MSU Extension Nutrition

For many caretakers, mealtimes can turn from bonding moments to battles when food aversion enters the picture. Whether it's a toddler refusing vegetables or a preschooler struggling with sensory sensitivities, food aversion can significantly affect nutrition, stress levels, relationships, and quality of life for everyone involved. 

Food aversion is more than just picky eating. It is a strong dislike of or refusal to eat certain foods based on underlying causes. To overcome it, we must understand what is driving it for a specific individual. In children, it often emerges during early developmental stages. It commonly stems from sensory-based aversions (such as discomfort with texture, taste, smell, and appearance), negative past experiences such as food poisoning or choking, or even anxiety. 

Seen through that lens, food aversion is not about being difficult, but rather a protective response. That said, food aversions can make mealtimes and eating difficult to the extent that it may impact a child’s nutrition and socialization behaviors.

Let’s look at what caretakers, parents and guardians, childcare providers, teachers and others can do to help children overcome their food aversions.

A Shift in Strategy: From Control to Connection 

Rather than forcing foods or using pressure tactics, which research shows can backfire, many nutritionists are turning to intuitive eating and responsive feeding as healthier, evidence-based approaches. These approaches focus on maintaining trusting relationships between children and their caretakers while slowly easing children into non-threatening experiences with food.  

Intuitive eating can be adapted for all ages. The main idea is that eating is not one-size-fits-all. Rather, each person eats according to what feels right for their physical and mental health. Intuitive eating is based on principles that encourage individuals to honor their hunger and fullness, reject diet mentality, make peace with all foods and respect their body’s needs and preferences. All children are born with intuitive eating habits, but several considerations including neurodivergence, negative experiences or social pressures can make listening to and following natural body cues difficult for some. Intuitive eaters learn to trust their natural hunger cues again and based on those, choose or reject foods. 

Responsive feeding, sometimes called authoritative feeding, mirrors intuitive eating principles. It is a caregiver-led approach, yet also a child-responsive approach to mealtimes. Caregivers provide the what, when, and where, with meals offered at regular times in stress-free and minimal-distraction settings. Children decide how much and whether to. It involves both children and caregivers respecting a child’s natural hunger cues and each other’s roles/responsibilities at mealtimes. There should be no bribing, threat of punishment, or pressure to take "just one more bite." No matter the underlying cause of a food aversion, a responsive feeding approach removes stress or anxiety from eating and instead empowers children to take the lead in safe settings.  

Practical Tips for Managing Food Aversion 

At MSU Extension, community nutrition instructors are no strangers to introducing new foods to young children. They work to make good nutrition more attainable for children by providing them with opportunities to learn about, access and consume healthy food.  

Whether children have food aversions, are picky eaters, or have just never tried something before, it can be a challenge to get them to try new foods. MSU Extension Community Nutrition Instructors aim to actively engage children with healthy food, in whatever way they can, to ease that challenge. As Janelle Kantola, a SNAP-Ed community nutrition instructor in Washtenaw County says, “The more they [the children] actually assist with any part of the process, the more likely they are to try it. Could be as simple as pushing the button on the blender for a smoothie. Could be a vote between trying two different things. Could be going out to the garden and growing radishes.” 

See the tips below for other ideas that community nutrition instructors have shared to make children more comfortable eating:  

Tip #1: Start with exposure, not expectations. Repeated, pressure-free exposure to a food can help. Do not force a food but continue offering it. Let the child explore with all five senses. They can look, touch, smell, lick or play with the food first.  

Tip #2: Adults, be curious. Be willing to follow a child’s lead and learn from them. What works for a child, what do they love, why do they love it? Provide a few options and let the child vote on what to try or how to try it. 

Tip #3: Do not try to trick children. A sense of trust and safety is paramount; more than a child consuming a specific item or ingredient.  

Tip #4: Model positive eating behaviors. Children learn by example. Show enjoyment and variety in your own meals. 

Tip #5: Use food bridges. Connect a preferred food to a new one. Serve a familiar dip with a fruit or vegetable, add a new ingredient to an old favorite, or introduce a new food item with a texture similar to one the child already loves. Try different color variations to see if one is more appealing.  

Tip #6: Eating is not the only way to engage with food. Involving children in gardening and food preparation can help them become more comfortable with food. At first, they might want to only touch or smell it, but then they might be curious about how their creation tastes. 

Tip #7: Create a calm eating space. Minimize distractions and keep the mood light and social. Be consistent in when and how meals are offered to avoid stress (or inappropriate snacking) caused by schedule changes. 

Tip #8: Be patient. Responsive feeding requires empathy. It means recognizing a child’s internal barriers, as well as different families’ challenges in working through an array of financial, time and social variables.  

Tip #9: Seek help when needed: If aversion is extreme or impacts growth, consult a dietitian or feeding specialist. 

Food aversion can be challenging, but with patience, understanding, and the right tools, families and children can rebuild a healthy relationship with food. This can help everyone at the table feel more seen and more satisfied.