5 Reasons Eating Interventions Fail

If you attended our workshop, you received some great information to get you started along your child’s journey to better eating. But before you start, consider these 5 reasons eating interventions fail, and do your best to avoid them. The last thing you want to do is put a ton of time and effort into an intervention, and then not get to reap the rewards of cooking a single meal at dinnertime.

Below are 5 common reasons why eating interventions fail, and what you can do to avoid them:

1.  The intervention is discontinued too soon

Eating problems do not develop in a day, and will not be solved in a day. It can take a long time to see the results of your intervention. Remember: baby steps. It’s all about making slow, gradual progress. It will take a lot of tiny steps to reach that one big goal, and that’s ok!

Rather than trying a bunch of different things for a few days or a week, make sure that you try your intervention long enough to give it time to work. This is going to take weeks or months, not days.

You may also be pleasantly surprised by your child’s progress, and discontinue your intervention too soon. You want to keep that momentum going, and keep reinforcing the behavior you want to see more of. If you stop your intervention too soon because your child is successful, it will be easy for them to rapidly slip back into old habits once the reinforcement ends.

The same goes for inconsistency. Make sure that your plan is consistently implemented to keep that success going!

2.  You’re unprepared for an increase in problem behavior

I like to warn parents that often, things get worse before they get better. You are totally changing the rules of the game on them, and your child is likely to be pissed about it and lash out. You are very likely to see more tantrums, crying, or other types of problem behavior once you start your intervention.

If your child was able to avoid new foods in the past by running away from the table, throwing food, or screaming, you will very likely see them try out these behaviors again. Ignoring these behaviors is your best bet, but I can almost guarantee that they will get even worse as your child attempts to do whatever they can to avoid these new rules and break you down. Stick to your guns and ride it out, but be prepared for it. Know that these behaviors are going to get worse before they get better, come up with a plan to ignore them (stay calm, don’t yell, in fact, don’t look at or say much to them at all) and make sure that everyone is safe. Once you get over this hurdle, the screaming will stop and the dishes will stop flying, and you’ll be able to joyfully implement your intervention.

3.  Your child has a history of failed eating interventions

Have you tried a number of different interventions? If they were implemented inconsistently, your child will never really know what to expect. If it’s sometimes ok to refuse to try something new, and sometimes it’s not ok, they’re going to test you every time. Same goes for your current intervention. Inconsistency is your enemy.

If you’ve tried a bunch of different things in the past that were unsuccessful in changing your child’s eating habits, you’re also more likely to meet resistance. This is because your child’s resistance has been successful in the past. If this is your first attempt at changing your child’s eating habits, you’re likely to meet less resistance.

Remember that this is a big change for your child, and any large demands or changes are going to meet with more resistance. Instead, stick with the baby steps. Make small, consistent changes to constantly move your child forward.

The secret to your success will be to remain calm, ignore as much of the inappropriate behavior as possible, and consistently implement your intervention.

4.  Your rewards aren’t rewarding

If you’re using a mealtime reward system, make sure your child cannot get the reward at any other time. If you’re using a few favorite videos to reward trying new foods during mealtime, but your child can watch those same videos whenever he wants during the day, he’s not going to be motivated to work for them during mealtime.

You’ll also want to make sure that you’re constantly rotating your rewards, so that your child doesn’t get tired of what you’re offering. If they only have one option, they will quickly tire of it, and it will lose it’s effectiveness.

Remember too that the reward needs to be worth the effort. You’ll not only want your child to understand how to earn the reward, but you’ll also want to make sure that earning the reward requires minimal effort at first. If too much effort is required, your child won’t be motivated to earn that reward. Kids, like adults, often choose the path of least resistance to get what they want.

5.  Different parents or caregivers using different plans

It’s super important that everyone working with the child is using the same intervention and using it the same way. If one person implements the intervention and another doesn’t, your child will be confused about which set of rules to follow and your intervention will be unsuccessful. Again, inconsistency is your enemy.

Source:

Williams, Keith E., and Richard M. Foxx. Treating Eating Problems of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities: Interventions for Professionals and Parents. PRO-ED, 2007.