Introducing new foods to your fussy eater’s diet can be intimidating especially knowing where to start. Hopefully the following tips give some ideas on how to start introducing new smells, tastes and foods.
- Consider the foods your child will currently eat, do they show preferences to temperature, texture or flavours? Try introducing new foods which are similar to what they will already tolerate. Does your fussy eater love chicken nuggets? Try introducing another food that is also soft, warm, savoury and beige next.
- These SOS Feeding programs suggest following a sensory hierarchy when introducing new foods. So we start off with:
- tolerating the food- in the room, then at the table, near their plate, on the plate
- interacts with the food- helps with setting up the food, can serve the food to others, can touch it with another food.
- smells the food- in the same room, then near them, then smell it directly.
- touches the food- with fingertips, on their cheek, with their lips, then tongue, then teeth.
- Tastes: licks the food, bites a piece and spits it out straight away, bites and holds it in the mouth for a few seconds before spitting it out.
- Then finally chewing and swallowing!
- Research indicates some children may need to be exposed to new food items 15 to 30 times before they begin to tolerate and accept the new food item. This can make expanding your child’s diet a longer process than you might have originally thought, this is ok, normal and healthy!
- Make it fun! Get your child involved in the food preparation process, make a fruit salad together with The Wiggles as your theme song. Not only is this motivating for your child but interacting with and touching the new food items can help your child become more familiar and comfortable with them.
- If you weren’t sure about how to further proceed you can always contact your friendly team at My Therapy Space.