PICKY EATING QUIZ

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Is Your Kid Really a Picky Eater? ………… Or Not?

Is your child just going through a normal picky toddler phase?

Are they developing particular food aversions?   Do they have developmental or physiological issues?

Take the quiz to see what category your kid’s picky eating might fall into.

Answer either “yes” or “no” to the questions below.

Give yourself a score of 1 for every time you answer “yes”.

A “no” scores 0.

At the end, add the number of “yes” scores to see what category your total might fit into.

Total YES: ____________

Your Picky Eating Quiz Results

Picky eaters are not all the same.  What parents call picky eating covers a broad spectrum of behaviors and the issue isn’t always just about the food.  However, research suggests four general categories of behaviors.  Knowing which category your child falls into may help you develop helpful responses.

Add all your “yes” responses and look at the four different categories below to find the range your total fits into.

Type 1: A Typical Eater

(0-2 points)

Your child happily eats some types of foods from all the food groups.  They are willing to try new feeds even if they don’t continue to eat them.  They are “typical eaters”.

A little fussiness is not uncommon especially in toddlerhood.  Innate mechanisms can be responsible for a dislike of bitter tastes, especially bitter vegetables.  It is common to prefer sweeter tastes.

Children’s taste buds are more sensitive than adults so it may take a little time for them to accept different tastes.

Tips to Support A Typical Eater

Keep your child involved with age-appropriate activities as learning where their food comes from, growing, shopping and preparing their food.  Always eat together as a family.  Encourage autonomy by allowing them to choose from a variety of healthy foods.

Type 2: An Average Picky Eater

(3-5 points)

A score in this range suggests that your child probably has some strong likes and dislikes and may restrict some food groups.  They usually have around 20-30 foods in their diet and aren’t particularly fussy about the style of cooking, presentation or brands.  They may ignore or not eat a new food placed on their plate but don’t usually get overly distressed about it.

Most 1 to 5 year olds could be classed as “average picky eaters” who then naturally expand their food preferences when offered a variety of foods.

Tips to Support An Average Picky Eater

As with a typical eater, have your child involved with age-appropriate activities relating to their food and meals.  Always eat together as a family and serve the same food for everyone.  Encourage autonomy by allowing them to choose from a variety of healthy foods.  Make sure you always serve at least one food at a meal that they typically eat.

It is also a good idea to avoid making any negative comments about food or eating style.  Discourage your child from making negative comments as well.

Type 3: An Extreme Picky Eater

(6-12 points)

Extreme picky eaters typically eat less than 20 foods and react strongly with a tantrum or gaging when a new or different food is on their plate. The extreme picky eater drains parents and stress levels at meals are usually pretty high. It seems there’s no way out of short order cooking and the thought of them eating a new food is like a pipe dream.

They often food jag, eating a particular food frequently and then without warning, have nothing further to do with it.   They may also be very particular about only eating food of a certain color, cooked a certain way or at a certain temperature. If the slightest thing is “wrong” with the food, they won’t eat it.

Being a parent of an extreme picky eater can be very stressful as you may never know if or what your child is going to eat.

Tips to Support An Extreme Picky Eater

Firstly, consider all the strategies previously listed as these will also be helpful for you.

Set a meal and snack time schedule.  Serve meals and snacks according to a predictable routine, with only water in between meals and snacks. Aim for around 3 hours between meals.  This allows children to actually be hungry when it comes time to eat.

Family meals, seated at the table, are most important, so be sure to incorporate family meals whenever possible.

Type 4: An Ultra Picky Eater

(13 -20 points)

The Ultra Picky Eater is a term only I use, and it’s basically an extreme picky eater that’s highly limited. Often kids in this category only have a few different foods that they eat day in and day out. Birthdays are stressful, they can’t stand to watch others eat, and forget different brands of the few foods they do eat.

A child in this category may also have low-weight concerns because they aren’t eating enough.

If you’re a parent of an ultra-picky eater, you likely feel like your kid is so severe that nobody can relate because their picky eating is on a whole other level.

How to help The Ultra Picky Eater:

First, take a deep breath and realize that there are many layers to picky eating. And, that no matter how limited your child’s diet is, it can improve. I’ve seen it happen repeatedly in the most extreme cases.

Start by not pressuring your child to eat and use a small side plate to start serving family style, see if they can serve themselves a small amount. If that’s too big of a leap, then start by having them pass the food. Any interaction they have is a step in the right direction.

The key is to begin to associate eating with something positive.

define-picky-eating

DEFINING PICKY EATING

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Do You Have A Picky Eater At Your House?

Does your child fuss and reject food once in a while or do you have daily battles at meal times?

Every child is unique with his or her own particular likes and dislikes, which can sometimes change on a daily basis. Their overall appetite may also be equally unpredictable. Toddlers and pre-schoolers (& sometimes older children) commonly go through a stage of being very “picky eaters”.

Studies show that as many as 1 in 4 toddlers can be defined as ‘food ejectors’ and refuse to eat what has been prepared for them at least half of the time. They may reject anything that is in any way different to what they are used to or that may be presented in a different way or they may have food “fads”, eating only very specific and limited favorite foods – their “flavor of the month”. As long as these are relatively healthy choices there is little need to worry.

How is “picky eating” defined then?

I see picky eating on a continuum with the occasional toddler or ‘fusspot’ eating at one end and more difficult selective eating and food rejection at the other and many variations in between.

Let’s look at some definitions.

The term picky eater has been defined in a number of different ways.

For instance, Marchi and Cohen (1990) defined picky eating by the presence of three of the following child behaviors:

  • does not eat enough
  • is often or very often choosy about food
  • usually eats slowly
  • is usually not interested in food

To me, this definition covers the milder (left) of my continuum and is very typical of toddler-hood. It could cover those children who do actually eat most of the time but may only eat a couple of very specific meals and nothing else. For instance, won’t eat any vegetable, won’t eat any fruit, will not eat “green” things or will only eat “white” foods.

On the other hand, Timimi, Douglas and Tsiftsopoulou (1997) looking at children aged 4 to 14 years defined fussy and picky eating as; “a specific and persistent pattern of behavior consisting of a refusal to eat any foods outside of a limited range of preferred foods”.Father With Toddler

They also included accompanying behaviors such as resisting attempts as self-feeding, gagging, spitting out food, mealtime disruptive behaviors, playing with food at mealtimes, excessively slow eating and difficulties swallowing or chewing food. This definition seems to be more toward the more severe end of the continuum.

Picky with real food vs processed ‘food like substances’

Once, a picky eater was defined as one who would only eat a limited number of foods but, for the most part, those foods would have been “real” foods. For children today the risk is that picky eating may mean that they will only eat highly processed, high energy but nutrient devoid fast foods and convenience snacks such as crisps, crackers, processed cereals and such. So at a time when the food that your child does choose to eat may be highly processed, additive laden and not containing the vital nutrients that a small body needs to grow and develop, it is vital that fussy or picky eating is addressed as soon as possible.