Picky eating in toddlers is normal, but it can still be frustrating and stressful for parents — especially if your family’s mealtime setup is changing. Understanding why kids resist new foods (and what actually works to help them expand their palate) can turn mealtimes from battlegrounds into opportunities for slow, steady progress.
A parent on Reddit recently shared that their 2-year-old, once a pretty adventurous eater, now refuses most new foods — even pizza. For the past couple of years, they couldn’t eat together as a family due to space and schedules, so they made separate meals for him. Now that they’re moving into a home where they can sit at the table together, they’re hoping family meals will help. But for now, on outings, the toddler mostly eats… chips.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. And the good news is, you can help your toddler learn to try (and maybe even enjoy) new foods — but it’s going to take patience, persistence, and a few strategy tweaks.
Kids don’t decide to like a food after one bite — or even five. Research shows it can take a dozen or more exposures for a child to feel comfortable enough to eat something new. That’s dozens of times seeing it on their plate, maybe touching it, smelling it, or licking it… before they actually eat it.
The key: keep offering, without expectation.
“Just one bite” sounds reasonable to adults, but for toddlers it often backfires. Pressure can turn mealtime into a power struggle, making the food even less appealing. Instead, present the food matter-of-factly — it’s there, it’s part of the meal, and it’s totally up to them whether they eat it.
If your toddler’s been snacking all afternoon, they’re not going to feel adventurous at dinner. Space snacks so they arrive at the table ready to eat. Hunger won’t guarantee they’ll try the broccoli, but it makes them more likely to give it a chance.
Every meal should include at least one food you know your child will eat — bread, fruit, cheese, whatever it may be. Of course, it's also okay that you limit the portion so they don’t fill up only on that item, but having it there makes your kids feel safe and it build trust. Avoid serving a plate where every single thing is unfamiliar because most kids find that overwhelming.
Sometimes the dinner table feels like the highest-pressure place to try new foods. So take the pressure off. Offer a bite of something new while you’re cooking, make it part of a snack plate, or serve it at a picnic. Novelty plus low pressure can be magic.
One of the best things you can do is eat together, as a family, as often as possible. When toddlers see parents and siblings eating a variety of foods, it normalizes the behavior. They start to think, “Oh, I get it. This is just what we do - we eat lots of different things.” Even if they don’t try the new thing right away, you’re planting seeds for the future.
Family meals are also a great opportunity for modeling - especially the behaviors you want your kids to have. Like not bringing phones to the table, using a knife to cut food, or trying something that is new and you're unsure about! You don't have to make a big deal about it, but show that you're willing.
Between ages 2 and 6, kids go through a developmental stage called food neophobia — a fancy word for “fear of new foods.” It's developmentally appropriate, and completely normal!
It’s also an evolutionary safety mechanism that made sense when our ancestors foraged for food (probably prevented a few toddler ancestors from eating poisonous berries), but now it just means your kid turns up their nose at perfectly good roasted carrots.
The key is knowing this phase is normal, and it will pass — especially if you keep the pressure low and the exposure high.
If your toddler refuses carrots, try them raw instead of cooked. Serve apple rings instead of wedges. Offer the same food in different shapes, seasonings, or colors. Sometimes, the difference between “no way” and “sure, I’ll try” is as simple as cutting it differently.
Let your child help choose a vegetable at the store, stir something in the bowl, or sprinkle cheese on top. The more invested they are in the meal, the more likely they are to try what’s on the table.
Bottom line: This is a long game. Your goal isn’t to “fix” picky eating overnight — it’s to build a foundation of trust and familiarity with food. Keep showing up with patience, consistency, and a seat at the table, and you’ll see progress over time.
00:00 This week, let's talk about a situation that I see all the time. In fact, I recently saw this posted on Reddit. A parent wrote about how their, about their 2-year-old. But as a baby, he ate pretty well. He was willing to try new things, an adventurous eater. But as he's gotten older, he's about two and a half, he started refusing new foods. And so the parent was asking, what do I do? How can I help him enjoy more foods?
00:30 Now, this family wasn't regularly eating dinner together in part because of their schedule, which also meant that they were making a specific meal for their toddler. And in part because they didn't have a space to sit down together as a family, but they've just moved into a new house and for the first time they can actually sit down together and eat as a family. And this parent was writing, I'm really hoping that this will help him, that eating with the family, this eating as a family, again will stall if not reverse his picky eating. And so the parent was asking, what do I do? First of all,
01:05 What I have said in the past, what feels like I've said a million times in the past, if that sounds familiar to you, you are not alone and you're not doing anything wrong. Picky eating, especially that which occurs between the ages of two and six is completely normal. There's even a name for it. Food, neo phobia, food. Neo phobia is the tendency to reject or be reluctant to try new or unfamiliar foods. And as I said, it is natural and developmentally appropriate. In fact, a recent review article published in 2023 analyzed thousands of articles on food feeding, child eating food. Neo phobia found that between 14 and 44% of the populations examined exhibited some degree of neo phobia. It's normal. And if you think about it, um, there is probably some evolutionary benefit to being young and afraid to try new things. It probably saved our toddler ancestors, ancestor toddlers, from putting berries, poisonous berries in their mouths. Unfortunately. Now it means that your kid won't eat roasted carrots.
02:14 But here's the thing, you can help your child get more comfortable with new foods. There is a lot that we know about this and a lot that we can do. The fixes are relatively easy if you just look at them on the surface, but they will not happen quickly and they will not fix this problem of food, neo phobia or picky eating overnight. But with the right strategies, I promise you can make progress. So let's break them down. There are eight of them. Number one, repeated exposure is everything. You cannot, I mean, cannot offer a food one time and expect your child to decide if they like it. I mean, you can even expect to offer me something that's brand new and have me necessarily decide if I like it or not. And I have a lot of practice eating. Research tells us, and I've said this over and over again, it can take dozens of exposures for a child to try something before they decide if they like it.
03:10 That's dozens of times seeing it. That doesn't mean dozens of times eating a whole pile of it included in seeing it is touching it, smelling it, yes, maybe even licking it before they actually eat it. So your job is to keep showing up and keep putting that food on the table over and over, even if they ignore it, even if they push it away, even if they reject it outright, keep putting it on the table. Okay, number two, do this without pressuring. This one is just as big coercing, bribing, requiring just one bite. It may seem harmless to us, but to a toddler, it is pressure. And when we put pressure like that, it often backfires. The goal is to make new foods be a part of the scenery. It's there. You might notice it if you happen to pause and look around. You might even enjoy it occasionally, but you're not being pressured to stare at it.
04:05 Pick a food, serve it, let it sit there and let your child decide whether or not he or she will eat it. The key to this is that is how you build trust because when they know that you're not going to push them, they're actually more likely to uh, explore that food on their own. Okay, number three, hunger helps. So if your toddler has had a snack 30 minutes before dinner, they're unlikely to be curious about your new vegetable side dish, no matter how long it took you to make it. Spacing snacks so that your kids arrive at the table actually hungry will help. Now, that doesn't guarantee that they're going to taste the broccoli, but it definitely makes it more likely that they will say yes to trying something new or sort of familiar. Number four, we said this before, always serve a safe food.
04:52 Every meal, especially when you have a child reluctant to try new foods, should have at least one meal that you know your child will reliably eat. Maybe it's fruit, maybe it's bread, maybe it's that one cheese that they're obsessed with right now. The point is, having a safe food makes the meal feel comfortable. Now that doesn't mean you serve piles of that. You can control how much you actually put out. So they don't fill up entirely on that safe food. But providing a safe food sends a very clear message. There is always something for you here at the table. Okay, strategy number five, try new foods outside of mealtimes. Sometimes dinner, it's just too much. It's too much pressure. So think outside the box. Offer a bite of something new while you're cooking. Make it a part of a snack plate. Serve it at a picnic or while they're playing, when it's low stakes and unexpected, kids can surprise you in how they respond.
05:48 And I'll tell you, this has been the case even for my 12-year-old. She doesn't really like tomatoes. She never really has something about the texture, just doesn't fit with her. But I was making a side dish using cherry tomatoes recently. She wanted to help cut them. I said, sure, come on in. And as she did out of the corner of my eye, I saw her and she popped a little piece of one into her mouth and she didn't spit it out. Now, she didn't choose to eat the side dish later, but she did try the tomato. And I'll tell you, I took the win. And actually that reminds me quick little side note here. When this happens, when your kid tries the thing that you have been working so hard to get them to try or the thing that you've never seen them try before, I have found it's also really helpful.
06:37 As much as you might want to not to react as much as you might feel like cheering or praising them, in my experience, that also tends to backfire. So play it. Super cool. Okay, number six, lean into the family meal reset. So for the the um, Reddit poster in particular, this is where their new setup, having a space where they can all sit together really works in their favor. Eating together as a family or just with others, it's a really powerful motivator of behavior. For one thing, when your child sees you or siblings, or guests eating a variety of food, it normalizes that behavior and they start to think, oh, that's just what we do. We eat lots of different things. Even if they don't try the new thing right away or after the fifth time, you are planting the seed. And family meals really are one of the best investments you can make in raising a confident, flexible eater.
07:39 But you don't have to move into a new space in order to take advantage of a family meal reset. This can come in lots of different forms and it can be quite small. It doesn't have to again, be a massive move. Even just committing to having one additional meal together that counts as resetting. Even smaller behaviors that can signal a mindset shift. Put out cloth napkins, um, change where you eat, like take dinner out on a picnic or turn on music. All of these are subtle signals. Okay, number seven, make small, low stakes changes. So if carrots are a no, go right now, try them raw instead of cooked or roasted instead of steamed, cut apples into rings instead of wedges. Use a little cookie cutter to make a shape out of your cucumbers. Sometimes the difference between no way and yeah, okay, I'll try is as simple as changing the shape or texture. Alright, number eight. I have also talked about this before. Involve your kids in the mealtime process. Let them choose a vegetable at the store to bring home. Let them stir something in the bowl. Let them sprinkle cheese on top. Let them plan an entire meal. The more involved they are, the more invested they feel. And sometimes that investment makes it more likely that they will taste what they've made or been a part of choosing. Sometimes simply having more exposure under lower pressure makes them more likely to taste.
09:08 Bottom line folks, this is a long game. You're not trying to fix picky eating in a week. You can't, you're trying to build familiarity, trust, and curiosity about food. And that takes months, maybe even years. So keep showing up, keep it low pressure, and keep making room at the table for both the foods they love and the ones that they haven't yet learned to love. Because every exposure counts. Thanks for being here. I'll see you next time.
