Demanding that a child eat, or restricting food are associated with some of the pickiest eaters, according to the study, published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics.

Mott Children's Hospital.

Lower levels of picky eating in children were associated with parents imposing few restrictions on foods and a lack of pressure to eat.

Families in the study were eligible for the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Head Start program, meaning they were living at or below the federal government's poverty level for a family of four, currently $25,000 a year.

Researchers asked parents to respond to questionnaires describing their child's level of picky eating and how the parents were handling the issue.

Parent completed the questionnaires when their child was 4, 5, 8 and 9 years old.

"What makes this study really unique is that we were able to map this behavior over a longer period of time," Pesch said, adding that the study did not find that a child grew out of his or her picky eating behavior within that five years.

"It's a natural inclination to say, 'If you eat your green beans, you can have dessert.' But that can backfire and create an even larger negative association with that food," she said.

The study found no difference among children due to socioeconomic demographics, but did find higher rates of picky eating among children who had problems regulating their emotions.

Some kids are just going to be picky."

Try these 'best practices'

Because picky eating was evident by age 4 and didn't ease during the five years of the study, "interventions need to begin at younger ages because of the stability of picky eating trajectories over time," wrote Zucker and Hughes in the editorial.

The best time to introduce new foods is when the baby begins solid foods at six months, experts said, and then continue to offer a variety of foods throughout the formative years of toddlerhood.

Pediatrician Dr.

One of the best practices for parents dealing with picky eaters is to expose your child to the food multiple times, experts said, and always without stress.

"It might take multiple times before they even tolerate having it on their plate or are interested in taking a bite.

Parents and older siblings and caregivers should role model eating and enjoying a variety of foods, experts said.

"Seeing someone who is loved and trusted eating that food multiple times will normalize it a bit and that has been shown to increase food acceptance, especially for those children who may have a more anxious or cautious temperament," Pesch said.

Involve kids in picking out food and preparing it.