My Picky Eater

I too love the Deceptively Delicious cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld.
I put pureed cauliflower in mashed potatoes, tuna salad. Pureed butternut squash in mac n' cheese and applesauce muffins, carrots in spaghetti'os. Pureed sweet potato in pancakes, canned pumpkin in oatmeal, etc.
My 3 and 4 year old (and even my husband) don't notice it. In fact my husband, who hates eating veggies too, has said our meals seem to have more flavor to them.
My 4 year old likes to help me cook and I don't keep it a secret that we put extra veggies in the food. She now asks "what all goes in this meal?"
I cook and puree the veggies ahead of time, then pour the puree into ice cube trays, freeze them, and place the cubes in a freezer bag. 4 cubes is approx. 1/2 cup. I can easily grab the amount that I need and quickly thaw them for the meal. One butternut squash will usually fill two ice cube trays which can last me 3-4 weeks, so it's not like I'm constantly cooking and pureeing veggies. I do maybe one veggie once a week. Right now I have bags of cauliflower, sweet potato, carrot, butternut squash, and spinach cubes in the freezer.

kids are like that....carrots celery, califlower cut for thier size then peanut(if not allergic) cream cheese ranch dressing .for the healthy snacks seemed to always work for my grandkids 2 and 4.... like my grandmother use say you have to put your foot down picky eating is form of manipulation let keep going and you are the one that is got. eat or starve... that usually get the picky right out of them.

I agree that hiding nutritious foods in foods he likes is a good idea. I did that and it worked wonders. I battled the picky eating thing and made all the mistakes. My picky eater is now 6'4" and 150 pounds, so he grew up thin but healthy.

If you worry too much and make too big a deal of it, you could end up with a worse situation. I believe my son used eating as a control issue - kids realize early on that no one has control over whether they eat or when they pee or poop. You cannot make your child eat something, and sometimes trying too hard only gratifies their sense of control. They get a sense of power by refusing, and seeing that there's nothing you can do about it. You may find that your son tries foods at other people's houses, or even in restaurants, but not at home. My son's doctor was never worried - he checked the growth chart and as long as he's growing, he's getting the nutrition he needs. Once I decided to stop worrying about it, mealtimes got more pleasant. I have 4 kids, and two of them are picky, buy my son was the worst, Mr. Starch Boy. I would serve a variety of foods at dinner and let them choose which foods they ate. When they got older, the rule is, I make a meal, and if you don't like it, you can make yourself a sandwich or something else, but you must clean up after yourself. The kid then can decide to have it easy and eat what the family is eating, or go to the trouble of fixing their own meal and cleaning up. And, just because they make they own meal, they're not off the hook if it's their turn to clean up after dinner. So, they could end up with more to clean!

My son was at least 17 before he branched out and started trying new foods. What really helped was being at other people's house and having meals with them. They get to the stage where they understand it's socially unacceptable to refuse food that someone else is serving, so there's pressure to be polite and try foods. That's how my son expanded his menu beyond pancakes and pizza. When he came home recently he told me he loves anything with avacado! I about fainted!

I'm pretty sure I raised one of the world's pickiest boys, and he'll always be picky, but he grew up, he's healthy and he's now trying new foods.

I agree with a lot of the suggestions, try fun ways to give fruits and veggies or try the Deceptively Delicious cookbook, I found it cheap at Sam's and also checked it out at the library! As a dietitian I am very concerned about what my children eat. I have found Juice Plus and give it to them daily. You can check out my website at www.Stubbs4Health.com. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hi M.!

I am in the same boat. My son is 4 yrs old and has been a picky eater since he was a baby starting on solids, which came late too. I have to really be careful, because he has a bad gag reflex, and if he doesn't like something he tries, everything comes up, and it's all over for everyone! I always cook a meal and encourage him to try things, and he has gotten better about it. But I surely don't push the foods he detests, otherwise I'd have a big mess on my hands, not to mention a fight not worth it for me. Meats, fresh veggies and fresh fruits are things he doesn't care much for. Anything dairy or starchy (except potatoes...he despises!) he'll eat no problem. He will only eat fruit from a can or applesauce. The only fresh fruit he eats is bananas. He won't eat ANY fresh veggies, but he will eat cooked corn, peas, green beans and broccoli. I love the idea of hiding things in foods. I wish he liked mashed potatoes, like most kids. The idea that Carolyn gave of pureeing and freezing into cubes was awesome! How ingeneous! I wish you luck in getting more healthy foods to your son, but know you are not alone! I, myself, might check out that book!

my daughter is a 3 yr old picky eater and always has been. her brother on the other hand is 9 months and will eat anything and everything you put in front of him. I wouldnt worry about him not always eating veggies and fruits. It sounds like hes doing pretty good with what hes eating already, dairy, protien in the pb&j and the fruits. The days my daugther wont eat well shes takes her flinstone vitamin. i'd let him pick out his own character vitamin at the store and have him take it everyday until hes eating more healthier meals.

I think your son and my son are the same!
I have found luck putting canned pumpkin in pancake batter. Applesauce also works well. I also put cinnamon in the batter, and my son likes to eat that.
Some really weird things that my little man likes to eat: Kashi cereal bars, black olives, rotini pasta (only rotini, thank you very much) with canned spaghetti sauce (smooth, no chunks), strawberries, smoothies (we hide vegetables in there like pureed carrots and spinach), Danactiv (he loves it), and Ensure. These things are all healthy and quick, which is key!

You could try hiding his food in other foods. Try an omelet not just for breakfast and stuff it full of interesting things-see if he might be interested in helping stuff it-then eat it. If he is not then you put in some things you think he will eat first then expand to some others. Also pies-like a sheperds pie has layers and if you slide in a layer of veges just let him play with it and try it. What about drink like vege juices? There are lots out there in the grocery for kids to drink. If he takes a vitamin-then he is most likely getting what he needs and does he drink milk and juice? Then he will not suffer-just be picky. Then there are the theme tries-like chinese night, italian rool ups-stuff them full and cover with cheese, soups are usually good to put veges in and the vitamins are there even if he chooses not to eat everything. I remember a friend that put all her leftovers even the morning cereal into baking her breads-so they were loaded with good stuff and sometimes had funny colors like green things (brocolli,grn peppers and for fun she would throw in a pimento-just to add more color) Tacos also have great movement-my girls always loved them and never questioned what was inside-they just ate every bit. Have fun and don't worry-I promise there will come a day when everything in the house is fair game! Don't forget your pizzas-put pineapple under the ham and lots of grn peppers and red too. (not the hot ones tho.) Soemtimes eating food in fun ways helps too. Like for chinese food try chopsticks-they are easier to get the veges up to eat. Put soups in big "coffee mugs", and my kids loved to eat picnic style on paper plates-but be careful to call when you do this or they want it all the time-that way no dishes to clean up after. Elvis Presley always loved his peanut butter and banana sandwiches. All is fair in "food wars" but if they take you to battle- you will lose they can be very stubborn-so try and see what works-if not keep remembering these times when he is 15 and can chow down 3 large steaks and want more...good luck Mom.

I have had good luck using the recipes from a book called Deceptively Delicious. It shows ways to sneak pureed veggies and fruits into other stuff such as Mac and Cheese, muffins, cookies, etc. You might have luck with that.
B.