Food Swaps: Food Ideas for Picky Eaters

Common parenting advice for picky eating is to offer more variety to your child. Unfortunately, this strategy often falls short for kids with autism or very selective, picky eating (e.g., ARFID).

The Problem

If you offer more food variety, your child might ignore the new foods, or worse, refuse to eat anything on their plate.

The Solution

Try to identify new foods that are very similar to what your child is already eating and offer those in addition to some familiar favorites.

Think of it as trying to find something that's going to push your child, but that won't push them over the edge.

This could look like offering new brands of foods even when your kiddo is brand-specific, changing the shape of the food, or making some other small change to something they currently eat.

Here’s an example of how you might do this with pizza:

Food ideas for picky eaters with autism-pizza changes

See how these are just little baby steps toward trying something new or different? That’s the secret!

Here’s what you might do if your child is a big fan of yogurt:

Food ideas for picky eaters with autism yogurt to applesauce

What If My Child Can't Tolerate These Small Changes on Their Plate?

If your honey is too sensitive to the look or smell of new things on their plate, try offering new foods on a separate plate that is simply at the table.

Over time, you can slowly push the plate with new food closer and closer to your child's plate. Eventually, you can put both plates on their placemat or on a divider plate where everything is present together, but not touching.

What If My Child Still Ignores the New Food?

Some kids will get used to these new foods hanging out on their plate, but they won't touch them.

If after a few days of tolerating new foods your child is still not touching them, you can encourage your child to explore the food.

Can your child touch it or kiss it? What about smell it or touch it to their teeth? Ask them to try. If they do it, great! Encourage them to do more of that.

If your child still doesn't explore the new food, think about offering a small reward. You might say something like this:

"If you touch your new yogurt with your finger, you can choose a prize from the treasure box."

Honesty Is The Best Policy :)

It might be tempting to make a small change to your child's food and then offer it as though nothing is different.

While this might make it more likely that your child will take the first bite, they may be LESS likely to eat that food again in the future. Next time around, they might not believe that what you are offering is truly their preferred food.

So, in this case, honesty really is the best policy. Always say: "This is a new kind of __."

Stick With It!

It's going to take some time for your child to get used to seeing a new food and be comfortable enough to try it. Don't give up! Try to offer the new food or foods at least once per day for several days before making a change.

Inspired to try a small change to one of your honey’s favorite foods? Leave a comment below to share your idea!