Just to review our senses are what we use to learn about the world around us, including eating. They are: sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. We already discussed the importance of sight so now onto smell.
SMELL:
Have you ever noticed when you have a cold or your nose is congested you’re just not hungry? Have you ever walked into the house after you’ve had dinner cooking in a slow cooker all day and your mouth starts to water? What about walked into the break room at work and a colleague has just used the microwave to reheat their salmon and brussel sprouts and you couldn’t leave fast enough? This is all thanks to our sense of smell.
We eat with our noses long before the food ever hits our lips. Kids are the same way. They use their noses to decide what they like but more often than not to decide what they don’t like.
Whether your kiddo has food preferences or restrictions based on SMELL or not, here a few ideas to help.
- Serve all foods at a table/counter/highchair where the food can be placed out in front of them so they can associate what they smell with the food.
- Remove all food from the packaging before serving it. Why? Well it’s a lot easier to smell something when it’s open and in a bowl or on a plate than in a plastic container or foil wrap.
- Include your kiddo in the preparation and serving of foods/meals even if they’re not willing to eat it.
- Talk about it… new and different things, including foods, are less intimidating when you know more about them. Use words and talk about the smell. Include the name of the food and as many descriptions as you can think of. Use language at the level of your child but be creative and have fun!
- Examples: “chicken. You smell chicken. Smells good. Use your nose. It smells so yummy.” “Fish. Mom’s making fish. It smells different. You don’t have to eat it but we use our nose to learn about it and this smells different than your nuggets.”
- Be patient with yourself. Feeding differences don’t start overnight and they won’t disappear overnight. If you feel overwhelmed with where to even begin, choose one meal or snack per day to try these strategies. No one can run a marathon their first time putting on running shoes, first you’ve got to start with a jog.
If you’re noticing a trend here you’re onto something. Stay tuned for our next sense… HEARING.
-Tricia-
