What To Do Before Age 2 To Reduce Picky Eating (Backed By Research)

Inside: Worried about picky eating? A dietitian-mom shares the research-backed strategies she wishes she’d known sooner.

A fork with a handle like a carrot holds a piece of broccoli, and a spoon with a handle shaped like a rabbit holds some peas. Both are sitting on a wood table.

Maybe your friend complains about her toddler who will only eat American cheese slices and plain pasta, and you swear that will NOT be my child!

Or maybe that IS your child and you’ve vowed that things will be different with your next one.

Either way, I have good news. There’s actually a lot you can do in the first two years of life to help your child grow into a confident and even adventurous eater. This period is a prime opportunity to influence your child’s tastebuds and eating habits—now, throughout childhood, and even into adulthood.

And the strategies are a lot more doable than you might think.

Because while it’s never too late to teach your child healthy eating habits, it’s a whole lot easier to start off on the right foot with a baby or toddler.

Below are 7 things you can do from pregnancy through toddlerhood to help your child become a happy, healthy eater.

Why the first two years matter so much

Maybe your child just had their first few bites of solid food, or maybe you just found out you’re pregnant, and concerns about picky eating seem far off into the distant future.

There’s actually a very good reason to put this on your radar this very moment: The first two years of life are a sensitive and pivotal time for shaping food preferences. You can build familiarity and preference for healthy foods like fruits and vegetables now, which can influence your child’s eating for years to come.

In fact, there’s a period of time between 4-18 months dubbed the “Flavor Window”, a time when children are especially receptive to new flavors and food variety. Introducing a wide range of foods and flavors during this window may make kids more open to new foods as they grow.

When you’re pregnant…

1. Eat tons of foods and flavors

When you’re pregnant, your baby is introduced to foods and flavors from your own diet through amniotic fluid. Research has shown that when babies start eating solids, they may be more receptive to flavors they’ve already experienced in the womb.

In one study, babies whose moms were assigned to drink carrot juice daily during the last trimester of pregnancy or the first two months of breastfeeding seemed to enjoy carrots more and made fewer grimaces than babies whose moms were assigned to drink water.

A note for moms with terrible nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (like me!): Just aim for variety when possible. This is aspirational advice, not a reason for guilt. In the first trimester of both of my pregnancies, my personal variety would’ve been sour candy, chips, and vanilla cupcakes.

When you start feeding solids…

There used to be an expression “Food before one is just for fun”. We now know that isn’t the case. Research has shown that how babies experience starting solids actually has an impact on what foods they end up eating or rejecting.

After all, besides formula or breast milk, every flavor that passes your child’s lips now is brand new, so it’s a sensitive and important time for building familiarity to the flavors of healthy foods. New things can become familiar if they’re seen and tasted many times—and the foods that are familiar end up being the ones kids prefer.

2. Consider baby-led weaning

In baby-led weaning (BLW), babies are given “grasp-able” pieces of whole food to feed themselves. The pieces should be large enough that your baby can pick them up herself, like wedges of well-cooked sweet potato, large sticks of well-cooked carrot, large florets of soft, steamed broccoli, very ripe fruit like kiwi, a peeled banana, wedges of ripe avocado, and even pieces of soft, cooked meats, cooked eggs, and pieces of bread such as toast.

An important part of BLW is that you offer the food but your baby decides how much she eats and how quickly she eats.

Because babies are being introduced to different kinds of textures and table foods early on, it’s possible they may become more accepting of different kinds of foods as they get older. They may learn to like and prefer those grown-up table foods—and especially healthy whole foods like pieces of fruits and vegetables—more than a baby who is spoon-fed purees. Get information about BLW here.

3. Ignore Grimaces

If your baby wrinkles her nose when she eats pureed broccoli, don’t automatically assume she hates it. Researchers say that grimace is a common reaction to bitter flavors—but it doesn’t mean they don’t like the flavor or never will. That’s why you’ll sometimes see babies grimacing while still happily eating.

But if your baby is truly refusing a certain food, just try again another day.

4. Keep rejected foods in rotation

Research shows that babies will eat more of a particular fruit or veggie if they’ve tasted it at least 8-9 times. But research also shows that many parents give up after just 3-5 tries if their child doesn’t seem to like it.

Give your child a chance to experience a food and flavor repeatedly, because this builds familiarity and comfort–and what becomes familiar becomes preferred.

It may help to keep a list (on paper or your phone’s Notes app) of foods your baby has tried and how many times, so you can be sure to circle back.

5. Try different textures

Don’t stick with smooth purees longer than necessary. Babies who are kept on purees may have a harder time transitioning to new textures and accepting them.

In one study, 7-year-olds who weren’t given lumpy solids until after 9 months of age ate a smaller variety of foods and had more feeding problems than those who got lumpy foods sooner. Moving through textures gradually–from smooth to lumpy to soft finger foods–helps your baby become comfortable with the full range of what foods can feel like in their mouth.

Want all 20 strategies? Get the complete guide.

This blog post covers some of my favorite advice for raising a confident eater. But my complete guide, Let’s Tame Picky Eating, goes deeper on 20 strategies organized by developmental stage, with the research behind them.

And it comes with a free audio file so you can listen to the information as well.

It’s the resource I wish I’d had when my boys were babies!

It includes:
✔️ 20 specific, research-backed strategies
✔️ Guidance for each developmental stage through toddlerhood
✔️ Answers to common questions like “When should I worry?”
✔️ A free audio file if you want to listen instead of read while feeding your baby or talking a walk

Get the complete guide for just $7

Two wood plates for toddlers sit on a table. One is shaped like a robot and holds edamame. One is shaped like a rocket and holds crackers, peppers, and cucumbers.

When you get to the toddler years…

This is where things often go sideways with eating habits. After age one, kids start eating fewer fruits and veggies, having more sweets, and expressing a whole lot of….opinions. Picky eating tends to peak around age two as part of your child’s growing independence.

Your goal in these years: Maintain the healthy habits from the first year and stay the course, even when it feels like it isn’t working.

6. Serve a fruit and/or veggie at most meals and snacks

This doesn’t mean your child will always eat it. But it does mean that they’re getting regular exposure, which builds familiarity, which builds acceptance.

One trick: Offer veggies as the snack in the hour before dinner, when kids are hungriest. Whether or not they eat the veggies you serve with the meal, you know they’ve already had some. Read more about this strategy.

7. Back off

This is one of the most counterintuitive and important findings in feeding research: Pressuring kids to eat doesn’t work and may actually make things worse.

In one study, children ate less food and made more negative comments at mealtime when they were pressured to eat. In other research, kids who were told to eat something because it’s “good for them” reported liking that food less and ate less of it.

And in a study of college students, 72 percent who had been forced to eat a certain food as a child said they still won’t eat that food today.

I know backing off is easier said than done, especially when you’re worried about your child’s nutrition. But here’s one thing to do instead: Serve the food and use the phrase “you don’t have to eat it” if you get pushback. It can be a magic phrase at the dinner table because it instantly removes pressure. Try it!

When it’s more than picky eating

Some picky eating is normal, but there are signs that your child may need extra help, such as eating only a handful of foods, losing weight, or getting anxious around mealtimes. If that sounds familiar, talk to your pediatrician about a referral to a feeding therapist or registered dietitian.