In research and practice, many kids need 8–15 exposures before accepting a new food — what’s been your real number? I encourage families to pair a pea-sized taste with safe favorites and rotate it 2–3 times a week on the menu; we use a fridge calendar to tally exposures and keep balance across food groups.
My real number’s all over: green beans took about 10 tries, salmon spread clicked at 3 — do you count smell-only tries as “exposures”? We track it on the fridge and do micro-bites with a sniff/touch, and switching prep (crispy roasted vs steamed) keeps it from feeling like the same food. If we stall past about 12, we park it for a week to drop the pressure, like befriending a cat.
Peas clicked around try 9 here, but what helped most was changing the format each time — roasted, mashed with butter, then chilled as a ‘pea pop,’ and always allowing a no‑thank‑you napkin. Do you count smell or tongue touches as exposures, or only a true ‘pea-sized taste’ even when it’s mixed into a safe food? If we see zero progress after 6–8 tries, we swap the prep or pairing and log it on the fridge.
Having my kid help cook it first — stirring or sprinkling cheese — made acceptance come faster here, then it goes on a tiny “parking plate” beside the regular plate. Curious if anyone counts prep-time as an exposure; we’ve found it lowers pressure. I’m with you on rotating, @OP, but I’ll skip a week if the vibe sours and lean on a liked dip or texture bridge (see https://solidstarts.com) to keep momentum.