Help with Extremely Picky Eater

Hi K.-
My daughter who is 13 months is doing the exact same thing. She eats meatballs and chicken one day, and the next she is spitting them out. That goes along with cheese and veggies, rice and fish. But with fruit, she will eat it nonstop.

She has had 2 molars come in within the last week and a half and that is when it started. I started to sneak the veggies and meats into her mouth, right behind the fruit. I put the veggies and/or meats behind the fruit piece. Once I put it in her mouth, she will not spit it out. She has gotten a little better, but you want them to eat. If fruit and milk is all she eats, at least she is eating.
Good luck!

My daughter is 19 months and can be challenging as well. She won't even try one bite sometimes and goes into a fit if I try to put some on her tongue to at least taste (something like yams that I know she likes). Well, even though she has molars and can eat whole veggies, I still steam and puree vegetables (kale, collard greens, spinach, etc...Super Baby Foods book) and freeze in cubes. I will add green cubes to spaghetti sauce and even mac and cheese and she loves it. When all else fails and we do this quite often, I make a 'shake' with 2-3 green cubes, yogurt, some agave nectar to sweeten a bit, and frozen fruit like blueberries and she LOVES it. Has never turned it down yet. Everything in there is healthy and she's getting up to 3 cubes of greens! I also make pancakes which she usually likes, but add the green veggies, wheat germ, blackstrap molasses, etc. Good luck!

It might be a phase. I have two kids ages 3 and 5 that eat really well and will try anything, however, they can love salmon one day and not want to touch it the next. With your son, keep doing what you are. Offer but don't force. Offer a variety of veggies, plate them in different ways. With mine, a fun thing we did at that age was take a muffin tin with 6 slots and put different things in each slot - don't fill them up, just a bite or two in each. Set it down and let him graze. Peas, sweet bell pepper, carrots (nuke them for a bit to make the a little softer - if needed) or you could do shredded carrots, crackers, cheese, anything bite size. My son gets hooked on mac and cheese and my daughter pb&j, since I know they love these foods, I make them as healthy as possible and offer other foods I want them to try first. Again, I never force, at the most, I might say, "just take one bite, if you don't like it you don't ever have to eat it again" I'll usually keep trying with that food every now and then till I'm sure it is something they just don't like. Also, another thing I do if it is something I just want them to eat and I know they like it, I might say, "OK, just 3 bites because you're 3 years old" 5 bites for my daughter because she is 5. They have fun doing this. You could say to your son, just one bite since you are one. One more thing that works although it is a little sneaky on our parts, just make a plate for yourself (make it for him but pretend it is for you) then go and sit down with it. He'll be curious, you can say, sorry bud, this is Mommy's plate, if he looks like he wants something from it then say, OK, I'll share it with you this one time... (-: I don't advocate manipulation but this has worked for me in the past and it was a win win.. they feel like THEY made the decision - you didn't demand anything.

Sorry for being so long winded on my answer - I've had way too much coffee!!
M.

Hi K.,

Green beans and ketchup. Yes, sounds gross, but my daughter was the veggie queen until one day she just stopped eating them. I kept putting them on her plate every night at dinner, and finally one night she was having chicken nuggets and green beans. She decided that it would be fun to dip her green beans in the ketchup. I'd put ketchup on her plate every night for a while just to get her to eat the veggies. She finally started eating them again(without the ketchup). Good luck!

Hi. My son doing same thing. He went a long time before without eating meat. And then i started giving him ketchup with all his meat. He loved it, and now will eat almost all meat. I also am not opposed to putting butter on veggies. They really need them! I use smart balance it is healthiest. Also get the book Deceptively delicious. I just think well he is teething, and if my mouth hurt that bad i probally would only eat fruit too :) And remember molars come at this time and they hurt the worst.

Maybe you could try this. Boil a variety of vegies in a low sodium boullion/water. Blend them into a soup. He may sip this thru a straw or leave alittle thicker & add Ranch dressing for a chicken nugget dipper. You can also, blend yogurt, milk & other good stuff w/ fruits for smoothies. Nothing wrong w/ eating fruit.

Hi K., as long as he is healthy I would not worry to much, at 15 months it's hard to tell them if you don't eat what is in from of you, you'll get nothing else, fruits are healthy, he may be onthe verg of getting his two year mollars and the fruits maybemore soothing for him right now. I would check out the pediasure and see if he is old enough for that, it was made for kids who don't eat right, and most kids don't my youngest is 19 and does not eat right, she's thin and she's a dancer so she gets plenty of exercise, but I still worry about her for later on. J.

Hi K.,

This is just a phase, I promise! My daughter used to do this and I was laughing with a co-worker just yesterday when he was telling me his 18-month old son is doing the same thing.

Have you tried yogurt, cottage cheese, frozen waffles, oatmeal, deli meats like turkey and ham, hot dog weiners...

The good thing is that your son won't starve himself. It will feel in this picky phase as though he's not eating enough but he is okay.

Good luck!

-Char

Hello K.,
I have been going through this also my son is now 21 months and I still have to get him to eat right. What I have been doing is actually sitting and eating the same exact thing with him and not constantly nagging at him to eat it. I let him feed himself or wait till he asks me to give him some and believe it or not he eats his whole plate of food and try to give him his water or juice after he finishes because that will make him full during the feeding. I hope this is somewhat helpful.

Hi K.,

My son is almost 17 months and is starting to be more picky as well, but here are some things that have helped us along the way...

I haven't taken the effort to try making my own purees yet (what? more work? *laugh*), but I use the Gerber baby vegetables and he'll eat all of those just fine, on their own or mixed into refried beans. I don't know if you've tried still using the baby purees or not, but thought I'd mention it just in case. I know green beans and peas aren't exactly chock full of vitamins, but it's something green and they do have protein and iron. My son loves squash (he loves the word squash too, 'cause I say it like I'm "squashing" something), and it has some good nutrients in it. I also like the garden vegetables mix because it has spinach and carrots too.

I don't know if you've already done this, but I graduated my son from his high chair into a booster seat so he can be right at the table with us and he's been a lot better at eating in his "big boy" chair.

Also, one last thought... if your son is interested in using the utensils himself, let him go at the purees and make a huge mess. Usually he'll get a little in and have fun while he's trying. My son usually eats better when he has the chance to feed himself. Sometimes I give him a spoon and I have a spoon and we take turns. I have some bowls that have suction underneath and although they're not perfect, they do help. I just have a large plastic tarp under his chair to help with the clean-up. There have been some days (when he's hungry enough and not thinking about just playing with the food) that he hasn't even gotten anything on the floor.

Good luck!

K.,
I have a super picky 5 year old whose will is strong! Still, I make sure to place a little bit of everything on his plate and encourage him to dip his food in (the one thing he loves) sour cream. Slowly, he is coming around.

I know he loves beans, so I will steam veggies, puree them and toss them in with the beans- Two books on the market that describe this are Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious. I actually sneak all sorts of veggies into my husband's meals as well.

Best of luck,
F.