Many children go through phases in which they prefer to eat the same food, prepared the same way every day or at every meal. This is known as a food jag. Most kids will grow tired of these foods and phase them out, replacing them with new foods. However, when children with feeding difficulties get tired of foods they have been jagging on, these foods are typically phased out permanently and not replaced by new foods. They may continue limiting foods until they have very little left in their food repertoire.
The just noticeable difference
At first, kids may be resistant to any kind of change to their food. The goal is for you to change the food just enough so that the difference is just noticeable, but not enough to cause them to have a meltdown or refuse to eat the food. You will need to experiment to find what your child can tolerate by changing a property of the food in the order described below. Your child should act like they notice the change, but are okay with it. If the child refuses to eat, the change was probably too big for him or her, so try making the change smaller next time.
Managing Food Jags
1. Offer one particular food only every other day, not every day.
2. Try to offer 3 different foods at each meal over 2 days to prevent jagging.
3. If you child does not have a wide enough food range to eat different foods at each meal over 2 days, try the steps below in this order:
a. Change the shape: If you child won’t let the food be cut completely, dent it with a knife or start breaking a corner of the sandwich to change the appearance. Try allowing your child to use cookie cutters.
b. Change the color: Start by adding 1 drop of food coloring to slightly change the appearance. You can add more as your child becomes more comfortable with the change. If this is difficult for your child, experiment with adding coloring to water to show that it doesn’t change the taste.
c. Change the taste: You want your child to notice the difference, but not refuse the food. As they get used to new tastes, keep adding more flavoring to get the just noticeable difference. Try spices (dill, lemon, garlic, salt, pepper, tarragon). Add extra butter, or cook the food in flavored Pam. Add a little parmesan cheese while cooking. Add flavored syrups, jellies, soy sauce, Jello-O powders, gravy or dried soup powder.
d. Change the texture: Add thickeners such as corn starch or Thick-IT. Add an extra egg when baking or extra oil to the mixture.
Adapted from the SOS approach to feeding, developed by Kay Toomey, Ph.D. 2002.
