II. Epidemiology
- Incidence: Up to 50% of those under 2 years
III. Physiology
- Childhood eating behaviors are impacted by many factors
- Food choices (or lack thereof)
- Sensory impact (texture, taste, color)
- Parental response to a child's eating behaviors
- Aversion to trying new foods is part of normal development
- One of many signs that child is exercising their autonomy
- Significantly restricted diet (limited to a few foods) may however result in adverse effects
- High Carbohydrate, highly sweetened foods may replace a more nutritionally adequate diet
- Galloway (2003) J Am Diet Assoc 103(6): 692-8 [PubMed]
IV. Risk Factors
V. Differential Diagnosis
VI. Management
- Review growth charts to confirm no Growth Delay
- Children are wary of new foods
- Promote calm and positive mealtime experiences
- Offer reassurance
- Picky Eating is very common in toddlers (up to 50%)
- Typically transient and resolves spontaneously
- May take exposure to a food up to 10-15 times before they accept it
- Avoid punishment or reward as this may exacerbate the problem
- Offer a wide variety of healthy foods at each meal
- Child decides which foods and how much to eat
- Those items not eaten may be re-served as leftovers
- Older siblings who eat a broader variety of foods may be a good influence (modeling)
- Combine foods in fun ways
- Limit milk to 24 ounces daily in toddlers
- Limit juice to 6 ounces per day
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Related Studies
| Concepts | Finding (T033) |
| SnomedCT | 373664004 |
| English | picky eater (symptom), picky eater, Picky eater, Picky eater (finding) |
| Spanish | exigente para comer (hallazgo), exigente para comer, quisquilloso para comer |
