Don't pressure them: Six science-backed ways to get fussy children to eat vegetables

Small changes in how children experience food everyday can have a lasting impact on what they eat.

Getting children to eat enough vegetables can be a struggle. Parenting forums and chat groups are full of questions like: "Is it normal that my child only eats beige foods?"

One reason for this is that their preference for sweet foods starts early. Even breast milk contains natural sugars that can make it taste quite sweet. Once they start eating solids, getting them to eat a stick of broccoli or spoonful of spinach can be hard going.

But children need a varied diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables. A poor diet affects cognition, concentration, behaviour and even academic performance. Obesity among children is increasing, which is linked to long-term health concerns, as well as worse educational outcomes.  

Fortunately for parents, researchers have looking for new ways to improve childhood eating habits and have found some innovative solutions. These are six simple things that the science says you can try at home:

Feeding little ones as many different types of vegetables as possible in early childhood – and doing it often – can make a difference, says Marion Hetherington, professor of biopsychology at the University of Leeds in the UK. The most successful time to improve your child's liking of vegetables is in the preschool years.

"If you don't start to increase children's vegetable exposure by five years of age, it's [almost] too late," says Hetherington. "That's a really a hard message, but the fact is if they've missed out on all of that exposure, it's not impossible, but it's hard work." Studies have found that children tend to require several repeat exposures before a child will accept a food.

The evidence is mixed, however, when it comes to exactly how many times you might need to give them a food for them to accept it, ranging from five to 15. (This probably reflects the fact that all children are different.)

But those under the age of one may need fewer exposures than preschool children (three to four years old), who typically show higher levels of food neophobia, an aversion to trying new food.

And this process can start even before your child is born. There's evidence that what a mother eats is passed onto the foetus through amniotic fluid and can shape an infant's food preferences.

2. Offer vegetables first

Simply telling children a food is good for them can backfire, as children are more likely to choose foods that are described as "tasty" versus  "healthy". Instead think about when in a meal you offer them vegetables.

Serving vegetables at the start of a meal when children are at their hungriest increases the likelihood of consumption. "Kids will often eat the thing they like the most," says Hetherington. "And then by the time they reach their peas, they don't want them anymore." So it can help to remove that competition with other higher calorie foods.

Encouraging vegetables first also helps children not to overeat, says Barbara Rolls, a professor of nutritional sciences at........

© BBC