5 Things to Look Out for When It Comes to Your Child’s Eating Habits
Children’s eating habits naturally shift and change as they grow. While many variations are completely normal, certain patterns may signal when your child needs a little extra support. Understanding what’s typical, and what might require attention, empowers families to foster calm, confident and nourishing mealtimes.
Below are five key areas to watch for when assessing your child’s eating habits.
It’s incredibly common for parents to find themselves wondering:
“Is this just a phase?”
“Am I doing something wrong?”
“Should I be concerned?”
These questions often arise when mealtimes become stressful, when food refusal feels constant, or when worry about nutrition starts to overshadow what should be a moment of connection. While many eating behaviours are a normal part of childhood development, some patterns can benefit from extra support.
Understanding what’s typical, and recognising when eating challenges may need a closer look, can help families move away from anxiety and toward calmer, more confident and nourishing mealtimes. Below are five key areas to watch for when assessing your child’s eating habits, along with guidance on when support may be helpful.
1. Understanding Children’s Eating Habits: From Picky Eating to ARFID
Most children go through a phase of picky eating, refusing new foods, favouring the same meals, or preferring foods prepared “just right.” This is a normal developmental stage and usually resolves over time.
However, some children experience more significant difficulties that may indicate Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). Signs may include:
Very limited accepted foods (sometimes only a few “safe” items)
Strong sensory reactions to textures, tastes, smells, colours or appearances
Fear or anxiety around eating, such as choking, gagging or vomiting
Very low appetite or loss of interest in food
Unlike typical picky eating, ARFID can impact nutrition, growth and daily life. Children with ARFID may require careful monitoring, nutritional support, or guidance from a paediatric dietitian can help prevent nutrient deficiencies, reduce mealtime stress and support healthy development. Early recognition and intervention can help prevent growth or nutrient deficits and reduce mealtime stress for the whole family.
How Screen Time Affects Your Child’s Eating Habits and Hunger Cues
Many families use screens during meals to keep things calm, and in some situations, they can be helpful. But regular screen use during eating can interfere with how children learn to understand their hunger and fullness cues.
How screens disrupt eating habits:
Disrupted hunger and fullness cues: When children are focused on a screen, they may eat past fullness or fail to recognise hunger. Learning to listen to these internal signals is an essential early skill.
Reduced acceptance of new foods: Children learn about foods through repeated exposure including seeing, smelling, touching, and watching others eat. Screens can prevent this exploration, making children less willing to try unfamiliar foods.
Missed social and developmental opportunities: Mealtimes are also about learning self-feeding, chewing, table manners, communication, and social skills. Screens shift attention away from these interactions.
Increased reliance on distractions: Over time, children may come to expect a screen to sit through meals, making eating difficult in screen-free environments like school, daycare, or family gatherings.
Making mealtimes more screen-friendly (without going cold turkey):
Start small, try one screen-free meal a day or even a few screen-free minutes
Encourage food exploration through touching, smelling and tasting
Model screen-free eating by sitting together at the table
For some children (e.g., with sensory sensitivities), screens may be a useful short-term support. The goal is gradual reduction while preserving a calm, supportive environment.
3. Emotional Eating in Children: When Food Becomes a Coping Tool
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3. Emotional Eating in Children: When Food Becomes a Coping Tool 〰️
Emotional eating begins early in life, hunger is our first uncomfortable feeling, and being fed is our first comfort. Warm meals, sweet treats and familiar flavours can naturally feel soothing.
When emotional eating becomes a concern:
Food becomes problematic only when it becomes a child’s primary coping strategy. You might notice:
Eating immediately after becoming upset
Asking for snacks out of boredom rather than hunger
Turning to food in response to big emotions
The aim is not to eliminate emotional eating entirely but to ensure food isn’t the only source of comfort.
Supporting children to regulate emotions without relying on food:
Validate feelings: Let children know all emotions are allowed.
Stay present: Offer comfort without immediately turning to food.
Set gentle boundaries: Support emotional expression while remaining calm and consistent.
For example, if a child is upset at the playground::
“I know you really like being here. It’s hard to leave when you’re having fun. It’s time to go now, but I’m
here with you while your body feels upset.”
This approach helps children learn that emotions aren’t emergencies and that they can cope without food as the main tool. Consistent support builds emotional intelligence, resilience, and a positive lifelong relationship with food.
4. Limited Food Variety in Children: How It Impacts Growth, Energy and Nutrition
Preferences for certain textures, colours or flavours are common. But a very limited diet may affect your child’s:
Energy levels: Children may tire or become irritable if nutrient intake is low.
Growth and development: Lack of essential vitamins and minerals can slow height or weight gain.
Mood and concentration: Low iron, B vitamins, or essential fats can affect attention and mood
Gut health: Low fibre or limited variety can cause digestive issues like constipation.
Supporting children with strong food preferences:
Offer repeated exposure, children may need 10–20 exposures to accept a new food
Pair new foods with familiar ones to increase comfort
Involve children in shopping, cooking and food prep
Keep mealtimes relaxed and pressure-free
Add nutrient-dense ingredients into sauces, smoothies or preferred foods
Use fun shapes, colours or textures to increase interest
Small, steady changes create meaningful improvements in nutrition and confidence.
5. When Mealtimes Become Stressful: Understanding Eating Challenges in Children
Mealtimes are meant to be moments of connection, but they can become stressful when a child struggles with eating. Stress during meals often reflects communication, not defiance.
Signs of stressful mealtimes:
Refusing food or leaving the table
Throwing food or becoming distressed
Gagging or rejecting certain textures
Meals stretching too long
Emotional outbursts during or after eating
Chronic mealtime stress can affect family dynamics, nutrition and a child’s long-term relationship with food.
Moving toward calmer mealtimes:
Look for what your child may be communicating
Avoid pressure, bribery or punishment (these often backfire)
Maintain predictable routines and a calm environment
Offer the food without insisting that the child must eat it
Seek support from a paediatric dietitian, feeding specialist or occupational therapist if challenges persist
With empathy, patience and support, mealtimes can shift from stressful to nourishing.
When to Seek Support
If you notice persistent challenges, limited food variety, stressful mealtimes or ongoing concerns about your child’s eating habits, early help makes a meaningful difference. Complete Dietetics paediatric dietitians provide tailored strategies to support nutrition, growth and confident family mealtimes.
Our Expert Team
Sammy Baring is a Paediatric Dietitian with extensive experience at the Royal Children’s Hospital and across Melbourne, supporting infants, children and adolescents with feeding difficulties, fussy eating, growth concerns, allergies, gastrointestinal issues and neurodivergence.
Sophie King is a Senior Paediatric Dietitian with over a decade of experience in Australia and the UK. She specialises in feeding challenges, ARFID, sensory-based difficulties, responsive feeding and tube feeding, helping families build calmer, more confident mealtimes.
Megan Hosie (Dodds) is a Specialist Paediatric Dietitian with training in responsive feeding, neurodivergence and eating disorders. She brings both clinical expertise and lived experience, supporting families with selective eating, growth concerns, allergies and everyday feeding challenges.
Together, our team offers practical, evidence-based support to help families understand and navigate their child’s eating habits with confidence.
Frequently asked questions
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While eating patterns can vary widely in childhood, it may be helpful to seek support if you notice ongoing patterns such as:
A very limited range of accepted foods
Strong reactions to textures, smells, or the appearance of food
Persistent stress, distress, or conflict at mealtimes
Ongoing concerns about growth, energy levels, or nutrition
If these behaviours continue over time or begin to affect family life, a paediatric dietitian can help assess whether additional support is needed.
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Picky eating is common and often part of normal development. However, it may be worth seeking guidance if picky eating:
Leads to nutritional gaps or reliance on a very narrow diet
Causes anxiety around food or mealtimes
Affects growth or energy levels
Results in extreme avoidance of foods or entire food groups
These signs may suggest that eating challenges are going beyond a typical phase.
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Yes. Regular screen use during meals can distract children from noticing hunger and fullness cues and may reduce their engagement with food. Over time, this can make it harder for children to recognise appetite signals, explore new foods, and eat confidently in screen-free environments.
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Signs of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) can include:
Strong fear or anxiety around eating
Gagging, retching, or distress with certain foods
Very limited food variety or avoidance of whole food groups
Low interest in eating or poor appetite
Unlike typical picky eating, ARFID can impact growth, energy, nutrition, and daily functioning. A health professional can help assess whether these patterns are present.
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A paediatric dietitian looks at the full picture including your child’s eating patterns, growth, nutritional intake, sensory preferences, and mealtime environment. They provide tailored, practical strategies to:
Support food acceptance and variety
Reduce mealtime stress and pressure
Ensure nutritional needs are met
Build positive, sustainable eating habits
FAQs - Complete Dietetics
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At Complete Dietetics, our Accredited Practising Dietitians specialise in six core areas of nutrition. See our full list of services and find the area that best fits your needs.
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You do not need a GP referral to book with us. During registration, we’ll ask for details of any doctors or specialists involved in your care so we can coordinate with your healthcare team (with your permission). For your first appointment, please bring or forward any relevant information, such as past medical history, test/scans results, current medications.
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Yes. Our Accredited Practising Dietitians provide secure telehealth dietitian consultations via video across all Australian states and territories. Enjoy the same personalised, evidence-based care from the comfort of your home—no referral needed.
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Our home clinic is at 85 McKillop Street, Geelong VIC 3220. We’re open Monday to Friday, 8am–5pm (with after-hours appointments available by request)
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Yes, we provide home visits for NDIS participants who will benefit most from our specialised care, including tube-fed clients and those with MS or neurological conditions. Currently, we offer home visits in the Geelong region and Inner South East Suburbs of Melbourne, within a 30-minute travel distance. Please check with reception to see if you/your participant fall within our home visit locations.