Introducing Food to a Picky Eater

Introduction:

Food can be a stressful thing. Not only for a child or adult that experiences sensory overstimulation, but also for the parent trying to formulate a food plan that works for both them and their child. Atypical eating disorders are a common experience for many autistic children, which can include a wide variety of food avoidance behaviors. This can be anywhere from limited food preference and texture hypersensitivity, to pocketing food to avoid eating (Mayes et al., 2019). As a result, children with autism have much more “narrow” high-carb diets compared to their peers and are at risk for nutritional inadequacy with a variety of nutrients like protein and calcium (Sharp et al., 2013). This blog post will detail strategies you can utilize to introduce new foods to your child, your adult, or even yourself, and how those strategies can support formulating nutritional and diverse diets.

What are Food Textures?

While not encompassing all autistic individuals, a food’s texture or “mouth feel” can often make or break a meal. These textures generally come in 6 broad categories:

Crunchy: Ex. Carrots, Pretzels, Fried Tofu, Nuts, Apples

Chewy Ex. Grapes, Bread, Chicken Tenders, String Cheese, Jerky, Dehydrated Sweet Potatoes

Soft: Ex. Baked Potato, Lentils, Peas, Rice, Scrambled Eggs

Lumpy: Ex. Beans, Guacamole, Chunky Mashed Potatoes, Pomegranate 

Smooth: Ex. Hummus, Fruit Puree, Yogurt, Mashed Potatoes

For those sensitive to texture, biting into a non-preferred texture can both be immensely distressing and sickening to your child. By honing in on the food texture categories your child already prefers, the process of introducing new foods can change from insurmountable to doable. Your child may feel more secure in exploring the new food options presented to them, and this can be used as a foundation to gradually branch off into increasingly complex foods.

Strategies

1. Pairing Preferred and Non-Preferred Foods (Positive Reinforcement)

Giving the child a sense of control can go a long way in making them feel comfortable with trying out a new food. First, locate a non-preferred food you would like to introduce that is similar to a food that your child is already accustomed to eating (in texture or taste). This minimizes the amount of surprises for the child, as this familiarity gives the new food a better chance of being integrated into their palette 

The non-preferred food can be paired with a preferred food, and provided in small portions as a reward for trying the non-preferred food. This incentive to try out the non-preferred food acts as positive reinforcement and can be extended to other rewards (such as play, bonus screen time, etc). Don’t expect immediate results, as this process can take on average 10 food exposures before the child registers it into their food inventory (Practical Strategies, 2013).

2. Introducing Food with Play

Introducing the food before it is meal time can also help the child to understand what to expect. This can be showing your child pictures of the food, talking about the taste & texture of the food, or talking about each part of the food (onions in a tomato sauce, pulp in orange juice). You can also let your child play around with the food; let it sit in their hands and feel it on their body, as safety can come from familiarity. Making the introduction of food into a fun exploration can make meal time much more lighthearted for your child (Lucianovic, 2012).

3. Food Chaining

Similar to pairing preferred and non-preferred foods, food chaining is a method that strings together foods with similar tastes and textures to a preferred food in your child’s food palette, expanding it in a welcoming way (Fraker, 2007). An example of food chaining could be working with french fries as a base and moving to a baked sweet potato.

By planning a food chain into these steps (first diverging in taste, then diverging in texture, then combining both into one step), expanding your child’s food palette can feel much more realistic.

Conclusion

Caregivers can mix and match the above strategies to get a better understanding of how their child’s food palette functions, and from that understanding gain confidence in their ability to experiment. These strategies can also be mentioned to your primary care physician to explore further options and additional assistance from nutritionists or food experts.  Don’t be afraid to fail! Experimenting with different options is how you find out what works best for your child, and discovering what doesn’t work is equally as valuable towards making a comfortable and encouraging environment for your child to explore food in.

Recommended Guide: The Food Textures Cookbook, CARD-USF Resources

---

References:

Fraker, C. (2007). Food chaining: The proven 6-step plan to stop picky eating, solve feeding 

problems, and expand your child’s Diet. Da Capo Press. 

Fussy eating: Autistic children and teenagers. (2023). Raising Children Network. Retrieved February 15, 2024, from https://raisingchildren.net.au/autism/health-wellbeing/eating-concerns/eating-habits-asd

Innovations, B. (2022, January 12). Tips for Picky Eating and Autism. Behavioral Innovations. https://behavioral-innovations.com/blog/introduce-new-foods-to-child-with-autism/

Lucianovic, S. V. W. (2012). Suffering succotash: A picky eater’s quest to understand why we hate the foods we hate. TarcherPerigee.

Mayes, S. D., & Zickgraf, H. (2019). Atypical eating behaviors in children and adolescents with autism, ADHD, other disorders, and typical development. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 64, 76–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2019.04.002

Practical Strategies for Feeding Aversions in Children with Autism. (2013). CARD USF.
http://card-usf.fmhi.usf.edu/resources/materials/nutrition.html

Sharp, W. G., Berry, R. C., McCracken, C., Nuhu, N. N., Marvel, E., Saulnier, C. A., Klin, A., Jones, W., & Jaquess, D. L. (2013). Feeding Problems and Nutrient Intake in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Meta-analysis and Comprehensive Review of the Literature. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(9), 2159–2173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1771-5