My 27 month old is really picky, She'll pick a food, and that's about all she'll eat for a couple of weeks. Right now, she is hooked on Chex mix, bananas and pbj sandwiches. Some days, she'll only eat one actual meal. She is, however, liking milk alot. I've tried withholding milk and seeing if that helps, but it doesn't. Should I keep her on whole milk b/c of this, or switch her to 2%? She will eat yogurt some days, and american cheese. She hates any sort of meat.
Note that she is a healthy, 31 lbs, and 36 inches at her 2 year check up.
Keep her on whole milk until age 5 at LEAST... she needs the fats in it for mylenization of the nerves and brain development. :) :) :)
Talk to your pediatrician. We are doing this with our daughter because she is pretty tiny and very picky. I want her to keep the calories.
I see no reason to take any child who is a healthy weight and not overweight off of whole milk until they're around age 5. Do what you think is best for her. If she's a good milk drinker, but a picky eater, keep giving her reasonable amounts of whole milk, so you know she's getting the fat/calories/protein that it provides. That way you can offer/introduce new foods or foods that aren't her favorites and not have to worry if she doesn't eat them. I will recommend not giving her only her "favorites" but make sure you put an offering in front of her at each meal that includes a meat and a fruit/veggie (or both!) and not give her other foods until she eats at least a bite of everything you offered.
Good luck!
The whole milk certainly won't hurt her - I would keep her on it for now if she likes it and you could always do a gummy vitamin if you're worried about her nutritional intake...or pediasure - I've heard some success with that since it comes in flavors
My daughter is very picky eater too... she is also very health weight/height at her 3 year check up. At 2 years we did switch her to 2% and put her on a multi-vitamin, she kept right on track with being healthy (besides healthy fat in whole milk you can get more vitamins/calcium from a multi-vitamin/fruit/veggies then milk in general).
My daughter does not really eat meat, sometimes will take a bite of chicken/ham/fish sticks but she gets more good protein from peanut butter, whole grain breads/crackers and nuts then meat.
I have just researched what all food items my daughter eats to find out what vitamins, proteins and so on are in each and try to offer what has the best well roundness of those to her. I have also switched all bread/carb snack items to whole grain to get the most out of everything she eats.
We offer one glass of milk a day (getting the rest of her calcium from other foods), two glasses of V8 Splash which has a good amount of fruit and veggie serving OR OJ (no other juice is in this house unless there are healthy benefits from it) and if she wants more to drink we offer water (which is one of the healthiest habits you can start).
My 2 1/2 daughter is VERY picky, her pediatrician recommended this, tell her she's having what you're having, and leave it at that. If she doesn't eat it she doesn't eat it, kids will eat when they are hungry. She's VERY healthy, a solid 37 pounds, but we have her on limited amounts of 1%milk, because she was getting full on just milk and is on the higher side of the percentile chart! lol I'm a very small person, she's definitely going to outgrow me regardless if she continues to pick at her food or eats consistently!
It is my understanding the kids should continue to drink whole milk because they need the fat for brain development. I'd check with the pediatrician.
And, if she's not tending towards being overweight, whole milk's extra calories will not hurt her.
My son is/was real picky.
I kept him on whole milk, and still do.
My son is 3.5 years old now.
My Ped said its fine.
As Riley said, it is real important for the myelin nerve sheath and brain development. It is vital.
I also gave my son Pediasure. But not all the time.
I also give my son vitamins.
Yes my son is picky, but he is a real big boy... lanky/solid/tall kind of big. Grows like a weed!
All the best,
Susan
my kids are 18 months apart.. so my daughter was 2 1/2 wehn my son turned 1 and started drinking milk.
So I kept them both on whole milk until he was a bit over 2. It is no big deal to keep her on milk a bit longer or even a year or two..
I just couldnt see buying 3 jugs of milk,, skim for me,, whole for teh 1 year old and 2 % for the 2 year old..
