My 14-Month Is a Very Picky Eater and Is Less than 15% Percentile in Weight

Annabel Karmel has a web site and cook books on foods for babies and toddlers. They are easy to use recipes and taste good for adults too.

My daughter never liked traditional baby food. She also didnt have any teeth until she was about 1(then she only had two forever). She ate what we ate with the exception of the food not recommended for certain ages. Steamed, canned, or frozen veggies. Cut up meats that were well cooked and soft. Fruits of all kinds cut up canned or fresh. She loved big kid oatmeal packets. eggs with cheese sprinkled on top. Pasta with or without sauce. You would be amazed what kids can eat with very few teeth. My suggestion would be to stop buying baby food (he is not a baby anymore) and introduce big boy food. Just like adults kids like good flavor too(garlic and other spices.

M.,

I think you could give him more foods that he has to try and chew. My daughter didn't cut her first tooth until she was 11 months old. You'd be surprised at how effective their little gums are at chewing up semi solid foods.

Melissa

Sounds like a pretty balance diet to me! You may want to start offering some other entrees and mac and cheese less often or at least serve a whole grain mac and cheese. Warning...he will probably get even pickier for the next couple of years. Ride it out, don't try to control him or stress out too much. Just keep offering him nutritious foods and eat them yourselves in front of him and after he comes out of this stage he'll probably be a a very well rounded eater.

And, I agree with Melissa that you could be offering him everything you're eating that he can eat himself with hands or silverware.

Also, being in the 15% is not a problem - it's in the normal range. The only time it would be a problem is if he's continually dropping in his placement on the chart. For instance, if he was 50% and then 30% and then 15%. If he has always been near 15% or if he just dipped lower than he was and then jumps back up, that's fine.

I think you need to realize that he will eat if he's hungry. Give him more balanced meals with vegetables and protein added to the high starchy foods he tends to like. I would be careful not to get into food power plays with him starting now. My sister had a child with low weight, that became a very picky eater early on and still is at 18 years old.
Your son needs to eat what your family eats and if he doesn't like it he'll soon get hungry enough and try it. He shouldn't have a whole separate diet. You said he loves to eat so if he sees everyone enjoying their food it will intrigue him.

Just give it time and he'll probably change his likes and dislikes. My son was always (and, at 5 years old, still is) in the 10th percentile. He's healthy, happy, and very active, he's just not meant to weigh much - he's not built like that. As long as your son is getting the vitamins he needs from the foods he eats, which - given your list - he seems to be, he's fine. Your pediatrician knows what she's talking about. I know it can be worrisome, but try to relax and breath easy - he's okay.

Hi M.,

It's great that your son loves to eat. Even though he's limited in variety, he's still eating and that's what is important. Do you like and trust your current doctor? If so, believe him when he says there is nothing to be concerned about. There probably isn't, and if that changes and the doctor thinks further review or testing is in order, he'll tell you and help point you in the right direction.

Our little guy's weight was around the 50%-ile at birth but dropped to <3%-ile by nine months. This was a large enough drop for our doctor to request a blood work-up. Since he is growing and developing as expected, nothing else has been done. (We did discover he had an issue with his white blood cell counts but it's unrelated to the weight loss.) Oh, and we saw a speech pathologist and nutritionist. Our nutritionist actually started recommending we give him pretty much anything he requested - milkshakes were at the top of her list because of the caloric count. She also recommended putting butter and/or olive oil on pretty much everything, and continuing to offer whole milk.

As for coming up with other dishes, I ordered and used Annabel Karmel's First Meals cookbook. It starts with easy purees for new eaters and continue into toddlerhood. Some of the recipes are a bit labor intensive, considering you're making the dish for one little person, but all the ones we've made so far taste pretty good and our son seems to like them.

Best of luck!

My baby didn't like any jar baby food. We fed her soft steamed vegies: sweet potato, russet potato, corn, carrots, peas, jar peaches, grapes (cut up), soft noodles (spiral or macaroni), rice, tofu, English muffins, Morning Star sausage patties, shredded cheddar etc. Textures tripped my daughter up too so I would feed her 1 item at a time instead of 2 or 3 things. Keep trying, they say it takes kids many tries before they discover they like a food. If your Ped is not concerned, I wouldn't worry just continue to offer him healthy options. :) Good luck.

Your son's pickiness and avoidance of certain textures is utterly and completely within the range of normal for his age. And his list of foods he likes is actually pretty impressive and reasonably well-balanced. (A neighbor child would not touch veggies until he was about 5, when he suddenly started asking for salads for lunch!)

Avoid making eating a big issue, and let him take the lead (mostly) on trying new foods. Eat them in his presence, but give him a chance to reach for them. Relaxed and happy mealtimes are more important to a lifetime of healthy eating than whether he actually consumes certain foods now. He'll quite naturally become more adventurous in his eating if you don't make a struggle out of it.

I agree with other posters that if you offer him foods that are mostly whole, freshly prepared, and preferably organic, he's less likely to develop a taste for poor-quality foods, at least until he starts hanging out with friends whose parents are not so careful.

Hi M.,

I first just have to say that I feel your pain. My now 5 year old continues to be a picky eater since he was about 1 year. He started on solids (baby cereal & baby food) at about 5-6 mos. and was additionally breastfed on demand til 18mos.

We have gone the rounds in our pediatricians clinic because our primary ped. doc retired. I would recommend a pediatrician to help you both. You'll probably feel more confident in your son's care. Our clinic is Virgina Mason and our past doc wasn't as concerned as I about his weight as all of his growth was steady and hitting/ surpassing all milestones but his low point was 5%. That scares me still to write it.

Yet, he asked us to make a food log for one month and then they submitted it to a nutritionist at the medical clinic. It was interesting & fun to do. I wrote in naps times & any records of delight & fussiness too. They said he was being fed an adequate diet and taking in enough calories. This did make me feel better but you are always the one that needs to be your child's advocate.

Good luck to you and your sweet babe.

ps. Small canned beans might intrigue him. Black beans, pinto beans, black-eyed peas (not chickpeas/garbanzo beans) for him to scoot around and feed himself. Fun soft real food.

My closest friend took her son to feeding therapy and it helped a lot. You might want to give it a shot. He would literally throw up unless what you fed him had a dry, crunchy texture. He's still on the small side, but he is eating better. Good luck to you.

Maybe try mashed avacado, olives, or cottage cheese blended with fresh fruit. Olives would be soft and the others mashed which would hopefully help with the texture thing and they are higher in fat which may help with weight gain.

He's definitely old enough to eat whatever the rest of the family is eating. There will be days when they eat a lot and days when they hardly touch their food and nothing to be worried about regardless of their weight. As far as his being in the 15% percentile, I wouldn't worry as long as he is steady on his own personal growth, his head measurements and milestones markers are on track.

As far as eating though. Kids learn preferences early on. If you feed them healthy nutritious foods and don't give them other options, their preferences will sway that way. It may take a few days, but serve him food just like yours and have him eat with you and the family at meal time. He will see everyone eating the same thing and when he gets hungry enough he'll eat. If you are concerned about him gaining some weight, after he starts getting established with eating with the family and starts accepting regular food (you can cut it up really small for him), then you can start pumping in some extra calories.

Ceasing the pickiness will help ensure he eats better in the long run. My daughter is 3 and will eat most anything, she will get picky if we are at a social occassion and other kids are acting funny about their food, but when home, she eats what eat. If we are eating salmon, brown rice and asparagus, she it's it all! It's normal to her.

Good luck!

Sounds like you are trying to keep feeding him "baby" food...he might be more interested in the real thing. Mashed sweet potatoes or cubed if he's ready, mashed potatoes, well cooked meats (slow cookers are great for this and beef or pork comes out with a pull apart texture, then chop smaller). My son preferred real food over baby food anyday, and even now my kids will not eat mac n cheese, pb&j, canned spaghetti, etc. and they are in their teens. Just be sure foods are cut small enough to prevent choking. I always did frozen mixed veggies, esp. for snacks while teething (cold was great for teething and kept snacks healthy). My cousin taught me to use the nutrition of the oatmeal/rice cereals by adding as an ingredient in cookie dough (1/2 cereal, 1/2 flour)...the kids ate the cereal, and had a more nutrition snack than regular cookies! Hope this helps!

What you have is a child who craves natural tastes. Start cooking natural food for him. Forget cheezos and Mac and cheese. NO MANUFACTURED FOOD WILL DO.
Yes I had to learn to cook several times over with my children. Finally it turned out that organically grown food suited them. I even kept goats in our backyard and milked them twice a day (Berkeley California) so that my children had good
milk they were not allergic to and homemade yogurt, cheese, etc.
They grew up healthy without doctor visits except for falling off a horse, and one other accident. They did not get many illnesses and have great teeth which I don't.
They were not fat but developed good muscular structure. So your son is telling you he needs a natural diet and if you start now in a few months you will have a great eater.