Feeding strategies for picky eaters

A decrease in appetite between 2 and 6 years of age is recognised as a normal

feature of child development that many children experience (Tharner et al., 2014). As

a result, picky eating is a common concern for parents of young children. Food

preferences can vary on a weekly, if not daily, basis. There is evidence that children

need to try novel or new foods many times before accepting them as part of their

normal diet. Whilst the phenomenon of picky or fussy eating tends to resolve (or

begin resolving) itself by the time children are of school-going age, for parents of 3-

year-olds, it is a very real, persistent and difficult issue to navigate.

This sentiment was certainly echoed during the consultation phase for the

forthcoming wave of data collection with Cohort 24 at age three. During the parents’

focus groups, picky eating was identified as one of the most frequently flagged

concerns. Parents spoke about having to ‘fool’ their children into eating healthier and

more diverse foods, and how they were often tempted to revert to serving their child

less healthy (junk) food, in the hope that it would be better received by the child.

There exists a variety of measures to gauge picky eating behaviour amongst children

(Brown & Perrin, 2020). These include the 6-item food fussiness subscale (of the

Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire), three items from the Child Feeding

Questionnaire, the 8-item Stanford Feeding Questionnaire, the 3-item Eating

Behaviour Questionnaire, the Oregon Research Institute Child Eating Behavior

Inventory, the 6-item Child Food Neophobia Scale and the 10-item Picky Eating

Questionnaire. Whilst these tools vary in terms of length and detail, there is

substantial overlap in terms of the core questions asked.

Recommendation for Cohort 24 at 3 years:

•Review the above listed measures and select a set of questions that gather information pertaining to the following; whether the parent considers their child to be a picky/fussy eater, if the child is resistant to the introduction of new foods into their diet, and if their diet is varied.

•The selected items could be included with the primary caregiver main questionnaire, possibly with a ‘show card’ option in case the child is present.

Use of emergency health care in lieu of GP service