Fussy Eater Solutions
Playtime with food may help your fussy eater according to a range of studies*. Understanding food from a sensory perspective has been shown to reduce the fear of new foods in children. Around the world scientists, educators and feeding professionals have come up with programs to support sensory education and desensitisation.
Most specialists agree that it can be challenging for a child to eat a food they have not interacted with before. In other words one needs to appreciate the sight, shape, colour, smell, and feel of a food before they are ready to swallow it.
If your children are old enough you can simply consider cooking activities as a way to get natural, regular sensory food exploration. With younger children play may be the way. In this post I take the view that our fussy eaters are very sensory sensitive. As a result they will benefit from natural, friendly, relaxed sensory play activities. Most of the activities I mention offer tactile and olfactory benefits.
Check our #sensorykitchen challenge here.
Location, location, location
Outdoors
Outdoor activities allow children to be super messy. They can wear light clothing and expose more skin to the sensory activities. Activities can go from dry to interactions with wet and sticky. (Other sensory activities: playing in sand, in mud, washing the car. Having fun with bubbles, exploring the garden or park all provide sensory exploration).
Shops
Shopping is a great way to provide sensory exposure. Market and shops have it all: smells, opportunities to touch food and sometimes to sample food. Children can help gather food. Super sensitive children may be more comfortable helping with packaged food. But as they understand there is no pressure on them to eat, they can relax and learn to select fruit, veggies, and other items. I know a mum who had this ritual of making her children hold onto a mushroom or a leek they would choose during shopping trips.
Home
Parents can offer an activity on a tray or in the sink and prop their children securely at the bench using a learning tower or a step stool. On the floor parents can use mats such as these, or sensory tables such as these.
Most activities hereafter can be enhanced with toys for example plastic dinosaurs or cars that can be rescued, fished or driven through.
It cannot hurt or can it?
As a parent you too can plan specific activities to allow children to explore food and mess away from the dinner table. It cannot hurt…
Well, that is if you do not take those activities to the dinner table and apply pressure. If you are asking your child to smell, lick a food, there is pressure, you have an agenda and children can sense that. It is best to stay a parent, rather than turn into a therapist. Always take cues as to where your sensitive child can start activities..
Children do well to interact with food in a playful manner. Here are some practical suggestions which I have graded from easier to harder.
It is crucial for parents to provide the environment in which those activities can take place safely: good ergonomics, secure position, supervision.
Graded activity
Since we are mostly talking about children who are sensory sensitive, we have to take cues as to how far they can go. It then makes sense to grade any activity you will offer, for example you can grade from dry to wet to gooey and sticky.
- Dry: beans, lentils, flour, corn flour, flour, cocoa, there is a lot to play with here.
- Sticky, gooey:
- Smelly, in all of the above you can add some food flavourings, which can be used in guessing games.
Managing reactions
Parents can help children to relax by recognising what their child expresses. For example if their child is getting upset by sticky hands. It is best not to jump to the rescue. Instead, state what your child is showing you: it is sticky! With time your child will know what to do: wash or wipe hands. They will solve their problems by themselves.
- Your hands are sticky/cold/wet.
- You could wipe your hands, let me help you
- Wash your hands, here’s the soap.
- Here’s your tea-towel.
Relaxed children are in the best position to start enjoying a wider variety of food. That is one piece of a somewhat complicated puzzle though. If you find that your family struggles why not download my free ebook. Ready to turn the tide on stressful family dinners? It covers my top starter tips to turn the tide on fussy eating in your family.
*Coulthard H, Sahota S. Food neophobia and enjoyment of tactile play: Associations between preschool children and their parents. Appetite. 2016 Feb 1;97:155-9. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2015.11.028. Epub 2015 Nov 26. PMID: 26631252.
Coulthard H, Blissett J. Fruit and vegetable consumption in children and their mothers. Moderating effects of child sensory sensitivity. Appetite. 2009 Apr;52(2):410-5. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2008.11.015. Epub 2008 Dec 6. PMID: 19110019.
