If you’ve ever sat across the dinner table from a child pushing peas around their plate with a grimace — you’re not alone. Indeed, more than half of you who took part in our Children of the 2020s Study Eating Habits survey when your child was 16 to 18 months old said that your child was ‘choosy’ when it came to food.
Many parents worry that picky eating will stunt growth, lead to poor nutrition, or set lifelong bad eating habits. More than half of you who participated in our survey reported that your child was getting some fruit and vegetables regularly (with 77% eating fruit at least once daily, and 62% eating vegetables at least once daily). But, parents may still worry about whether picky eating will persist or worsen.
However, according to researchers at the University of Bristol, most children who are fussy eaters as preschoolers actually grow up just fine!
The study — part of the long-term Children of the 90s study in Bristol, a forerunner of Children of the 2020s — looked at children who parents felt were picky eaters when they were aged three, and followed their diets and growth through childhood and adolescence. Despite eating fewer fruits, vegetables, and meat early on, these children generally consumed enough calories overall. By ages 7 through to 17, their height, weight, and body-mass index tracked at or even slightly above average.
That might be reassuring for any parent who has worried their child’s dislike of broccoli could mean something worse.
The findings may help explain when picky eating tends to emerge, and how to reduce it. For example: delaying solid foods beyond nine months, or worrying a lot about picky eating early on, seems to raise the chance a child becomes fussy by age three. On the flip side, some things seem to help. Family mealtimes — where everyone eats the same home-cooked dinner — seems to be helpful. This is an opportunity that most families in Children of the 2020s would likely have as about 90% of parents who took part in the Eating Habits Survey when the children were one and a half years old reported that dinner or tea was typically provided by yourself or a partner most of the week, as opposed to grandparents or other by other forms of childcare.
Other things that may help include offering unfamiliar foods again and again (without pressuring the child), letting parents lead by example by eating a wide variety of foods, and being calm rather than anxious if meals are tense.
The authors also explained that picky eating in early childhood should not automatically be assumed to persist – it often doesn’t. Why might picky eating fade over time? One possibility: as children grow, they spend more time around peers — at school, parties, playdates — and this social exposure might encourage them to broaden their palates.
Of course, no two children are the same — and a small number of children in the study who were picky easters remained quite thin in adolescence. So if a child’s weight or growth is below typical ranges, or if food avoidance is extreme, talking to a professional might be wise. But for the majority: picky eating at preschool age doesn’t mean poor health later.
For parents navigating the sometimes challenging world of meals, that’s comforting. Picky eating might be common, even normal — and with patience, exposure to a variety of foods, and plenty of calm family meals, many children outgrow it without a hitch.
If you’d like to find out more, check out this article by the authors of the Study: https://theconversation.com/children-who-are-picky-eaters-still-grow-up-healthy-new-research-102956
And you can read more about the findings from the Children of the 2020s Eating Habits survey here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eating-habits-of-children-aged-16-to-18-months/eating-habits-of-children-aged-16-to-18-months-report