2 1/2 Year Old Refuses to Try New Foods

Dr. William Sears (pediatrician, author of over 36 books & health editor for "Parenting" & "Baby Talk" magazine) has a website (www.askdrsears.com) that is a great resource for parents to go to for advice & tips. My passion is educating families on the importance good nutrition has in preventing disease & keeping the body's immune system in balance. I have been to many seminars & listened to many doctors speak about this & Dr. Sears has been one of them. He says that it takes anywhere from 5-7 exposures to any food for a child to readily eat it, due to the development of their tastebuds. He also recommends a product that me & my family have taken for 7 yrs. called Juice Plus+ (17 vine-ripened fruits, veggies & whole grains). It is the most researched "whole food" nutritional product in the world today & has been published in 12 medical journals, so far. You can check the product, research & doctors recommending it at: www.juiceplus.com/+sc57599. The cells in your body have "memory", so if you feed it certain foods it will begin to "crave" those foods even more (example: eat sugar & the body wants more). So far, this product has helped many children & teenagers change their eating patterns (healthier). Just to let you know, I still believe that we should be eating "whole foods", but for the people who need to "bridge the gap" in their nutritional status (WHO now says we should eat 7-13 servings of fruits & veggies every day) this is a great product! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me ###-###-####. Good luck!

S.

Hi! Here are a few of my tactics:

- repeated exposure (keep offering it, just a bite for several days in a row), aka persistance :)
- let him watch you eat it and love it
- tell him that his favorite TV/book character or person loves to eat it, aka peer pressure
- tell him it keeps him strong and healthy and give him energy to play - sounds simple but for some reason, my girls take to this
- serve it in a fun way - fun dishes, fun presentation
- offer it when you're out and about (park, mall, playdate but not necessarily at restaurants - for some reason, i find my kids (1,3,5y) are more likely to eat foods when we're out, e.g. edamame, whole wheat pasta, even peas!
- restrict the good stuff (fruit, dessert, treats) until he at least eats a few bites of the other stuff - this is the one we usually end up doing - and then after he eats the 2-4 bites, say "okay, one more and you're done"

Good luck!

i have a daughter the same age as your son, she is very simalar to him as well. she will not eat meat she will only eat rice, this may seem gross but i bled tomatoes, carrots, and green beans in the blender, and cook the rice with the juice.... she loves it. I recently started adding pieces of chicken into the rice she loves it. Hope this helps a little,
M.

Kids are picky at this age. They say that it takes at least 15 times of exposure to a certain food... before they get used to it, or even try it. Just keep offering... but don't turn it into a "power" struggle. I know, LOL, it's not easy.

Jerry Seinfeld's wife, has a book, whereby she uses vegetable purees in foods she cooks. I have tried it and it's great... my Hubby and kids don't even know there are "veggies" in my cooking. You can use, cauliflower, carrots, spinach, squash, etc., boil it, then puree it up in a blender. When you cook or make anything such as spaghetti, pot roasts, hamburger patties, meatloaf, or anything with sauce or gravies, just add it in there. I keep my purees frozen in 1/2 cup amounts and add it all my cooking. Or for fruits, make a smoothie with it. Also, doing something different can add novelty to a food... for example.... I puree down vegetables or fruit...season it, then put it in a soup bowl, add a straw and let my daughter "drink" from it for fun. She thinks it's corny to "eat" this way....and it makes it fun for her and she will actually "eat" her veggies or fruit this way.

Just a suggestion and what I have done. I know its not easy, this stage of picky eating.... we just have to get creative about it. Perhaps, ask your Pediatrician as well... perhaps a toddler vitamin can be suggested?

Good luck,
~Susan
www.cafepress.com/littlegoogoo

Often its the texture, not taste that kids don't like--retry the same foods in different formats--diced, sliced, canned, fresh & frozen. You can also try the Ketchup & Ranch solution--find a sauce he likes and put it on everything. Once he decides he "likes" a food, then slowly reduce the sauce until he'll eat it with out. And if all else fails stop giving in on the garbage--my mother in law raised three healthy men--all who were extremely picky (still are) and she still preaches not to give in---"they won't starve, they eventually eat when they get hungry and see everyone else eating it......"

The other posts already said to keep offering the healthy foods, and I want to both reinforce that and add to it. It is so important at this age (and earlier) to offer only healthy foods to children, and make treats a rarity. Parents feel more strongly about their children being "deprived" if they don't have treats then they do about their children developing a taste for healthy foods. You are the parent and have control over what your child eats- if there is no unhealthy food in your house (or only very small quantities of it) then it's not an issue. But when he sits down at the table, you as a parent have to make a decision about what you're going to do and stick with it- really there's no wrong way. I don't believe in bargining about food- if my daughter doesn't eat I just don't worry about it because snack is at a set time, so she has to wait, and I know it's going to be a healthy snack. However, you can make a rule for your house that you have to try one bite of everything, and you don't get to be excused until you do- whatever you do, be consistant, and apply the rule to everyone (including mom and dad because of course you want to be a good example). But if you have set meal and snack times (ie, no grazing) and have healthy snacks in between healthy meals, then you don't have to worry about it because eventually he will get hungry and he will eat. Never to my knowledge has a child starved themself to a point where it was unhealthy (unless there's an underlying issue like acid reflux, but that is rare at that age).

One last thing- I find that the biggest hurdle moms have to deal with if they are truely willing to enforce healthy eatting healthy is not the kids, but the husband! Make it clear that he will eat what and how the kids eat when he is around the kids- I had to make a "no grazing" rule in the evenings in my house because my husband comes home from work, eats a snack while I finish supper, eats supper, then grabs a snack, then another until he goes to bed (he's skinny, he can eat like that, drives me crazy!) But every time he would eat Izzy would want to eat, too, so I had to lay down the law- he has to wait until she goes to bed. But in general men can be such babies when you change up their food!

The most important thing is to keep offering the food. Don't make a big deal if he won't eat it, but offer it everyday. A lot of my daycare kids won't touch the vegetables the first couple of weeks with me, but when I keep putting it on their plates, they will eventually eat it and love it. I also love the cookbook, "First Meals" by Annabel Karmel. She has some great recipes, and shows you how to make it kid-friendly, by arranging it like an animal or face. For instance, you can make mini pizzas on a bagel, then use olives for the eyes, carrot shreds for whiskers, corn kernals for teeth, mushrooms for eyebrows (olive placed on top of the mushroom), etc. Another thing is to have your son help you cook. Kids will generally eat what they cook, so let him scrub the carrots or put a sandwich together. Hope this helps! Good Luck!

N.

J.,

Don't push it. I just put a tiny bit on my 1 yr old and 3 yr olds plates and if they eat it then I'm happy. If they don't I don't force the issue. I put baby carrots on my sons plate for over a year and now that is the only veggie he eats. I also give them lots of fresh fruit if they don't eat veggies. I know it isn't the same, but it's better than nothing. I also give them veggie and fruit juice combine. V8 fusions is good or I sometimes get a tropical carrot blend at trader joes that is more reasonable. My kids don't eat much meat except for chicken nuggets. I just continue to offer them new foods and I figure one day they will turn around. Good luck!

L.