Before your baby can stand, walk, run, or talk, they will learn to eat. Mastering mealtime goes beyond just grasping finger foods or using a spoon; it also involves developing a taste for new flavors and textures. Because you can't force anyone to eat, it's important to consider how to get your baby interested in food.
Introducing kids to a wide range of foods before age 2 is a kind of "preventive medicine" against picky eating, says feeding expert Karen Le Billon, PhD, author of Getting to Yum: The 7 Secrets of Raising Eager Eaters. Long-term studies show that eating patterns established in infancy (healthy or unhealthy) influence choices throughout childhood, adolescence, and even adulthood.
It's a lot easier to instill healthy food habits in your baby or toddler than an 8-year-old. Here's how you can help your child become a healthy eater, starting with solid foods.
1. Adjust Your Expectations
You don't expect your child's first steps to turn into a sprint or day one of potty training to be accident-free. "A love of new foods is not innate. It's something that needs to be taught," says Dr. Le Billon. She calls discovering new foods and flavors "taste training" and emphasizes patience.
Case in point: Research has shown that babies will eat more of a particular fruit or vegetable after they've tasted it between eight and 15 times. But many parents give up after three to five tries if their child doesn't like it.
"Just like learning to read, kids can learn to eat well," says Dr. Le Billon. But it takes time—and not everyone will learn at the same rate. So when you're tempted to write off your child as a "bad eater" or "picky," remember that they're still learning.
2. Offer a Variety of Foods
To get your baby interested in food, offer as many flavors as possible in these first two years. Most children become less agreeable and begin refusing new foods (even well-liked ones) around age 2.
So, it's a numbers game: If they've been exposed to a wide array of tastes, they'll still be eating more kinds of foods when this finicky phase hits than they would have if they'd been fed a smaller variety from the start, says Natalie Digate Muth, MD, co-author of The Picky Eater Project.
3. Offer a Variety of Textures
Consider supplementing purees with large spears of well-cooked sweet potato, ripe avocado, or steamed zucchini your baby can pick up and gnaw on.
In research, babies fed a variety of different-textured applesauce (smooth, lumpy, and diced) grew to enjoy a greater range of textures than babies fed mostly smooth applesauce.
In another study, 7-year-olds who hadn't been given lumpy solids until after 9 months of age ate a smaller number of foods and had more feeding problems than those who got lumpy solids between 6 and 9 months.
4. Prioritize a Calm Table
A child's pickiness may be a response to a tense mealtime situation, says pediatric dietitian Natalia Stasenko, RD. "Anxiety and stress are appetite suppressants for your child," she says. "Family meals are about being together, talking, and connecting, not counting the number of bites your child takes."
When you interfere less with your baby's eating and focus on appreciating your meal, you're modeling healthy enjoyment of food and creating a safe, accepting, and happy eating environment for your child.
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5. Change What You Serve When
Hummus and steamed carrots for breakfast? Soup for snack time? Sure. "Young kids don't yet have set ideas about what's eaten when," says feeding expert Dina Rose, PhD, author of It's Not About the Broccoli. "So take advantage."
When kids and parents get stuck in notions of what meals and snacks should look like, that can lead to unhealthy choices, like cereal with lots of added sugar in the morning and pretzels or crackers for snacks.
6. Let Your Baby Make a Mess
Don't rush to wipe your child's face or discourage them from playing while they eat. Babies need to experience food with all of their senses.
Squishing and smearing their meals teaches important lessons about texture and builds a child's familiarity with different foods, says pediatric feeding specialist Melanie Potock, co-author of Raising a Healthy, Happy Eater. "Kids are programmed from birth to explore with their hands and mouth," she says. "When kids are on a path to adventurous eating, part of that journey is about getting messy."
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7. Serve a Fruit or Vegetable at Every Meal and Snack
Getting your baby to eat more veggies might be as simple as serving them at every opportunity. They may not eat what you offer every time, but setting this goal means your child will be guaranteed regular exposure to fruits and vegetables, says Dr. Rose. And the more familiar your child is with a particular food, the more accepting they're likely to be.
Your child will also grow up knowing that we eat veggies at all times of the day, not just at dinner (when many little kids are too fussy and tired to be receptive to new or challenging foods). And even if they only take a few bites each time, that adds up to multiple servings a day!
8. Downplay Dessert
All too often, dessert turns into a major source of conflict and stress between parents and kids, so nip that in the bud now.
Consider ending most meals with a piece of fruit (or just skipping a sweet capper altogether). It's OK to have a traditional dessert like cookies and cake occasionally, but try this surprisingly effective strategy from family therapist and feeding expert Ellyn Satter, RDN, author of Child of Mine: Feeding With Love and Good Sense: If you're going to offer a sweet treat, serve it along with the meal to downplay its significance.
Sure, your child may sometimes eat the dessert first or even mid-meal, but that's OK. If you keep the portion size small (and don't offer seconds), they'll most likely eat their other foods too. You can avoid linking dessert with emotions by never using it as a punishment or a reward—even for finishing that entire serving of veggies.
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9. Communicate Positive Messages Early
Your child is building their language skills now, so take advantage of that by talking about food, suggests pediatric dietitian Jill Castle, RD, co-author of Fearless Feeding.
When you serve a snack, say, "Let's sit down to eat so we can really enjoy it." Talk about hunger and fullness by asking, "Is your belly happy, or is it still hungry?" If your child doesn't like what's served, assure them, "I know you want X, but we don't eat the same things every day. We'll have X again soon."
Your baby may not understand the meaning of everything you say, Castle says, "but you're making the conversation about food, eating, and appetite a normal part of everyday life."
10. Don’t Fall Into a Rut
Want to avoid having a kid who'll eat only one brand of bread or one type of cheese? From the very start, mix up the brands, varieties, sizes, shapes, and flavors of the foods you serve.
For instance, instead of serving just white rice, serve brown, red, black, steamed, fried, and rice mixed with vegetables and other grains like quinoa. Your child may come to prefer one kind or another, but they'll probably also be agreeable to eating other types too.
11. Ignore the Yucks
If your baby wrinkles their nose when they eat pureed broccoli, don't assume they hate it. Studies show that a grimace is a perfectly common facial expression during feeding, but it doesn't mean babies don't like the flavor or never will.
That's why you'll sometimes see babies grimacing while still happily eating. Ditto for toddlers who say, "I don't like it," which is often code for "I don't know it," explains Dr. Le Billon. If your child absolutely refuses a particular food, take it away without commenting and try again in a few days or weeks.
12. Serve Vegetables First
Kids are typically more receptive when they're hungry. Dr. Le Billon advocates for a "first course" of veggies. Or offer veggies as a snack the hour before dinner—either the veggie you're serving with dinner or another from the fridge. That way, even if your child doesn't eat the vegetables you serve with the main meal, you know they've already had a serving or two.
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13. Focus on Tasting, Not Eating
With each taste, the more your baby will interested in a food. But tasting simply means the food touches the taste buds—your child doesn't have to swallow it.
By removing the pressure to chew and swallow, you may encourage children to try more foods, says Leann Birch, PhD, professor of food and nutrition at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. Even toddlers can be shown how to spit food into a napkin politely.
Your child may be even more willing to try new foods when you serve very small amounts, such as just two or three tiny bites.
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14. Avoid the Kids’ Menu
From the very beginning, skip the notion of "kid food" versus "grown-up food." Instead of ordering from the kids' menu—typically an uninspired mix of hot dogs, nuggets, and mac and cheese—ask for a small plate for your child and serve them bites from your meal.
15. Unpack Your Own Baggage
Research has found that children's veggie repertoire is linked to their parent's preferences. "If you have food hang-ups or weight worries, these may come through when feeding your child," says Castle. That can interfere with your child forming a healthy relationship with food. View your child as a clean slate, an opportunity to do things differently than when you were young.
