I Need Options ! My 3 1/2 Year Old Only Wants to Eat Mac N' Cheese for Meals...

Yes - there is one called, "Deceptively Delicious" that is wonderful. You can find it at most bookstores and online at www.amazon.com and there is a great Mac N Cheese recipe that has disguised vegetables in it!

K.

I am a mom to a 51/2 yr old and a 21/2 yr old. My youngest daughter is also picky. She gets whatever we are having and if she decides not to eat I wrap up her plate and when she comes in whining for something to eat she gets her dinner plate she refused to eat with the rest of the family. If she decides to not eat again, she gets to wait until breakfast. Yes, she has missed a few meals, but most of the time she will come back and eat what is on her plate.

The first few times we did this to her she threw a fit, so she got to go to bed early. She is now starting to realize that what is served is what we eat, with no snacks later on. (we eat about 6:30 to 7:00 p.m.)

I had a friend who was a short order cook for her kids and husband, she was making 3 to 4 meals at each sitting. Way to much work.

Good luck

Just to add to what everyone else is saying, my daughter is also a "picky" eater, but I have never made her special food. I was concerned because she is naturally very tall and thin (takes after her Daddy) so I asked my pediatrician about it. He said that at this age it is not unusual for kids to skip a meal or two (or four!) a week. Somedays they will eat one thing and the next they will eat another and you can't spend your whole life guessing what they will like that day. What I do with my daughter (well, all of my children, but my daughter is the only one who doesn't eat much) is I make a balanced plate of whatever we are eating (we happen to be very midwestern in our diets so we have a "meat", a "carb" and a "veggie" of some sort at every dinner). Before the kids can get down, they have to take a bite of everything on their plate. They do not have to eat everything, just TRY everything. They are not allowed under any circumstances to say they do not LIKE something (I consider that to be disrespectful to whomever prepared it), but they can choose not to eat it.

In addition to that, I offer a "dessert" of orange slices. They get one slice of orange for taking a bite of everything. If they eat all of something, they get more orange slices. They think they are getting a real treat and I think it is a pretty healthy "reward". It helps my daughter to choose to eat more of the food.

I also give them a vitamin every day (we use Flintstones for toddlers). Good luck!

I have had the same problem with my son who is now 7. I have taken a diffrent approach then most would agree with! I was forced to eat everything as a kid and now i am very picky, not very open to new things! i did not want this to happen to my son! he is very picky right now and eats the same things all the time, occasionally he will try new things. we try to encourage him to try new things but we dont force him to! I just tell him that if he doesnt like it he doesnt have to eat it! I hope that in time he will eat more of a variety! and he has tried new things!
Also i saw on channel 3 a new book i do believe its called the sneeky chef how to get veggies and such into your food without any one knwoing! I have not yet bought it but it looked good! Good luck

My son, who will be 4 the end of May, is the same way. I have found that putting the veggies in the food processor and then mixing them in with other things in the only way to go for us. As long as he can't see the veggies we are ok. This works particularly well with spaghetti sauce. Carrots make the sauce a little sweeter and reduce the acidity and my son loves it. Luckily he does like fruit so I make sure he gets plenty. If you are concerned about him getting the vitamins he needs you may want to try a children's vitamin. My son likes the gummi kind from Costco. Hope this helps. Good luck!

I also am not a short order cook and our children are expected to eat what we do. Everytime we go to Grandma's for dinner she asks what the kids are going to eat? We always say the same thing-what we are.

We put the food on their plate and they eat it. If we are having something I know they don't like, I put a minimal amount of it on the plate. They have to eat what I put on there. If they don't eat, they do not get a snack until the next meal. We have had many times where our children do not eat their meals, but they have to at least try it.

Hi K.,

My oldest son is a very picky eater! He is 4 1/2 and I try not to be a short order cook, but my son is extremely stubborn. He WILL NOT eat until the next meal if he thinks he doesn't like something. I had been very concerned with his nutrition so I researched some supplements. I give both of my boys JP Gummies. They are 17 fruits & 17 vegetables in a gummy form. They taste great and the boys both love them. You also may be able to find a whole food based supplement at Sprouts or Whole Foods if the JP Gummies do not interest you. I buy mine from a Juice Plus rep in Chandler. If you are interested, send me a note and I will pass on her contact info. Check out their website for more info as well. I think it is www.juiceplus.com, but you can google it if that does not work. Good luck! Ooh, something that has been helping lately is a song by Yo Gabba Gabba from Nick Jr or Noggin that is called There's A Party In My Tummy. You can look up the words on Nick Jr's website. Basically it is about a party in your tummy and all the food wanting to go. "There is a party in my tummy, so yummy so yummy." Give it a try. Again, good luck and you are not alone, I am in the same boat.

Steph

Hi K.,
Let me first reassure you - my 2 boys, now aged 35 and 37, were incredibly picky eaters as children. Now they eat just about everything and are both great cooks. So it just takes a while....
A 3 and 1/2 year old is able to understand concepts. I suggest you find a way to say to him something like, "Now that you are 3 and 1/2, you are becoming a Big Boy. Big Boys have to eat many different kinds of food to grow up big and strong and smart and healthy. I know how much you like Mac n' cheese and I will continue to make it for you, but I will also make other foods for dinner and I expect you to eat them."
I believe you have answered your own question: "Do I just set it on the table and say "This is dinner, take it or leave it" and endure a temper tantrum and he won't eat his meal either!" Yes. That's exactly what you do. Make sure he has food he likes for breakfast and lunch and start your campaign with dinner. At least he does like the soy nuggets so you have 1 more food with which to work.
Show him what happens when he only eats 1 kind of food. Take him out to a fair or amusement park where they don't have mac n'cheese, pizza or PB&J. Everyone else will find something to eat, and he will have a problem.
Try unusual vegetables. Cut them into different shapes. Give him a choice: do you want an orange vegetable or a green vegetable? Maybe he'll eat corn on the cob instead of corn from the freezer or a can. Maybe he'll eat corn fritters.
Good luck - and try to remember that when your child grows up and becomes a father, he'll have to deal with his own picky kid, and you will (I promise) laugh yourself to death!

You might try V8 Fusion, my Grandkids love it. I also give them vitamins, before they brush their teeth before bed. They seem to change their likes and dislikes fairly often. You might try freezing small portions of Mac n cheese and adding it to the rest of the meals, and encouraging him to try the rest. If he is gaining and growing normally, try not to worry too much. Kids usually accept enough healthy items as long as they don't get junk food as fillers. Good Luck!!

HI K., I agree with Tania. My kids eat what is put in front of them, or they don't eat. My cousin would only eat white rice with butter, and grilled cheese sandwhiches, i'm not even kidding...for YEARS! She now has a major weight issue and her mom just didn't bother with her. I have an 8 and 5 yo that were picky, only because I was letting them be. Then i practiced some tough love too, sent them to bed without dinner because they 'didn't like it' or wanted something else. after them missing just a couple meals, they started eating what i made. even if they don't like broccoli or whatever, as long as there is a meat and something else, i'm happy they are at least fed. and they have gotten good about trying new things too. try to google 'kid recipes'. tons of websites pop up and you can just search and print them off. hope this helps and good luck!

I have a 5 yr old who has always been a picky eater. we never make something special for him. my kids take a multi-vitamin, and fish oil daily. he is required to try whatever we are having, and he is always reminded that if he goes to bed hungry, it's his own choice. remember that your child will not starve. he is now getting better at trying new things and discovering that his tastes have changed a bit. btw, beware of giving a lot of soy to boys, it increases estrogen.

Hi K.,

I would check out "sneaky chef" and other cook books that are similar in content. Also, make your favorite veggies for dinner and rave about them. Have a detailed conversation at the table with your husband or another adult about how it tastes, what it tastes like, and make suggestions together for next time about how to make them taste better. Do it with honesty and passion, and only include the kids in the conversation if they are curious. Otherwise keep the conversation between the adults, kids notice stuff like that.

I love potato skins, and to this day my daughters and I playfully argue about who gets the skin this time. This all came about because when they were little I would scrape out the middle of the potato on their plate and take their skin for my self...lol They quickly caught on when they were toddlers and said they wanted their skin. I was so disappointed, but I let them have their own skin, after the first bite they quickly handed it over to me, declaring that the skin was gross. I was delighted and casually resumed my habit of emptying the potato on their plate and keeping the skin. Over time my girls couldn't help but want what was so yummy to mommy...lol This was never planned nor used as manipulation, but it explains the power of a mommy's influence. Way different than what my mom told me..."You have to eat the crust/skin cuz that's the best part!!"(I never believed her)

Have fun with food, try to serve new and unusual things for everyone to try out and don't worry. They will get what they need even if it doesn't seem like it:) When I was a kid I only ate about 1/3 of what my mom was convinced I needed, but I'm fine and I don't struggle with weight issues either. Maybe a nice bi-product of being a picky eater...lol Your doing a good job.

C.

Hi K.. Jessica Seinfeld as a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious. It incorporates veggie puree into everyday favorites. A friend of mine has it and she says its great. My son can kind of be the same way. I got into the bad habit of making him a separate dinner from what we were eating, and it got to be that he would only eat about 3 or 4 things. I decided enough is enough and we put a dinner in front of him, and he can choose to eat it or not, but I'm not making him his own special dinner. One battle you're not going to win is trying to get him to eat anything he doesn't want to, but that doesn't mean you have to cater to him. Just present healthy foods to him, and after a few nights of going to bed hungry, he'll probably decide that eating what you give him is better than the alternative!

Hi K.,

I think that by 3.5 he should be expected to eat what you guys are eating. You should not have to be a short-order chef and when he grows up his wife or girlfriend probably will not be one either. As long as you guys aren't eating extremely spicy food or something like sushi he is old enough to cry it out and when he gets hungry enough he'll eat what you make. Give it a try. :)

K.

Hi, I agree with most of these other mom's for sure we are not meant to be short order cooks! I have a 3 1/2 year old too, she'll be 4 in June. She is a picky eater too, and will openly tell anyone that she doesn't like vegetables but maybe she will when she grows up. She doesn't eat alot of meat either, she is really into rice and noodles, (spaghetti, mac and cheese), she also likes potatoes and tortillas, we have been able to get her to eat some of the spinach (green) tortillas, also she likes bread. We usually have a meat, starch and veggie or fruit at dinner. I have 2 daughters 5 and 3 and a son 10mo. I let the girls take turns each night picking out a veggie or fruit to have with dinner, when the 3 year old picks she always picks a fruit. When it's dinner time we let her put what she wants on her plate, usually there's at least one thing she'll eat. For instance last night we had grilled fish, salad, rice and grilled hot dogs. I knew neither girl would eat a fish (fresh caught trout with head, skin, tail still on..) so I threw the hotdogs on the grill too, so the 3 1/2 year old got some rice and hot dog. Pretty much if she doesn't eat what's on the table for dinner she gets 1 spoonful of peanut butter then waits till morning. I also give my kids vitamins, they like the gummie vitamins, which you can buy at Wal-Mart, but are cheaper if you get them at Costco. Good luck!

Hi K.,
You probably have alot of good advice but I found one when my kids were little that was very effective. When I had something on their plate they did not want to eat, the rule in our house was ..you had to eat your age so if you are three you must take three bites, four .. four bites....

Amazingly it seems very fair to them and it worked.

Good luck.
C. Willis
www.myhomecottagebiz.com

Hi K.,

I hate to use TV as a referral-source, but do you ever watch "Jon&Kate Plus 8?" You know, the family with two sets of multiples?

When anyone asks the Mom about if any of her children are picky eaters, she always has the same answer: "I am not a short-order cook. If they don't want to eat what's on their plate, they won't starve. They can always eat breakfast in the morning."

We live by this in our home.

I also read an article by a family psychiatrist who recommends when a child throws a fit over the food on their plate, remove them from the table where they won't disturb dinner time.

It's tough-love, but it shows your child they are part of a family, not the center of it.

I hope you have luck helping your son. Have a great day.
T

I would put corn in the Mac-n-cheese as it is harder to spot being the same color and all. Try it, I usually use the corn to cool the meal off. Put it in the meal cold and it warms up as it hits the mac-n-cheese and is hidden as well. Not sure what else to try. We always say here is dinner. You have to take at least 1 bite before you say you don't like something. Once they get the bite and see that it is good, they should gobble it down. My 2 year old is hard to get him to take the first bite of something new, but then he just grabs the fork or spoon and gobbles down the rest himself after he gets the bite in.

HI! I love to cook and have a pretty big collection of cookbooks. I received the Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. My kids never had a problem eating fruit & veggies. I always told them they had the vitamins and minerals in them to help them be super strong; and they knew they had to try one bite it just wasn't up for disscusion or arguement. Now they beg for summer fruit and want most veggies. My daughter is a chocolate hound, and my son could take or leave sugary foods. I made a chocolate cake from Jessica's book it was REALLY good. It has pureed beets in the batter, that you couldn't see:). The beets were good in it, it wasn't the regular chocolate-y sweet you'd expect the kids knew the beets were in it and scarfed it down. All of her recipes you can let them eat guilt free:). It's worth the money and little extra time to get the veggies into the kids and not the trash:).
ENJOY
K.

Hi K.,

Having two picky eaters, I understand what you're going through! Nevertheless, giving a child too many carbohydrates can lead to yeast overgrowth in the body, which can create a myriad of health issues.

Perhaps you could offer some mac n' cheese as a "treat" at the end of dinner. If you serve it at the end, he may be too full to eat very much of it and it will last for several days in the fridge. If he won't eat veggies, try putting some ranch dressing (the good kind) on the side so he can "dip".

A great COOKBOOK for kids' food is by "Chef Bobo" (http://www.amazon.com/Chef-Bobos-Good-Cookbook-Cookery/dp...)

Best of luck to you! :)
Warm Regards,
G. Van Luven
Health and Nutrition Consultant
Healthy Habits Wellness Center, LLC
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I recommend a book called "The Sneaky Chef" For children's meals (They have an adult one also). I bought it and it has GREAT ideas. I steamed califower, pureed it and mixed it into the mac n cheese and it was so creamy. No one new it was in there but me.

There are some recepies I did not care for but I am taking the concepts and adapting my own recepies!!

I highly recommend this book to help get good food into all of us!!

D.

PS I have two really good sources for nutritional suppliments as well. Reliv (drink mix) and Shaklee (vitamins). Both are on the web if you want to check into the products. Both have won awards for their work in nutrition!