Picky eating can be an extremely stressful experience for both you and your little one.

When they simply refuse to eat anything but the smallest selection of foods, it’s common to simply run out of ideas for what to try next.

But before you give up, there are a few things you should know.

First of all, there are things you can do to help.

Second, picky eating is a normal part of development and all children will go through it to some degree.

Even the best eaters eventually go through a period of fussiness and food refusal.

The important thing to know here is that the way we react as parents when our toddlers go through this phase has a huge impact on whether it gets better or worse.

There are actually 7 really common mistakes parents make when trying to encourage their toddler to eat new food.

Simply avoiding these mistakes will help make the process much easier for you.

By avoiding these mistakes you are going to make the fussy eating period shorter, easier to deal with, and you’ll end up with a child who is willing to eat a wider variety of food.

In this article I’ll walk you through each of these mistakes and what to do instead to help make this picky eating phase as short and as stress free as possible for you and your child.

The Top 7 Mistakes That Make Picky Eating Worse (And 7 Simple Fixes

Even the best of eaters go through a period of fussiness and food refusal.

What parents often don't realize though is that they have done nothing wrong.

This is completely normal behavior for toddlers.

The important thing to remember though is that the way we react as parents when our toddlers are going through this phase can make it better or worse.

So in this article I'm gonna cover the common mistakes parents make when they're trying to encourage their little one to eat new food and what to do instead.

By avoiding these mistakes you are going to make that period of time that they are fussy eaters, shorter.

It is going to make this time easier to manage.

And your little one is going to be more willing to try a wider variety of food.

USING BRIBES

The first mistake parents naturally fall into is, using bribes.

So the parent might say to the little one, "Once you eat this carrot, you get to have yummy dessert.

Now, what this does is actually decreases your child's preference for that new food, because it reinforces their idea that the new food is unpleasant and they need to get a reward for eating it.

So it does the complete opposite.

Instead of encouraging your little one to eat that food it tells them, "Don't eat that food because it's not nice.

USING PRESSURE

The second mistake parents often use is that they use pressure to get their little one to eat.

Now, this might be in a variety of different forms.

So you might just be pressuring them to finish the meal on their plate.

You might be trying to coax them by saying, "If you just have one more bite, I'm gonna be so happy.

Or you might use punishment so, "You're not allowed to leave this table and go and play until you eat that carrot.

Or finally, you might force feed them.

So you might be placing the food physically in their mouth when they don't want it.

Now, applying pressure to your little one might work in that moment.

They might eat that one more carrot or that one more spoonful.

But it does not help in the long run and it actually makes fussy eating worse.

And that is because when you are applying pressure to your little one to eat, they become anxious and stressed around mealtime.

So in the lead up to a meal your little one will start to become stressed.

And what happens when your little one is stressed, is that their brain goes into that fight, flight or freeze mode, which is when it automatically releases lots of hormones including adrenaline and cortisol.

And what happens in response to that is that their digestive system shuts down.

So effectively, it reduces any hunger that they might have and suppresses their appetite.

So they are no longer willing or needing to eat because they're no longer hungry.

And therefore they're not motivated to try and eat food.

Also, when we encourage our little one to have one more bite of food or keep eating until we are satisfied as parents, it is telling them that they need to start ignoring those internal signals that they are having that they are hungry and that they are full.

And that is because they need to keep eating until we tell them it is enough.

Now, as a result of this, your little one will start to ignore those internal signals and feelings, and this can lead to overeating in the future and then leading to them becoming more likely to be overweight.

As parents we need to remember that our little one's stomachs are only the size of their clenched fist.

So, they aren't that large and they don't need a large amount of food.

So we need to trust our little ones to know that they will eat until they are satisfied so they no longer need food.

It is really important to know that our role as parents is to provide the food but it is our child's role to actually choose how much of that food they will eat.

HIDING NEW FOOD

The third mistake parents often make is hiding new food inside a toddler's favorite food.

Now I know we naturally fall into this habit because we just wanna get them some form of vegetables and if we just hide it in their favorite food, they won't notice.

Now this isn't true.

New food should never be hidden in your child's favorite food for multiple reasons.

Firstly, your child is going to notice that it either tastes different, it feels different in their mouth or it looks different.

And when they notice this they are going to stop eating that favorite food, as well as, that new food.

They also learn that they can no longer trust you.

So any food that you give them might have hidden food in it that they don't want to eat.

So you run the risk that they're not gonna want to eat any food that you give them.

Also, if you want your toddler to eat any new food and develop a preference for that food they need to be able to know what that food looks like and what that food tastes like.

So hiding it inside their favorite food is not going to help them accept this new food.

LETTING THEM FILL UP

Another mistake we often fall into, is letting our little ones fill up on milk, juice or sugary drinks.

Now, if your little one is having a large amount of these liquids throughout the day, then it suppresses their appetite and they are no longer hungry or motivated to try new food.

And it could become a bit of a negative cycle.

So your little one gets up in the morning tells you that they're hungry, but refuses the food.

Then you give them some milk because you want them to at least have something.

And then as a result they're no longer willing to try that food or needing to try that food because they're not hungry.

What we often don't realize is that toddlers only need two to three servings of dairy per day.

And dairy can be in multiple forms.

It can be cheese, milk, yogurt and other forms of dairy.

Now one cup of milk is actually one serving of dairy.

So if your little one is having two cups of milk or 16 ounces of milk then that is a essentially their serving of dairy that they need for that day and they don't need any more milk.

USING DISTRACTION

Using distraction is also another technique that we often use with our toddlers to get them to eat.

And the most common distraction we use is screens.

Now, when your toddler is watching a screen while eating, they are more likely to eat vegetables and fruit and you might get more into them.

But what happens when they're doing that is that they aren't actually focusing on what the taste of the food is, what it smells like, what it looks like.

And they are also not tuning in to what their body is telling them.

So whether or not they're hungry or full.

Now this often results in when you take that screen away the toddler becomes extremely distressed when you present the same food to them, because this food is new.

They haven't looked at it before and they haven't really focused on what it tastes or feels like in their mouth.

So you are going to make that picky eating worse.

Instead of using a distraction to get your little one to eat food, it's better if you get them to sit at a table where you all have the same meal, so you have family style meals.

Now this helps to reduce the risk of choking.

It also ensures that your little one is able to focus on what those internal feelings are when they're hungry and when they're full.

It gives them the opportunity to see you eating that "new food," so they're going to be more likely to eat it themselves because if you are eating it, then of course it's safe.

And it also gives them an opportunity to explore and interact with that food, which is going to mean that it's easier for them to progress to eating it.

GRAZING

Another mistake we often make is letting our little ones graze throughout the day.

Now grazing is when they're constantly eating throughout the day, rather than having distinct meals.

And what typically happens when a little one is grazing is they don't eat the most nourishing of food.

It tends to be snacks or really quick food.

And they also just take the edge off their hunger.

So they just have a little bit of food to suppress their appetite.

Now, what happens as a result is when you serve up a meal, your little one is not going to be motivated to eat that meal because they are not hungry.

So to encourage a little one to sit at the table and eat a meal and actually try new food, what you want to do is space out their meals.

So you want to have three distinct meals as well as one to two snacks throughout the day.

And generally the spacing is two to three hours apart.

And this will ensure that it gives you a little one enough time to build up a bit of an appetite and become hungry enough to eat food.

PRESENTING NEW FOOD

Another mistake we often fall into is only giving our little ones the foods that we know they will eat and stop presenting the food that we know they're not going to eat.

Now, this makes total sense because it helps to reduce the waste of food.

It also helps to reduce any kind of meltdowns that might happen when you produce new food to your little one.

As well as keep the meal times pleasant.

But what happens is if your child never sees the new food, then they're never gone to eat that food.

For a toddler to eat new food, research shows that they actually need to be shown that same piece of food 10 to 20 times before they're even willing to try it.

So the key point in getting your little one to try new food and overcome that picky eating is continually exposing them to the food even if they're not eating it.

Baby Development