By Laura Bottiglieri. Laura Bottiglieri is a Paediatric Feeding Specialist and Speech & Language Therapist with more than 10 years’ experience helping families move through feeding challenges. She works with children who feel overwhelmed by textures, smells, or the sensory side of food, supporting them to expand their diet and feel more confident at mealtimes.

Did you know many well-meaning feeding strategies actually intensify sensory issues? These approaches usually bring a moment of peace (or a bite or two of food), but in the long term, they teach children to avoid rather than explore.

• Wiping too quickly
  It’s natural to grab a wipe the second yoghurt hits your child’s cheek. But doing this immediately can send the message: “Food mess is bad. Get it off quick.” Children who don’t get time to tolerate or play with food on their skin may develop stronger aversions to messy textures.
  What helps instead: Keep a cloth nearby and let your child take the lead. Offer them the wipe, so they learn they can manage the sensation themselves.
  
  

• Sneaking foods in
  It may feel clever to hide spinach in muffins or puree carrots into pasta sauce. And yes, your child might eat it, but what’s lost is exposure. If children never actually see or feel that food, they don’t build the sensory familiarity needed to accept it long term.
  What helps instead: Doing both. They need the nutrients, so in my view sneaking is okay as long as you keep offering those vegetables in visible, recognisable forms too, even if they’re refused. Exposure without pressure builds trust.
  
  

• Over-prompting or pressuring
  “Just one more bite.” “Please try it for mummy.” Even gentle nudges, when repeated, can create pressure that heightens anxiety. Over time, children may resist not just the food, but the whole act of sitting down to eat.
  What helps instead: Focus on modelling: eat the food yourself, describe its smell or crunch, and let your child approach it at their own pace.
  
  

• Cutting out messy play
  Some families avoid messy food play altogether because it feels wasteful, inconvenient, or overwhelming. But without practice exploring textures in a no-pressure way, children don’t get the sensory input they need to become comfortable with foods in real mealtimes.
  What helps instead: Offer safe, edible messy play (mashed potato, pasta, dry cereals, jelly) outside of mealtimes. Start small and let your child decide how much they want to engage.
  
  

• Changing foods too quickly
  Switching foods the moment your child refuses them may accidentally “teach” avoidance. Children need repeated, consistent exposure — sometimes 10, 15, or even 20 times before they feel safe with a new texture or flavour.
  What helps instead: Keep presenting the same food regularly, without pressure, alongside accepted foods. Familiarity slowly reduces the sensory alarm bells.

What You Can Do to Support Your Child – My Top 3 Strategies

1. Redefine What Counts as Success

For sensory-sensitive children, success is not about empty plates. It’s about building comfort step by step.  Touching a new food


2. Bring Play Into Food Exploration (Outside Mealtimes)

Mealtimes can feel high-pressure: everyone is hungry, expectations are high, and children sense it.

That’s why it helps to separate learning about food from eating food. Introduce playful, low-pressure exploration away from the table. Start with dry foods (pasta, rice, cereal), then move to squishy ones (mashed potato, jelly), and eventually try mixed or wet textures.

3. Model Curiosity, Not Pressure

Children learn more from what they see than what they’re told. Use neutral, observational language:

“Listen to this crunch when I bite the carrot.”
“This orange smells sweet, doesn’t it?”
“The yogurt feels smooth on my spoon.”

When to Seek Specialist Help Some feeding difficulties are just temporary phases. But if your child consistently: Gags or vomits at foods

Eats only a very limited range

Shows distress at mealtimes

Has dropped foods without adding new ones

…it’s worth reaching out for specialist support.

A Feeding Specialist who is also a Speech and Language Therapist can help you understand whether sensory issues, oral-motor skills, or emotional factors are at play.

Final Thoughts You are not “creating” your child’s feeding issues. What you can do is become more aware of the small daily habits that either reinforce sensitivities or help your child grow past them. Every mealtime is an opportunity to gently build tolerance, familiarity, and trust.