Getting your child to eat food isn't as easy as it sounds. We all have different tastes when it comes to food, and children are no different.

Even though they haven't tried as many foods as we have, there are still textures, smells, and tastes that they won't like, as well as ones that they do. However, when dealing with particularly young children, it can be hard to navigate meal times when you're trying to introduce them to new foods.

Parents will know the struggle of trying to feed their child something they have already had before, only to be met with claims that they "don't like it" - even when you know that's not the case.

One children's dietitian on social media has now shared her advice on what to do if your child says they don't like something before they've even tasted it, and it could help take some of the stress away from meal times.

Lucy Upton, a qualified paediatric dietitian with 10 years of NHS experience, said she chose to share the advice in a TikTok video after going through the same situation with her own daughter, as she realised sharing how she tackled the tricky meal time drama could help other parents.

She said the first step is to make sure you don't argue with your child and try to think about why they're saying they don't like something. She insisted that young children aren't necessarily trying to be difficult, they just don't have the vocabulary to explain that they don't like the way the food smells or looks, so they can only tell you that they don't like it.

The expert said: "The first step is not to immediately meet your small human with lots of logic. I know you want to say, like I did last night, 'You do like chicken, you ate it last week', or 'How do you know you don't like it? You haven't tried it'. These are all very logical, adult brain responses to your child's seemingly illogical behaviour.

"I need you to know that that logic isn't going to land with young children. When they say, in the moment, that they don't like chicken, they are living in their bodies. Usually, their nervous system is talking. It doesn't necessarily mean they don't like it, they're just using their language to say, 'I don't know how it looks today', 'I don't feel like chicken today', 'It looks a bit different than usual', 'I don't feel like eating', or a bazillion other things."

Instead of trying to reason with your children, Lucy recommends doing what you can to take the pressure off, letting your kids know that the food is there if and when they want to give it a try.

She added: "I am not removing that chicken just because she said she didn't want it. We were having it at a meal time anyway. What we're going to do is still offer that food, but with very low expectations.

"If you're plating it up, I would say only give a very small amount of that food on their plate. But better still, have the food in the middle of the table so it's there, they can see it exists, they can get familiar with it, they can watch you eating it, but they can bring it to their plate or explore it if they're feeling ready to."

Lastly, Lucy insisted you must not keep pushing the subject at meal time. Don't keep asking your child if they're sure they don't want any, and don't put too much focus on the food by pointing out other family members who are eating it.

But what you can do is make blanket statements about the food that might help ease any curiosity. In her example, Lucy said her daughter was watching her eat the chicken, so she simply stated that her chicken was "in a red sauce". She said this didn't put any pressure on her daughter to eat the chicken herself, but did explain why the chicken looked different, which helped ease some of her daughter's apprehension over the "new" food.

She said: "Funnily enough, a little later into the meal, I saw her sneakily take a dip of the sauce on the chicken. I didn't say anything. Do not spotlight that sort of behaviour, even though you want to be [excited]. I just let it go on.

"The reason all this works is: 1) We're taking pressure off, 2) We still give children an opportunity to get familiar, see others enjoying the food, and finally, we look for the curiosity. We look for their motivation bringing them to that food. Not us trying to force it on them."

NHS dietary advice for children is that they should get most of their calories from foods like fruit and vegetables, as well as starchy foods like bread, potatoes, pasta, and rice. They should also have some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat, and other protein foods, as well as dairy or dairy alternatives.

For more information, visit the NHS website.