📰 Must read: Beyond Picky Eating: Sensory Sensitivities and Food in HSC

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We all want our kids to eat well. But when you're raising a highly sensitive child, mealtimes can become a battlefield you never signed up for. One day they love something, the next day it's "gross." They refuse entire meals over things that seem insignificant to us—a spot on a banana, a slightly different texture, the way the food is arranged on the plate.

And we're left wondering: Is this just picky eating? Or is there something more going on?

Here's what happened in my house recently: I made my son a fruit salad—something he usually loves. He was happily eating it until he found a soft, slightly brown spot on a strawberry. That was it. Game over. The entire bowl became inedible to him. Not just that strawberry—the whole thing.

My first instinct? Frustration. He likes fruit salad. He's not a typical picky eater—he loves vegetables and generally has a pretty varied diet. So what was the problem?

But then I took a step back. This wasn't about the strawberry. It was about what that imperfect strawberry triggered in his mind.

Highly sensitive children process every. single. thing. very deeply. So when my son saw that bad spot, his brain didn't just register it and move on. It spiraled. What if the whole bowl is bad? What if I get sick? What if something's wrong with all of it?

That tendency to deeply process information is one of the hallmarks of high sensitivity. But it also means these kids can spiral quickly, especially when anxiety is involved. And when you layer sensory sensitivities on top of that—textures that feel wrong, tastes that are too strong, smells that are overwhelming—food becomes way more complicated than just "eat it or don't."

The truth? It can be really hard to tell. Sometimes it's sensory. Sometimes it's anxiety. Often, it's both.

A child with sensory sensitivities might genuinely struggle with certain textures (mushy, slimy, crunchy) or tastes (bitter, sour, strong flavors). But a highly sensitive child's emotional processing can turn a simple sensory dislike into a full-blown panic response. One bad experience—a weird texture, an unexpected taste—and suddenly their brain files that food under "danger."

Here's the good news: you don't have to figure out the exact cause to help your child. What matters most is how you respond.

When we understand that food refusal might be rooted in anxiety or sensory overwhelm—not defiance—we can approach mealtimes with more compassion and less frustration.

In this week's blog post, we're giving you practical strategies to support your highly sensitive child at mealtimes without losing your mind.

Because understanding what's really going on is the first step to making mealtimes feel less like a battle and more like a chance to connect.

👉 Read our latest blog post about helping your child with food sensitivities

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1) 1:1 Coaching - Get 50% off 1:1 coaching to finally create a plan that actually works for YOUR highly sensitive child and YOUR specific triggers

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