How much of a picky eater is your child? Should you be worried? Take this picky eating test to find out!
Do you think you have a picky eater? And if so, how much of a picky eater are they? Should you be worried? Will they just grow out of it?
As an occupational therapist that specializes in picky eating, those are all questions I’ve heard a lot, and I bet that you have them too. Because let’s face it, it’s not the kind of thing that you can look up in the dictionary and doctor’s responses are all over the place. And, they usually aren’t worried unless there is a weight issue – meaning a child isn’t growing as much as they should be.
I’m going to clear the air, and with this simple picky eating test, you can find out everything you need to know about how most feeding specialists determine if a child is in fact a picky eater and how bad that picky eating is!
But, There is a Lot of Gray Area…
…When it comes to picky eating. The questions below target the most common red flags I see, and are based on research in the field of feeding from folks like Ellyn Satter and Kay Toomey. There are many other, more unique signs though as well. Think of the results as a general ball park target that will give you a good starting place for what you can do next to help your child eat well.
And, at the end of this quiz, you’ll find a way to get a print out so that you can share the results with spouses, family, and doctors! Keep a look out for how to get those delivered to your inbox.
The Picky Eating Test
This picky eating test is specifically designed for kids and toddlers from 15 months old through early teens. However, it will apply to older teens and adults as well. To take the picky eating test, you’re going to read the questions below and keep track of how many yes responses you have to the questions. Each time you answer “yes” you’ll give yourself a score of 1. Each time you answer “no”, it’s a score of zero.
For example, if you answer yes to 5 questions and no to 3 your total score at the end is 5.
Take your time to answer the questions and look for the results and how to get your print out at the end. (Remember Yes = 1 and No = 0)
Question #1: Does your child eat less than 30 foods?
Question #2: Does your child eat less than 20 foods?
Question #3: Does your child eat less than 10 foods?
Question #4: Does your child refuse to eat all types of vegetables?
Question #5: Does your child refuse to eat any type of meat or protein? (not due to a desire to be vegetarian)
Question #6: 6 Does your child refuse to eat any fruit?
Question #7: (Only for children 2 years of age and older): Do you have to physically feed your child for them to eat any food?
Question #8: Will your child only eat with the distraction of a tablet, TV, toys, books, etc.?
Question #9: Does your child gag, cry, throw food, or vomit when they’re asked to eat a new or different food? (i.e.: when the food is placed on their plate)
Question #10: Does your child gag, cry, throw food, or vomit when they see a new or different food? (i.e.: They witness someone else eating a food, see in a restaurant, or from across the room)
Question #11: Does it feel very stressful to provide your child with a variety of foods at meals throughout the day?
Question #12: Does your child tend to eat only one texture of food, such as crunchy or soft foods only?
Question #13: Does your child tend to eat only 1-2 colors of foods, such as white, yellow, or beige?
Question #14: Does your child never seem interested in eating or appears to have no appetite at all?
Question #15: Does your child require food that’s different from the what the rest of the family is eating at meals?
Question #16: Are birthday parties and holiday meals stressful for you or your child because they are limited in the type of foods they eat?
Question #17: Do one or more of your child’s foods have to be a specific brand or prepared just right or they’ll refuse to eat them? (i.e.: your child will only eat the Purdue Buttermilk Extra Crispy chicken nuggets, but won’t eat any other type of chicken nuggets.)
Question #18: Does your child have a food they used to eat everyday that they now hate and will no longer eat?
The Picky Eating Test Results
If you haven’t already, count up all the yes responses you had and get your total number. Look at the four different categories below and find the range that your number fits into!
Type #1: The Typical Eater (0-2 points)
Your child is showing natural preferences if they’re eating at least some types of foods from all the food groups and have more than 30-40 foods in their diet. It’s also a great sign if they willingly try new foods, even if they don’t continue to eat them. It takes the average child 12-15 times of trying a food before they know if they like it or not.
It’s also common for kids to shy away from vegetables, in fact, they’re predisposed to do so because of the bitter taste. And, children’s taste buds are much more sensitive than ours. Many American kids are also sensitive to spicy or strong flavors.
In other cultures, such as Indian, children are often consistently exposed to spicy foods while in-utero and through breast milk. In this case, they may tolerate and even prefer these strong seasonings.
How to help The Typical Eater continue to eat well: Eat together as a family and cook together too. Avoid labeling food bad or forcing your child to try anything that they aren’t feeling. Your child is eating well, keep up more of what you’re already doing, but always be on the lookout for signs of increasing pickiness
Type #2: The Average Picky Eater (3-5 points)
If you scored in this range, then your child is most likely an average picky eater, showing some strong preferences and possibly ignoring a food group. Most children go through a picky eating stage between 1 and 5 years old and naturally grow out of it as long they are given a variety of foods. Making special meals for the average picky eater can cause eating to snowball into extreme picky eating.
The average picky eater knows what they like and what they don’t. They usually have about 20-30 foods in their diet, but aren’t overly particular about brands or styles of food they enjoy. They also don’t have a total freak out if a different food is on their plate, but will often ignore it.
How to help The Average Picky Eater Eat Better: Make sure you always serve one food at a meal that they typically eat, but don’t give them food that’s different from the rest of the family. Avoid making negative comments about food and don’t tolerate your child making those remarks either.
Read more in The Complete Guide to Picky Eating
Type #3: The Extreme Picky Eater (6-12 points)
Extreme picky eaters typically eat less than 20 foods and throw a tantrum or gag when a new or different food is on their plate. The extreme picky eater drains parents and stress levels at meals are usually pretty high. It seems there’s no way out of short order cooking and the thought of them eating a new food is like a pipe dream.
These kiddos often food jag and may only eat foods cooked a certain way or at a certain temperature. If the slightest thing is “wrong” with the food, they won’t eat it.
This is one of the reasons that parents feel so stressed, you never know if your child is going to eat.
Head over to Extreme Picky Eating to learn more.
How to Help the Extreme Picky Eater: First of all, read the strategies listed for the average picky eater and the ultra picky eater because those will be important for you too. In addition to those, focus on getting meals on a schedule so that your child has a good 3 hours in between meals. This helps adjust their appetite and makes them hungry when they sit down to eat!
Make sure that you only give them water in between meals because even a little milk or juice can affect their appetite! Learn more about this strategy in How to Get Kids Eating Meals Instead of Snacking All Day.
Type# 4: The Ultra Picky Eater (13 -18 points)
The Ultra Picky Eater is a term only I use, and it’s basically an extreme picky eater that’s highly limited. Often kids in this category only have a few different foods that they eat day in and day out. Birthdays are stressful, they can’t stand to watch others eat, and forget different brands of the few foods they do eat.
A child in this category may also have low-weight concerns because they aren’t eating enough.
If you’re a parent of an ultra picky eater, you likely feel like your kid is so severe that nobody can relate because their picky eating is on a whole other level.
How to help The Ultra Picky Eater: First of all, take a deep breath and realize that there are many layers to picky eating. And, that no matter how limited your child’s diet is, it can improve. I’ve seen it happen over and over again in the most extreme cases. Start by not pressuring your child to eat and use a small side plate to start serving family style, see if they can serve themselves a small amount.
If that’s too big of a leap, then start by having them pass the food. Any interaction they have is a step in the right direction.
The key is to begin to associate eating with something positive. For more on this important strategy check out The Best Picky Eating Tip
Get a Free Printable Copy of Your Results!
I bet you’d like a printable copy of all that so you can show your spouse and keep track of the recommendations? Don’t worry I’ve got you covered! Click the button below and I’ll send you the quiz and the results for you to keep!
Click here to get a copy of the Picky Eating Test and Results!
More on Picky Eating
How to Be Patient with Picky Eaters (Even When They Don’t Eat)
When Has Picky Eating Gone Too Far… Is it Something More?
Will Your Child Outgrow Picky Eating: The Surprising Truth
How to Get Kids to Eat New and Refused Foods
Alisha Grogan is a licensed occupational therapist and founder of Your Kid’s Table. She has over 14 years experience with expertise in sensory processing and feeding development in babies, toddlers, and children. Alisha also has 3 boys of her own at home. Learn more about her here.
Hi! I have read your article and mine son comes under Type 2 following your tips.
Hi there! Glad you found this quiz helpful in terms of finding out what kind of picky eater you have! We have a free picky eating workshop available that can help! Save your seat here!
Best,
Kalyn
I’ll be honest, the question ‘Does your child gag, cry, throw food, or vomit when they’re asked to eat a new or different food? (i.e.: when the food is placed on their plate)’ was a disturbing question to find on here, without what feels like any appropriate response to it.
Which is: this is a sign that something may be going on that you need to keep an eye on, and explore WHY the child acts this way.
This is not the behavior of a child who is ‘picky.
This is not normal behavior for a child of ANY species, to have such an extreme reaction to something they literally need to stay alive, and that also leaves them with negative consequences if they do not eat (hunger pangs, for example).
So here’s some information that it feels to me parents really need.
Allergies can be mild, and when they ARE mild, sometimes, they don’t cause rashes or hives or anaphylaxis. Instead, what they can sometimes cause is burning in the mouth, burning or pain in the throat, nausea or pain in the stomach or guts.
Guess what kids tend to do when that happens? Cry, gag, vomit, or try to get that food as far from them as they can. There can literally be no visible sign of the sensations caused by the food, but if we as parents just assume ‘picky eater’ and do not talk with our kids about this, we can miss this type of thing.
Sensory issues with food are also a problem, more common with kids on the spectrum or with ADHD. Sensory issues – imagine how unpleasant nails on a chalkboard are…then translate that to a sensation in your mouth. That, too, would make a child do a whole heck of a lot to get away from that food.
This WAS my childhood. I had foods that burned, that made me vomit, where the smell alone would make me gag and dry heave. I had foods where the texture alone would make me rather not eat for days, if that was the only food.
My allergies weren’t even diagnosed until my own child was in their teens, but I was sickly my entire life because of them. My own child had allergies as well that weren’t diagnosed for years, but because of what I went through, if they truly hated a food, then we avoided it, and every single one of those foods turned out to be a mild allergy (OR it was something that was IN all those foods, like an additive to many cereals, for example).
I had a good friend when I was diagnosed who, after listening to me describe what it felt like to have your mouth burn from an allergic food, asked me, ‘Are eggplant spicy?’ Because she, it turns out, is allergic to eggplant and it made her mouth burn her entire life, but she assumed it was just that eggplants were unpleasantly spicy.
Her own toddler would always fuss and cry over squash baby foods – since she’d just gone through the eggplant thing, she had him tested. He’s allergic to squash and melons.
Our kids are often picky for a reason. And if they are having an extreme response to the foods, then it seems silly to not assume that there may be, perhaps, a very good reason for that. And that it might be important to figure out what that is.
Thanks for sharing Shauna,
Yes, we do address all of these reasons for a child not eating food or having reactions. We do provide some information after the quiz and provide families a ton of other resources so that they get to the “root cause” of picky eating as we are true believers in that helping all individuals with eating.
Best,
Desiree
Hello
My 19m old DS falls in 4th category.
His food items should be only sweet but in that too he will have only 1-2 type of fruits in a day and only milk on all 3 time of meaL.
every meal time is nightmare for us and it feels like our life is living hell.
Can you pls help me on this ?
Hey Ankita,
We know how hard mealtimes can get!! So happy you are looking for some info to help out!! We are starting our free workshop series this week, packed full of great information and great starting tips to working with your picky eater!! Save Your Seat Here
Best,
Desiree
Mine comes under Type 2 following your tips. Thanks for sharing
Of course!! Keep us posted how it goes!!
Best,
Desiree
How does this food counting part work? Is it counted in terms of meals or individual food items (i.e. almonds, grapes, bananas)?
Hey sarah,
We are looking for individual foods!!
Best,
Desiree
My Kid falls under Type 2 – The Average Picky Eater. Following your tips will reply again after seeing the results.
Awesome, yes!! Please keep us posted!
Best,
Desiree
My toddler falls into average picky eater, what should I do when they refuse the food I have served? Do you offer an alternative or keep offering it until they eat it?
I took the test and my three year old daughter falls in the extreme picky eater range. Cannot give much time to remove this picky eating due to my hectic work timings
Hi Neha, You took the time to take the test, so kudos for you for recognizing there is an issue!! Life is hectic and it can be hard!! Here is an article that will have some tips for you!! Check it out here
Best,
Desiree
Hi Sally! My daughter used to have severe feeding issues since she was a premature baby. From age 1-5 she was in the Extreme category (7 to 9 points). Today she is 9 and after hard hard work she became pretty much a “Regular eater”. Even though she is not particularly into experimenting with new and unknown food. I´m trying… but I´m sure she will be a good eater as an adult. Thank you so much for all the help. I just wanted to share hope. It does get easier.
Thanks for sharing with all of us!! Great to hear the success!! 🙂
Best,
Desiree
Can you share what have you done to achieve? I feel so desperate to get my boy eating but if I try, no success but stress both him and I…
Hey Anni,
I’d recommend starting with our free workshop for picky eating! This helps you get set up with removing all pressure from meals, how to structure meals and what to provide. You can save your seat HERE
Best,
Desiree