Feeding Littles
  • Home
  • About
    • Meet The Experts
    • Baby Jack
  • Online Courses
    • Babies
    • Toddlers
  • Store
  • Success Stories
  • Blog
    • Featured Blog Posts
  • Favorite Products
  • Contact
  • Social Media

Helping your Child Branch Out from Starchy Foods

1/2/2020

 
Feeding Littles | It's completely normal for your child to enjoy beige, starchy foods. Here's some tips on how to use your child's love of these starchy foods to start to enjoy other foods.

You are not a bad parent if your kid loves beige, starchy foods!

Foodie Judy here. I’m an Occupational Therapist specializing in feeding therapy with babies and toddlers. No matter how much variety you serve your children, it is still normal for them to prefer crunchy, beige, starchy foods - and cheese.  It doesn’t mean you messed up. It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with your child. We hope they’ll still eat many other foods, but yes - many kids tend to gravitate toward starches, snacks and anything with cheese.

Why do kids prefer these foods?
  1. First off, they taste great! When Megan does diet assessments with adults most people report that they love starchy or snack foods (and anything with cheese). The carb/salt combo is very palatable. There’s nothing shameful about liking the taste of these foods.
  2. Your toddler may find that a crunchy texture gives them the jaw resistance that teaches their mouths where the food is located. They learn that when they feel this crunch, it feels good inside their mouth, and because of this they learn to seek out crunchy foods more often. Check out our post on why kids prefer crunch from an oral-motor and sensory perspective (and how to utilize their preference to expand what they’ll eat).
  3. Many kids gravitate toward bread and pasta because they’re easy to chew and have a predictable, mild flavor. Think of how unpredictable very colorful food is - a blueberry can taste sour or sweet. Beige = safe and comfortable.
  4. Illness can alter your child’s sense of smell or taste. They may want these safe foods more when sick.

How can you help your kiddo branch out from beige foods?
  1. Take our Toddler Course! We walk you through basic feeding therapy techniques in a simple, manageable way!
  2. Count any interaction with a new food as a win.
  3. Serve less familiar toppings, sauces or entrees with a familiar beige starch.
  4. Make sure to check out the post on crunchy foods - there are some great strategies in it!

Picture

Comments are closed.

    Authors

    Megan and Judy, co-owners of Feeding Littles, bring you helpful info on food, nutrition, picky eating, and feeding young children. Megan McNamee MPH, RDN is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Judy Delaware, OTR/L is an Occupational Therapist specializing in feeding therapy with children 3 and under in Boulder, Colorado. Megan and Judy are both moms of two and love helping families develop a healthy appetite for all foods! 

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017

    Categories

    All
    Allergy Friendly
    Appetizers
    Babies
    Baby
    Baby Food
    Baby Led Weaning
    Baby-led Weaning
    Birthday
    Bottle Feeding
    Breakfast
    Breastfeeding
    Constipation
    Cups
    Desserts
    Dieting
    Dinner
    Drinking Water
    Family Meal Toolkit
    Feeding Therapy
    Gagging
    Grocery Shopping
    Halloween
    High Chair
    High Protein
    Holidays
    Hydration
    Infant Feeding
    Intuitive Eating
    Lunch
    Meal Planning Tips
    Motherhood
    Offer The Rainbow
    Omegas
    Popsicles
    Pregnancy
    Printables
    Recipes
    Safety
    Salad
    School Lunch
    Selective Eaters
    Self Love
    Sensory Processing
    Snacks
    Spoon Feeding
    Sugar
    Supplements
    Teething
    Toddlers
    Trader Joe's
    Traditional Feeding
    Travel
    Vitamin D
    Yogurt

    RSS Feed

The contents of this site are opinions of Feeding Littles LLC partners unless otherwise noted. The information on this site and the products featured are not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any type of disease and are not intended as personalized medical advice. Any decision you make regarding your health and medical treatments should be made with a qualified health provider.
© COPYRIGHT 2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
    • Meet The Experts
    • Baby Jack
  • Online Courses
    • Babies
    • Toddlers
  • Store
  • Success Stories
  • Blog
    • Featured Blog Posts
  • Favorite Products
  • Contact
  • Social Media