New foods and increasing variety
Summary
- Each toddler has a different rate at which they take to new foods, don’t compare yours with others.
- Food rejection increases after 12 months.
- Caution with new foods is a survival adaptation for toddlers.
- Less challenging foods (fruits, breads/cereals) are more quickly accepted than more challenging foods (meats and veg).
- Include new (yet to be accepted) foods with familiar, accepted foods at each meal.
- It can take lots of exposures to a new food before a toddler accepts a new food.
- You can’t make them eat it, but you can change how it’s served.
On this page
…and then after their first birthday the baby who was willing to try everything starts refusing those same foods. It doesn’t change how we feed!
Toddlers refusing to eat foods
In baby’s second year food rejection and fear of new foods increases, growth slows, appetite decreases, they can become more independent and can start using the word ‘NO’. Diet variety may have been increasing and now it seems it is decreasing. This change can be really challenging… especially if you don’t expect it. This can tempt parents into pressuring toddlers to eat more, allowing them to choose the menu by providing alternatives, and meal structure can go out the window.
This effects our children’s acceptance of new foods and diet variety
The feeding roles don’t change, you provide the food, and they decide if they’ll eat or not. Keep your structure (meals) and you’ll put yourself in the best position to ride out this feeding age.
Eating a new food is a skill that children learn gradually. A lot of learning looks like food rejection.
Toddlers being cautious and not accepting new foods immediately is thought to be a response which goes back to our ancestors. Bitterness and strong flavours in foods may have indicated food was not safe to eat, either being poisonous or had gone off.
Experts believe toddlers at this age became a bit fussier because they’re starting to walk and spend time away from their parents. In the past when toddlers were foraging for foods, they were more likely to eat something poisonous when they were not with their mother. The extra sensitivity of taste buds and caution were important for survival.
Being wary of new foods is a survival instinct. It’s good that our kids are a bit cautious.
Don’t compare your toddler to others
All toddler feeding journeys are different, like other milestones such as walking and talking. There are differences between toddlers in the amount of food rejection, the time it takes for new foods to become accepted and time the diet increases in variety. The toddlers who take longer will do best when we are aware this is their own personal journey and not a fault.
There are genetic differences between children which influence acceptance of new foods. About 70% of children have much more concentrated taste buds on their tongue and are more sensitive to bitter and sour flavours, preferring blander foods. Often parents notice one of their children is a ‘good eater’ and another has more trouble. Most children with limited diets are still likely to be meeting their nutrition and energy needs.
70% of children have much more concentrated taste buds on their tongue
There are some toddlers or children whose feeding may require the support of health professionals. Some children may experience feeding difficulties which can affect their weight gain, development and nutrition status. For more information go to the When you need more support page.
Some new foods will be accepted more quickly
Foods can be more or less challenging in terms of taste, colour and texture. Our toddlers are much more likely to prefer sweet and bland foods over bitter or sour foods. Stronger flavoured foods may not be accepted as quickly. Your toddler may accept fruits, breads, cereal foods, bland meats and vegetables such as chicken, potato, pumpkin or avocado, more quickly than stronger tasting meats and vegetables such as beef, broccoli and mushrooms.
‘Include stronger flavoured foods with more easily accepted foods at meals’
Accepted (safe) and new (still learning) foods.
An increase in diet variety is simply ‘NEW FOODS’ a toddler is still rejecting becoming accepted ‘SAFE FOODS’
Every food starts out being a new food. When we introduce solids, baby has only had milk and all other solid foods are new and yet to be accepted.
New (still learning) food.
This is a food your toddler does not eat yet. They are still becoming familiar with this food, they don’t yet feel safe with the food and it’s not yet a part of the diet. This can be a food we haven’t seen before, it can be a food we know but prepared in a different way, it can be prepared by a different person or served in a different place. There are lots of thing that might make a food NEW.
Accepted (safe) food.
A food that has been accepted and eaten previously. Your toddler will regularly eat this food, but not always. Just a toddler thing!
Include new foods with familiar foods that have already been accepted. This will take the pressure off the child and give them an ‘OUT’, as they can see there is something they know available. This makes them feel braver about tasting and perhaps even eating the new food.
Have a mixture of Safe and New foods on toddler plate
Make sure there is enough of accepted (safe) foods provided to your toddler at the meal that they be satisfied without having to try new foods. This will make them braver.
When we serve ONLY SAFE FOODS, our toddler is choosing the menu and is in charge of nutrition. This can lead to a limited diet which will not increase in variety.
When we serve ONLY NEW FOODS our toddler can become overwhelmed. There is nothing that they recognise on the plate. It’s too scary and they are likely not to try anything, leaving the meal hungry.
We learn to eat unfamiliar food when we see it again and again.
If you’ve served up 3 foods, they only eat one and refuse the others that’s ok… its very common and normal. Don’t apply any pressure for them to eat the other foods. Children need to learn to like a new food on their own terms. If they do, then they are more likely to eat that food throughout life. It is important to stay patient and progress when your baby is ready.
Increase in variety can be hard to see, it will sneak up on you
Your toddler rejecting a new food is an important step in becoming familiar and feeling safe with the food. They will eventually learn it’s not harmful and if you provide it regularly, they’ll build up enough courage to taste it.
Your toddlers diet variety might sneak up without you realising it. Your tacos might start off just taco and cheese… then progress to include other bits and pieces you have on the table.
Letting your child decide for themselves which foods are nice tasting or not will allow them to gain confidence and give them a feeling of self-control in eating. Be prepared for the “learning to eat” journey to be theirs and for it not to follow any particular pattern.
You can’t make them eat or like something, you can just offer it and let them decide.
Exposure to new foods
Exposure is an opportunity for your toddler to become familiar with a new food. This doesn’t have to be just serving food at meals. There are lots of ways to help toddlers become familiar with new foods.
Mess and play are exposure
Toddlers can be exposed to a new food by playing with the food, being involved in food preparation or gardening. All of these count as exposures, helping your toddler become familiar and feel safe with new food.
It offers an opportunity to learn about foods without the pressure to eat it. They might only look at or touch a new food to start with, building confidence gradually and eventually building up enough courage to taste it.
Mess at mealtimes is important in toddlers becoming familiar with different textures, sounds, smells, colours, shapes and tastes of foods. If food is just being thrown and nothing is getting eaten, then the meal is likely over. You’ve probably got other things to do!
Feel it, squish it, peel it, maybe taste it, get to know it! It’s progress!
Exposure needs to be neutral
This means that we don’t be (or appear to be) happy or sad if they eat or not. This just means simply offering food without any pressure or expectation that it will be eaten.
How many exposures before they’ll eat it? I wish we could answer that question!
There are a lot of numbers which are thrown around in the research 10, 15, 20. There might be foods your child never accepts, despite lots of exposure. This is different for all toddlers and for different foods. We do know that most parents will stop offering a new food after 2 or 3 times. This isn’t enough time toddlers to become familiar with foods.
There are lots of stages of trying a new food. Food being on the table, on the plate, to touching, putting it near their mouth, tasting and eventually eating. Toddlers need to pass through these steps at their own pace, moving to the next step when they feel comfortable. If we try and bypass these steps by pressuring, they will learn to dislike the food and won’t eat it throughout life. All the steps that seem like failure are a really important part of the process.
Practical ideas for providing new foods
Just because you are not pressuring them at the table. You can still be playing an active role behind the scenes, changing things with the way food is served.
Ok, we’ve talked about safe and new foods, making sure there is no pressure, having structured meals, but there are a few other things we can do to assist our toddler learning to accept new foods. You may notice some things help and some won’t make too much difference.
Revisit the healthy eating guidelines
When you look at the five food groups there is a variety of food within those groups that have similar nutrition. Doing a check of which food within those groups are accepted ‘SAFE’ foods and which are ‘NEW’ yet to be accepted, can help you plan which foods you provide. Often parents will feel better when they can see that there are safe options to provide regularly.
Family style meals and role modelling
Family style meals, being with your toddler at the meal, eating from the same selection of foods helps make toddlers feel safe, relaxed and more courageous with new foods. When they see you eating a certain food and enjoying it, they will know its ok to eat. There may be some adjustments of the food to meet their developmental needs, for example making the texture more manageable for their age and stage.
Timing
You will know the time of day when you toddler is hungrier, more alert and does best at meals. This is a good time to provide challenging foods (alongside safe foods). Often, we can serve more challenging foods at dinner when children can be tired, or they’ve eaten their needs over the day and aren’t very hungry.
It’s also a meal where more family are likely to attend and toddlers eating will be under the microscope. If they don’t eat much at dinners, we can often jump to conclusions, say they are fussy and assume their eating isn’t going well.
‘You don’t have to eat that’…
…can be really powerful words to relieve the pressure children can feel at meals. They are more likely to try foods if the pressure is lifted and they feel they have more control.
The ‘OUT’ plate
Try putting another bowl/plate near your toddlers’ plate for unwanted food to go. “You don’t want it? Not a problem, that’s your choice, put it in the bowl…” It won’t happen overnight, but you have to start somewhere!
You can use neutral language such as “the food stays on the table/plate”. Giving your child a choice within what you are prepared to give them can help them to feel a sense of independence in their food choices.
The ‘OUT’ plate…or the ‘NO THANK YOU’ Plate! A place they can put food they don’t want to eat
Changing things about the food
There might be reasons your toddler is rejecting new foods that you haven’t thought about. There are ways changing how you prepare and serve foods can assist. Cutting food into different shapes and sizes may make it easier to bite or easier to hold. Raw or cooked (baked, steamed) may change food to a preferred texture or may help with the taste and smell of the food.
Bridging foods are used to soften and tone down strong flavours and smells and can help children accept new foods. This can be bridging foods such as sauces (i.e. lower salt tomato or cheese) on vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli. You can combine sweet and savoury foods like meat and fruit like apple and pork balls, or even crumbing meat, adding sauce, to soften the savoury flavour.
Portion size
Serving large portion sizes can be overwhelming for our toddlers. It can look like too high a mountain to climb. They can feel like you want them to eat it all! If we introduce smaller amounts of new foods, this can even be a small piece, it might seem less daunting. Alway make sure there are extra serves available for hungry children. Smaller portions of unfamiliar or ‘new’ foods will be helpful and will limit waste if they aren’t accepted.
It also helps with wastage. There are going to be a lot of times new foods won’t be eaten, so limiting the waste is important, especially with the price of groceries these days.
Hiding foods
Often parents will ‘hide foods’ within meals or other foods in an attempt to increase nutrition from some food groups. Vegetables are a really common one for this. First, we need to make sure we don’t breach our toddlers trust by them getting a surprise they weren’t expecting, finding a hidden food. It is not a substitute for providing the whole vegetable as our toddler still needs to learn…
learn how the vegetable looks.
learn how the vegetable tastes.
learn how the vegetable feels, both in their hands and the mouthfeel.
They need to learn these things if they are to include them in their diet longer term, throughout life.
De-constructed meals
Sometimes meals with food all mixed together can be overwhelming for some toddlers. Mixed meals can make foods which were previously accepted food be harder to recognise, and therefore less likely to be eaten. Serving foods individually may give your toddler more confidence to eat. You can still eat from the same selection of available foods.
It’s about being respectful of their learning to eat without you just serving whatever they want
You can’t always get what you want!
If they are requesting a food that isn’t on the menu today you can say that you know they like the food, explain you have prepared other foods today and they will get their choice another day. They don’t always get their favourite.
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