Picky Eater - Chicago,IL

There is a great book by William G Wilkoff, MD called Coping with a Picky Eater that every parent or provider of kids should read and have a copy of. http://www.amazon.com/Coping-Picky-Eater-Perplexed-Parent...

This book has what I call the Picky Eater Plan. I have used this plan with kids that literally threw up at the sight of food and within 2 weeks they were eating normal amounts of everything and trying every food.

First you need to get everyone who deals with the child on board. If you are a provider it's ok to make this the rule at your house and not have the parents follow through but you wont' see as good results as what I described up above.

The plan is to limit the quantities of food you give the kid. When I first start with a child I give them literally ONE bite worth of each food I am serving. The book suggests that every time you feed the kids (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner) you give all 4 food groups. So, for lunch today I would have given the child one tiny piece of strawberry, one spoonful of applesauce, 3 macaroni noodles with cheese on them, and 2 oz of milk. Only after they ate ALL of what was on their plate would you give them anything else. They can have the same amounts for seconds. If they only want more mac and cheese, they only get 3 noodles then they would have to have more of all the other foods in order to get more than that. If they don't eat, fine. If they don't finish, fine. Don't make a big deal out of it, just make them stay at the table until everyone else is done eating. They don't get more food until they are sat at the next meal and they only get what you serve. When I first do this with a child I don't serve sweets at all. So no animal crackers for snack but rather a carrot for snack. Or one of each of those. I don't make it easy for them to gorge on bad foods in other words. Now if they had a meal where they ate great then I might make the snack be a yummy one cause I know they filled up on good foods.

Even at snacks you have to limit quantities of the good stuff or else they will hold out for snack and just eat those snacky foods. I never give a picky eater the reward of a yummy snack unless they had that great lunch prior to it.

It really is that easy.

As they say, "This too shall pass." Luckily, or not, it seems that my kids go through so many phases with what they'll eat, what they won't that it can make menu planning feel like a mine field! In times when it seems that we're going through a pickier than normal phase, I rely on muffins and smoothies to help round out a more restricted diet. We have recipes for both on our blog www.welcomingkitchen.blogspot.com that might be useful to you.
Good luck riding out this storm!

My 3 1/2 year old is in this phase, so what I have done and it has worked is to make him take 1 bite of whatever it is, if he doesn't like it, fine, but he might and it's only 1 bite. This is especially useful if he wants a treat after his meal! He doesn't get treats all the time, so it's not bribery and I'm not making him eat all of it, so it's not force feeding.

Get the book, Deceptively Delicious. It teaches you how to cook foods into foods that your child will eat. My son is the same way. I think its a texture thing. I hope that helps!
blessings,
J.

I agree with LT, my 5 year old is picky and if it is something looks different to her she will not try it. She has learned, this is what we are having, if you don't eat it you don't eat so, it's her choice. You are not a short order cook don't make him something different just because he doesn't like what you made for dinner. I promise he won't starve-my daughter has gone to bed hungry a time or two and has learned the lesson.

My 6 yo son is the same way. Everything has to be deconstructed and simple. Try letting him help you make it. That might entice him to try it

Mine use to be like that and still is to a point. I offer 3 things. If you eat it fine, if not fine. - exp: chicken carrots and potatoe... But nothing else until the next meal. If they are hungry enough tey will eat it. I don't force feed her so that wasy it is not a power struggle. And it's not like I am serving up liver and onions :)