June 3, 2009 For extreme fruit and vegetable avoiders...
I know you've heard the advice: you have to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables if you want your child to eat them too. But what if you eat plenty of apples and carrots in front of your kid, but he refuses to bite? Well, a new study out of England shows that something else might be going on. It's called Sensory Sensitivity.
Sensory Sensitivity refers to degree to which people notice changes in sensory stimuli. People who are considered "sensitive" perceive and react to very small changes in the way something looks or feels. For instance, they react to small changes in heat or light.
When it comes to eating there are four sensory dimensions that people respond to -- how something looks, how it feels, how it tastes and how it smells. If your child is highly sensitive to any of these sensory experiences than small changes in the food you serve can lead to a big response. Some extremely sensitive kids simply won't budge. So what should you do?
Well, you'll probably be tempted to respect your child's sensitivity by only providing foods that fall within the acceptable range of tastes, textures, smells or appearances, but that is the one thing you should absolutely not do. I know, you want to serve food your child likes and will eat because you don't want him going hungry, but here's the problem: if you only serve (or primarily serve) foods that are to your child's liking, you will reinforce (and probably narrow) the range of foods he'll accept.
Instead, figure out which aspect of the food your child is sensitive to (making sure that it's not really a control issue you are dealing with) and then develop a plan to incrementally expose your child to foods that vary on this dimension.
Let's say you figure out your child likes saucy foods such as apple sauce, yogurt, tomato sauce, etc. and rejects lumpy foods. Here's how you could work with yogurt to expand what your child eats. Start by giving your child the yogurt she enjoys. Then, you gradually add apple sauce to it so it has a little more texture. Next add small pieces of cut up apple. Reduce the amount of yogurt. Eventually you increase the size of the apple pieces, and decrease the amount of yogurt, until your child will eat the apple. When you're child accepts apple, introduce another fruit that has a similar texture.
You can start with any food your child likes. Parents are often quite successful starting with a baby food their child likes, then making a prepared baby food of the same flavor from home because it will have a slightly different texture, gradually add chunkier bits to the food until your child is off the puree entirely.
If your child is quite young and resists, then retreat and make the changes even smaller. If your child is a bit older than encourage him to feel the food with his hand or to put it in his mouth. Give him permission not to swallow it.
It takes time so you are going to have to be patient, but, I'm sad to report, you don't have much choice. The only way to get a sensorily sensitive children to eat a wider range of foods is to teach them to appreciate a wider range of sensory experiences.
Exposure. Exposure. Exposure. It's the only known way to increase the range of foods your child likes and eats.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.
P.S. The article I am referring to is: Coulthard, Helen and Jackie Blissett. 2009. "Fruit and vegetable consumption in children and their mothers. Moderating effects of child sensory sensitivity." Appetite 52:410-415.
Reader Comments (14)
It's weaning! So simple - why didn't I just "know" this 17 years ago!
Yes, you're right. The technique is very much like weaning. Sorry I didn't get to you in time to help you out 17 years ago - but you obviously survived!!! And maybe you can pass the technique on to the next generation - should they need it! Thanks for writing!
I've always been an extreme fruit-and-vegetable avoider (plus other foods as well - it's quite a challenge), and my three-year-old has similar tendencies. Starting exposure very gradually is a super idea. We've been requiring her to tolerate foods being on her plate. No need to eat them; just deal with them being served to you. It seems to help. I also like the idea of just holding the food, or putting it in your mouth - we'll have to try that as well.
I wish there had been better advice about this stuff 25 years ago for my poor parents, who had no idea how to deal with it. The pediatrician was of course no help ("she'll grow out of it!"). They ended up deciding it wasn't worth ruining our relationship over, and just let me eat potatoes - a wise move in the absence of any good research, and it kept me from having a miserable childhood, but now I get to deal with it as an adult. Sigh.
Katherine,
Thanks for your comment. I'm glad to hear your daughter is required to have the food on her plate. After all, she'll never eat it if it's not on the plate! Keep working on bringing your child into closer and closer contact with different foods: first the plate, then touching, then in the mouth, then swallowing. Side-by-side touch comparisons would be fun too! (Then side-by-side taste comparisons.)
Another thing you could consider is telling your daughter the negative effect on your life of being an extreme fruit-and-veggie avoider. It will help her know why you want a different food life for her.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Dina
Hello....I know its been awhile since this posted but I wanted to share my little victory.
My oldest son(7) is very sensitives to textures...my next oldest(5) wont eat what the oldest wont
For the last few years I fix dinner serve the children...if food has onions, broccoli, peppers they wont eat it...I have encouraged them to try it. IF they really just don't like it to gently move the food they don't like to the edge of their plate. My oldest ate cauliflower tonight for the first time and actually liked it. And my 5 year old is eating onions and peppers...and is ignoring what his brother doesn't like as he is finding he likes things the older one cant stand including broccoli and cauliflower.
It doesn't happen over night but after years of exposure it does happen.
Thanks for your tips and encouraging moms and dads to not give up.
Zan,
I am so happy to hear about your progress. It's not just the new food acceptance which is exciting, it's that your younger son is starting to identify what he will eat independently from his older brother. Hurray!!!
You deserve a lot of recognition for your endurance. It certainly paid off.
Congratulations.
Dina
Love this post! I agree that sensitivities play a huge role in what kids will or won't eat. Another thing I've noted with my own daughter is that these sensitivities can come and go -- one month, she'll be repulsed by inconsistent textures. Another month, she'll eat mixed foods with gusto. It's hard to keep up with sometimes!
One thing I would add - that I work on with my own clients - is to involve kids (even toddlers) in preparing food. Our instinct is to be the "sneaky" chef, add the applesauce and tiny bits of apples to the yogurt and hope he doesn't notice. Never works! Instead, get your child to *help* you mix the ingredients, let them be the "chef" and experiment. Sometimes, kids will get really, really into the process of playing with new foods -- and then eat none of it. Frustrating, I know! But over time, it reinforces a sense of exploration around food... and I find that kids are naturally inclined to sample their creations, eventually -- knowing exactly what's in their food and how it was made can help dampen those sensory issues!
Liz,
I totally agree with you that you have to be upfront about what goes into food. Being sneaky isn't the way to go: kids find out, feel alienated and tricked, and they learn that whatever is sneaked in is so bad they couldn't be told about it.
I also love what you have to say about kids playing with food. All kids, but especially ones with sensitivities, need to experience food on many sensory levels.
Thanks for your comment.
Dina
Hi Dina. I like what you have to say and would be most grateful for your input in my situation. My son seems very sensitive to smells. He's also a stubborn four-year-old, so I'm not sure exactly what issues I'm dealing with, but ever since he started solids he's been mostly uninterested in food (looooved the boob for a long time) and has refused to even try almost everything other than carbs. He now lives basically on peanut-butter sandwiches (wheat bread, natural pb), breakfast cereal (not the terribly sugary ones), apple juice and milk.
He's never eaten meat, fish, eggs, cheese, or vegetables. He used to eat apples, but hasn't gone near any fruit for a long time. I can't even get him to sit at the table when we're eating other food - especially if it smells of, well, food - so putting something on his plate is a lost cause. I know I've gone wrong, but there never seemed to be an opportunity to go right. Where do I start? (His little sister is a better eater, so I know it's not all my fault...)
Christine,
I'm not an expert on smell sensitivity but I do know that the basic approach is to gradually broaden your son's exposure. But, it sounds like you have other things going on as well. Most importantly, your son is very strong-willed, as you point out. It sounds like there is a lot of control going on too.
I recommend that you start switching up what foods you feed him within his limited diet. If you need to use breakfast foods for lunch, or dinner foods for breakfast, do it. Tell him that now he's old enough to eat like a big boy he has to eat different things for different meals. Don't introduce anything new. Use this technique for a few weeks to break the routine.
Then, slowly start making him stay in the vicinity of food he doesn't want to eat. Start with foods he used to eat, and especially, foods that aren't smelly. An apple is a good example. Insist on good behavior. Make clear the consequences of a tantrum (a timeout or some other appropriate correction). It's ok to reward good behavior too. For instance, every time that he doesn't have a tantrum around food he doesn't like he can earn a star towards something desirable. Remember, don't ask him to eat anything (it's behavior you're rewarding) and don't use food as the reward.
Once these two steps are in place you can begin thinking about how to introduce new foods. Let me know if you want to talk on the phone further about any of this.
Best of luck,
Dina
Thank you, Dina. I was excited to see your speedy reply and ran off and blogged about it, but just realised that I never thanked you over here.
Switching around his foods isn't a difficulty - he doesn't really mind when he gets what, so long as the "what" is an acceptable "what". Right now, I'm just trying to get him used to the notion that as he gets older he'll start to like more foods: that just because he doesn't eat something right now, he won't always feel that way about it. And that grown-ups are allowed have a few things they don't like too - that was news to him.
I will start at step two of your suggested plan, and see how it goes.
Christine,
It's good to know that your son doesn't care when he eats 'his" foods, as long as you stick within the acceptable range. However, I wonder if you have a verbal policy about switching it up? Or do you just do it and your son goes along with it? If not, you should do that and then consciously rotate - giving your son choices between 2 items as frequently as you can. The policy is important because it sets a structure for how/when foods are eaten and that mindset is important for your son to develop. Then, I wouldn't talk about "liking" or "not liking" foods. If your son hasn't eaten something he can't possibly know whether he likes it, and if he has an aversion because of smell, he might not want to eat something, but that's different than not liking it.
I suggest you start talking about what things look like, smell like, feel like and taste like. Talk about this in regard to the foods he currently eats and then, without tasting, the foods he doesn't eat. This exercise should really help a lot.
If you want to have some specific strategies, we can talk over the phone.
Best,
Dina
Hi Dina
Thank you so much for your articles, I feel like I am not that bad as a mum.
My daughter is 3 1/2 years old and food has been a struggle since day one. As a newborn, she would refuse bottle and formula. The poor nurses at the hospital tried and told me I have a stubborn one...my gosh do I ever!!
She is also ultra sensitive and gags or throws up easily. She can smell, look or taste something that doesn't agree with her and gag or throw up. For example she will see us eat an apple or veg and gag (if we are lucky) otherwise everything in her stomach comes out. We broken 2 washing machines because of her.
Her main diet is milk, ice cream, butter, plain pasta & plain rice. She never fuss over junk food, we have tried. She would rather eat butter than a pack of chips. She took a bite out of the chocolate Easter bunny & spat it out said it was yucky. Her cousin was overjoyed and ate the leftover in 1 min.
All the 'experts' we have seen always made me feel bad as if I have done the wrong thing or she will grow out of it. We always encourage her to try new things even lollies and happy if she will take a lick. She will try a new food 3 times and if she doesn't like it or made her sick, that little brain makes a note and that is it.
On the bright side we never have to worry that she will put a bug or a small toy in her mouth even as a baby.
Keep up the great work Dina
Linda
Linda,
I'm sorry to hear you have had such a difficult time feeding your daughter. And how awful for her too. Have you put together a plan to slowly desensitize your daughter to offensive smells, or looks, or tastes? I know she's young, but have you talked to her about gagging and ways to prevent it? You've probably done these things, but I thought I would ask because it seems doing this would be a slow process, but would be successful in the long run. Let me know if you want more tips and/or advice.
Best of luck,
Dina