“I want my child to eat a wider variety of foods.”
“They won’t sit still for meals.”
“My child only eats with their hands.”
“Dinners feel like a battle.”
Sound familiar? These are concerns we often hear from families.
There’s much more involved in a mealtime than simply sitting down and eating. Your child’s sensory preferences, physical setup, motor skills, familiarity with foods and your family’s routines can all shape how they participate at the table.
Understanding what might be contributing can help you work out what changes are worth trying and when it may be helpful to seek further support.
- Why Can Mealtimes Be Difficult for Children?
- Sensory preferences
- Seating and motor skills
- Routines and expectations
- Familiarity with food and pressure to eat
- When Might Your Child Need More Support?
- Occupational Therapy
- Speech Pathology
- Other feeding professionals
- How Happy Chatter Can Help
Why Can Mealtimes Be Difficult for Children?
There isn’t one reason why a child might find mealtimes difficult. For some children, several things may be happening at once.
Sensory preferences
Eating involves lots of sensory information at the same time — tastes, smells, textures, temperatures, sounds and even how food looks.
Some children are comfortable with a wide range of sensory experiences, while others have strong preferences or find particular sensations uncomfortable or overwhelming.
You might notice your child prefers foods with similar textures, wants foods served separately, avoids strong smells or finds a busy, noisy table difficult.
The aim isn’t to make your child tolerate sensations they find uncomfortable. Understanding their preferences can help you create a mealtime environment that feels more manageable.
Seating and motor skills
Eating is also a physical activity.
A child who is uncomfortable or poorly supported in their chair may spend more effort adjusting their body or finding a comfortable position. Children are also developing many everyday motor skills during mealtimes, such as using cutlery, drinking from a cup, opening containers and serving food. These tasks rely on fine motor skills, and supporting their development can make participation at the table easier.
Simple changes to seating, utensils and the surrounding environment can sometimes make it easier for a child to participate.
If you want to know more about how seating, mealtime tools and the environment can support your child, read our Setting the Stage: Creating a Supportive Mealtime Environment for Children guide.
Routines and expectations
Children often benefit from knowing what to expect.
Looking at when and where your child eats, how snacks fit into their day, who sits with them and what usually happens during a meal can help identify patterns that are working well or areas that could be adjusted.
This doesn’t mean every meal needs to happen at exactly the same time or look the same every day. A predictable rhythm can simply make it easier for children to know when the next opportunity to eat is coming.
If you want to know more about creating predictable mealtime routines and reducing pressure around eating, read our Mealtime Made Easy: Routine, Roles, and Less Stress guide.
Familiarity with food and pressure to eat
New or unfamiliar foods can take time to become comfortable.
For some children, being asked to “just have one bite”, finish what is on their plate or eat a particular food before getting something else can add pressure to an already challenging experience.
A lower-pressure approach allows children opportunities to become familiar with foods without making eating them the immediate goal.
That might mean a food is simply on the table or plate at first. Looking at it, smelling it or touching it can all be ways of becoming more familiar with it.
When Might Your Child Need More Support?
There’s a big difference between everyday mealtime challenges and difficulties that may benefit from professional support.
It may be worth seeking advice if mealtimes are regularly difficult for your child or family, you’re concerned about your child’s ability to participate in everyday mealtimes, or you’re unsure whether something more specific is contributing.
The right professional will depend on what is happening for your child.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational Therapy professional may be able to support aspects of mealtime participation such as:
- sitting comfortably and securely at the table
- using cutlery, cups and other mealtime equipment
- developing independence with everyday mealtime tasks
- understanding sensory preferences and the mealtime environment
- looking at routines and how your child participates in family mealtimes.
Speech Pathology
A Speech Pathologist with appropriate experience in feeding may be involved when there are concerns about eating and drinking skills, including chewing or swallowing.
Other feeding professionals
Depending on your concerns, your child may also need support from a dietitian, GP, pediatrician or specialist feeding service, particularly where there are concerns about nutrition, growth, a very restricted range of foods or more complex feeding difficulties.
How Happy Chatter Can Help
Happy Chatter is not a specialist feeding clinic. Our Occupational Therapists can, however, look at the everyday skills and environmental factors that may be affecting your child’s participation in mealtimes including seating and positioning, motor skills, independence, sensory preferences and family routines.
Where your child’s needs fall outside our scope, we can help identify when another health professional or specialist feeding service may be more appropriate.
If you’d like to understand more about what Occupational Therapy involves and how it supports your child’s development, read our Occupational Therapy for Children: A Parent Guide.