Be Patient… Offer New Foods Over and Over Again

Your child may refuse foods the first time they are offered. Be patient - offer the food again another time. You may need to offer a food 5 to 15 times or more before they will learn to like it. Parents often give up after less than 3 times. Don't pressure your child to eat a new food.

Tips to Help Your Child Accept a Wider Variety of Foods

Take the mystery out of a food by talking about it, reading storybooks about it, and by letting your child help prepare it.

If your child says that they don't like the food, say "Oh, okay," or ignore it. If you allow your child to say "no" to food, it helps them to feel free to say "yes" more often. Allow your child to spit out food they don't like, politely.

When your child does not drink milk, try to find the reason why. It might be the temperature, or perhaps others at the table are not drinking milk. When your child does not eat meat, it might be the taste or texture. When your child does not eat vegetables, perhaps they have heard messages from friends, family or TV that they should not like vegetables. In homes where the parents and others eat vegetables regularly, children rarely dislike them.

Offer a new food along with a familiar one. If your child doesn't eat the food, try again without pressure, another day.

Children, like adults, have their likes and dislikes. Children also have more taste buds on their tongue than adults, so flavours may be more intense to them, than to you. If you ever feel frustrated with how your child is eating, think about their perspective. 

To help encourage healthy eating habits for a lifetime, make eating a social and enjoyable time.