Food chaining

I started doing some reading about "food chaining," a technique to help expand a child's diet by making small, incremental steps from one food they like to new foods. For instance, if a kid will only eat a chicken nugget from McDonald's, maybe you start by trying a new brand of nuggets. Once they start eating those, then you move on to a homemade nugget, then on to offering chicken without the breading, and so on. Or if a child will only eat potato chips, you can see if they might enjoy salt & vinegar chips, BBQ chips, and so on. I believe with this technique, you stick with the same texture but try to expand with flavors. It sounds like something that is used with kids with serious eating issues, with the guidance of medical professionals who specialize in pediatric feeding disorders.

Though we certainly don't have anything remotely like a feeding disorder happening over here, something about this strategy seems like it could make sense no matter what kind of eater you have, and I've been thinking about it a bit lately as I watch Amelia slowly expand her diet at (what sometimes feel like) random moments. When Amelia was younger she LOVED sliced apples. She lived on them. Then at some point she got sick of them and wouldn't eat them in any shape or form, which sucked because we live in Upstate New York and it's apple country from September through November. A few months ago, her nanny diced one up with cinnamon, brown sugar, and raisins, and sold it as a treat. She may have even called it "apple pie without the crust." Big. Hit. Total smash. Yahoo.

So Amelia's been enjoying that for a while now (c'mon, who wouldn't?). A few weeks ago I was rushing to get her dinner on the table and I peeled and sliced up an apple just to have a fruit to offer her, not expecting her to eat it, but at least wanting her plate to have something besides a protein and a carb. But she was hungry enough, or comfortable enough, so she did eat it. Saaaaaay. Last night she chowed down on the Red Delicious slices I gave her (it was a particularly good apple, by the way) and asked for more. The peeler was in a sink of dirty dishes and frankly I was still mad at her for her earlier temper tantrum (I sound mature, don't I?) so I cut up a new one without peeling it and gave it to her with no discussion -- in other words, no "Oh, do you mind the peel? Blah blah if you don't like it, eat around it, sorry about the skin, yadda yadda..." which of course would lead to her being oppositional (ah, the mind of a three-and-three-quarters-year-old) and not eating it in the first place. But with no big talk about it, and her being super hungry, she ate another 1/4 or so of an apple, peel and all. At first I saw her kind of trying to avoid the peel, but then she just started munching away.

I am not sure but I think that might be an example of food chaining, where a child expands he diet in small, steady steps. Whatever you call it, I'm excited! It's an interesting technique and seems to be non-pressured or particularly stressful for anyone at the table. And from my point out view, I know I can always find her an apple no matter where we are, and how handy is it to slice up an apple as a snack on-the-go? Yay!