Refusing food they used to like is normal, and it usually ends by five

Children need a variety of nutrient-dense foods each day for healthy growth
and brain development. Early eating experiences also shape how people eat
later, which is why introducing young children to a range of foods — including
plenty of fruit and vegetables — matters beyond the meal in front of you.

The two facts that make picky eating manageable

**Your child might not like every food on the first try. Children may need to
try some foods many times before they like them.**

That is the whole method. Not persuasion, not disguise, not a rule about
finishing the plate — repetition, across many separate occasions.

How to do the repeating without wasting food

• Freeze small bites of different foods, and thaw them later. A rejected
  portion is then a spoonful rather than a meal thrown away.
• Wait a week before offering a new food again.
• Mix the new food with one your baby already likes, such as breast milk.

The week's gap is the part people skip. Offering the same rejected food at the
next meal reads as a standoff; offering it a week later is a fresh attempt.

What is normal, and when it ends

As a child gets older they may start refusing foods they previously liked,
or show other signs of picky eating.

**Favouring just a couple of foods, or not wanting foods to touch each other
on the plate, are normal behaviours.** They **often go away by the time a
child is about 5.**

Both halves of that are worth knowing. The behaviour is not a failure of
feeding, and it has a typical end — which makes the patient, repetitive
approach above a strategy with a finish line rather than an indefinite
struggle.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.