Don't Know What to Cook for 2 Years Old Picky Eater

I just wanted to say don't stress over the weight. My son is a good eater, and he has consistently been in the fifth percentile since birth. Some kids are just smaller than others.

Keep presenting your daughter with a variety of foods. We have found that if our daughter sees us eating something, she'll usually try it. If that doesn't work, we leave her with a few bites of everything and disappear from her sight. Almost always, if she's hungry, she will eat what is in front of her. If we make a big deal out of her trying anything, the wall goes up and nothing is eaten.

If you daughter loves veggies, have you tried beans? My daughter loves black beans, and we just open the canned variety and heat them up for her. Sauces to dip in, ezpecially ketchup, also generally encourage her to try new things. She loves to dip. Also try cheeese and yogurt (our daughter would only eat shredded cheese, not blocks of slices for quite a while). All are good sources of protein, so missing meat would be ok. Keep trying new things though!

Will she eat any grains like rice, etc.? Quinoa, which is a good substitute for rice, has all the essential amino acids like meat and can be mixed with vegetables with a little cheese, or mayo, or ketchup (get an all natural or organic ketchup that doesn't have any corn syrup in it!). That way she is getting some protein. You can try mixing yogurt too.

You can get quinoa at most whole food stores. Some grocery stores carry it as well.

Another good option is mushrooms. They also have all essential amino acids and again, you can mix them in with other vegetables. Beans are good too, but you need to mix them with a little cheese or yogurt to fill out the protien mix. Peanut butter, almond butter, and tahini (sesame butter), are all good protien sources when mixed with other items. Homemade hummus is perfect, as it has chick peas and tahini (store hummus for whatever reason has NO protein in it!).

Nut and seed butters are also high in GOOD fats, so they can add some heft to the meal.

You can also use avocado to add good fats to her diet to pad out the calories. Avocado with melted cheese is a favorite in our house. I just slice up the avocado, sprinkle on some grated cheese (I use all kinds, from mozzerella to cheddar) and pop the whole thing in the microwave just long enough to melt the cheese.

You would think we were vegetarians, but we are not! My kids sometimes go on meat strikes, so I have had to learn how to substitute.

Good luck!

Both of my kids were in the 5th percentile at 2 years of age. My son was a picky eater and my daughter was not. They eat when they are hungry. As parents we worry so much about how much they eat. The best thing you can do is not to stress and just offer a variety of healthy foods and her favorites as well. As long as she is growing, active and healthy I would not worry. My son is now in the 40th percentile and I take my daughter for her 3 year checkup in a few days. Some kids are just smaller than others and it is not a bad thing. Good luck!

I have found that children that age like to dip. Try pasta sauces with blended (disguised) vegetables and whole grain bread sticks or hummus and pita bread (soft). At that age my children loved yogurt, Malt-o-meal (smooth texture), cheese sticks, peanut butter on a spoon, deli turkey rolled up.

My niece was about the same weight percentile. I offered her food 5-6 times a day. She was a grazer and would eat only a bit here and there. By the end of the day, she had enough nutrition. She eventually gained two pounds and then moved into a healthier weight range for her height and age.

Try mixing whey protein in with her milk... Combining grains and lentils/beans will provide complete protein as well... Perhaps she is instinctively vegetarian so I wouldn't force her or push her to eat animal flesh if she is naturally averse. Have you tried egg (boiled, scrambled with cheese, poached?) You can get whey, hemp or soy protein in powder form plain or in many flavors at Good Nutrition in Roswell or at GNC possibly (maybe even the health food section of Kroger) and you could make her fruit smoothies or milk shakes with powdered protein. I would be careful to only give her soy occasionally though as too much soy is not good for any of us.... Good luck!

Dont panic too much she will change her taste buds periodically and will try different things just make sure to introduce her to different kinds of meat and until then peanut butter is a great sorce of protein and so are many kinds of beans.

I too would fix her a protein drink each day. Whey protein with fruits (and even veggies like spinach) and if you need to experiment and sweeten it a bit, I'd use stevia (something that doesn't mess with the insulin levels.) I think it's awesome that she is eating veggies! Meat should be eaten sparingly, so getting the protein from other better sources is actually a good thing. My children around the age of 2 hardly ate....it was a normal thing that my ped said...not that that mattered to me.

Someone else mentioned Quinoa..also wonderful!! If she is eating healthy, go for it!!

Mother of 4

My daughter sounds just like that and I used to stress, but not anymore. Just keep presenting her different foods, she'll come around. Sometimes I break down and buy Pediasure and that seems to plump her up. My daughter just started eating macaroni and cheese and pizza. I usually just give her what she wants, which lately is three granola bars in one sitting. It will change. You are doing a great job of cooking everyday, just stick with it!! Good luck.

My kids are both picky eaters and the younger one (he's 8 now) is the worst. Don't stress over your daughter's weight if she is healthy and still growing. My younger son has been down below the 5% weight percentile and even fallen off the chart occasionally, and now at 8 years old, I think he weighs all of 44 pounds. But he's still growing, happy, and healthy.

Things I've done with him - he got Pediasure once or twice a day, I mix it with his morning milk and again at bedtime for a boost of a couple hundred extra calories. Look for a generic version of PediaSure or try Ensure Plus, my kids like the vanilla flavor best. I'll fill a sippy cup half with milk and have with the Ensure and shake it up, it's like a vanilla shake. See if your daughter will eat eggs (scrambled is good), cheese, peanut butter, drinkable or squeezable yogurt, Cheerios. If she likes bread, make sure she's getting whole grain, and try putting peanut butter or just butter on it to add some extra fat and protein. My kids also love Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, that's a good one to try. Even though it will seem repetitive (and it is), if they only like a few foods but they actually eat those foods, then let them have as much as they want. My kids also love cheese pizza, and the usual chicken nuggets, and they like fish sticks. Also try to remember to give your daughter a daily multi-vitamin, they come in Gummie varieties that the kids like.

Best of luck to you and don't worry!
C.