But new research suggests picky eating is an issue parents and physicians should pay closer attention to, drawing a link between children’s food-related selectivity and their risk for broader psychological issues, including anxiety and depression.
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In a new study published today in Pediatrics, researchers argue that even moderate picky eating habits in children are tied to trouble to come. Of them, about 18 percent are moderately picky and of the remaining children, about 3 percent are severely picky.
“These are not children who don’t like broccoli and won’t touch a tomato”, said psychologist Nancy Zucker, the study’s lead author and director of the Duke Center for Eating Disorders. “Parents who pretend and joke with their children offer cues to distinguish the difference between the two and toddlers take advantage of these cues to perform”, said one of the researchers Elena Hoicka from the University of Sheffield in Britain.
As a general rule, parents attribute selective eating to just a phase that all children go through.
Some of the results were not surprising; for instance, picky eaters tended to have an overall sensory experience that was intense and slightly askew, including heightened sensitivity to food textures, as well as to smells, visual cues and motion. This can be something bigger than just selective eating.
Experts also say the take-home message for parents is that extreme picky eating is not your fault.
Silverman suggests that if parents notice a pattern of selective eating for two weeks or more, they should speak to their child’s pediatrician about seeing a mental health professional.
Severe pickiness in children is a condition called avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, a disorder added in 2013 to the latest edition of a widely used psychiatric manual.
Most parents have encountered kids who like a food one day, then decide they hate it the next.
CBS Local News states the researchers believe that the best way to prevent children from becoming picky eaters is to make mealtimes enjoyable and to incorporate and introduce new foods to kids randomly.
Many a parent will have despaired at trying to convince their children to “eat their greens”, but at what point does picky eating represent more than just misbehavior? Apart from emotional complications, this problem rarely affects the development or growth of kids.
It’s normal for young children to go through a period when they are wary of unfamiliar foods or refuse to consume more than a handful of different items, though most kids outgrow this during elementary school.
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“The question is, when is picky eating truly a problem?” She cited things like time to play a video game or watch a favorite program if they have tasted a challenging food at dinner.
