your prepared meal ready to go, family assembled, table set…how can you make the family meal as productive as possible for your picky little one?

• Expose them to new foods by serving items on platters and showing them what you’re eating. Even if they don’t eat the same thing as you during the meal, exposure to new food is a great step in expanding their diet. Platters can be a great tool when they are passed around the table. The exposure of seeing, smelling, and touching new foods in a safe environment will help them build up their resolve to try something new! The more exposure the better.

• Have an “all done” bowl on the table. This will not only help with mess, but it will eliminate their chance to escape the meal if they don’t want to eat something. They can simply place something in the bowl and move on to something else. You can use the bowl too!

• Use dips! If your child likes a dip such as ketchup, barbeque sauce, or ranch, it can help them try a new food by masking it with a flavor they know and like already. 

• Remember that not all foods may be safe for little ones with structural issues. If your child is struggling to transition to solids, they may need to see a feeding therapist to uncover why. When kids lack the skills needed to eat a specific texture, they quickly learn that food is “unsafe.” Kids spit out unsafe foods and will most likely refuse that food in the future. Parents often confuse spitting out foods as picky eating, but it is actually an anti-choking protective mechanism. Once your baby gains the necessary skills to safely chew and swallow a texture of food, you can safely re-introduce that food into your child’s/baby’s diet. See our “Feeding Chart” at the bottom for reference!

Our values go hand in hand with the values of Feed Your Sister. We want mealtimes to be less stressful, which Elia does via meal prep and we do it with feeding therapy. But the goal is having a healthy and joyful relationship with food no matter what! Family meals are one of the most important foundations you can build for a positive lifelong relationship with food and eating. It’s never too early to eat as a family.

Want to learn more? Below are additional Creative Speech Therapy resources that deal with food:

The Importance of Picking the Right Highchair

Top 12 Tips for Making Thanksgiving Successful for Your Picky Eater

Family Meal: Eating Together as a Family

Think Texture

Connect with Rachael and the Creative Speech Therapy team here, and follow along on IG here!

Thank you Rachael for sharing your wisdom about picky eating. I’m such a huge fan of meal prep for families with picky eaters because your kiddos are able to sit at the table and eat with the family without making mom or dad be their personal short-order chef! Children can choose what they want to eat from what has been meal prepped, which eliminates a lot of stress for everyone involved! I’m all about making meal time an easy, fun, and enjoyable time for all parties involved!

For kid-friendly recipes and meal ideas, check out the Prep & Party: Baby & Toddler Edition replay. And definitely add my naked turkey pesto meatballs and miso maple chicken to your next meal plan. Both recipes are always a hit for the entire family!

If you struggle with meal planning for your picky eaters, drop in to the next Prep & Party where we prep a week’s worth of food together in real time, with picky eaters in mind!