My Toddler Is a Picky Eater

Hi,
i have a son who is almost two but also a very picky eater. my best advice is to try something my mom has done for me. for a healthy idea buy a bag of frozen spinage, also buy some potatoes. cook the taters whole and when finished dig out the innerds. take the taters and mix with spinage or whatever may sound good to you... they will never know whats in there because to me you can't taste the healthy ingredient... LOL good luck!!!

Just a bunch of thoughts here... Maybe one of them applies... Maybe not.

Keep offering it to him... And cut out some of the snacks...
He will eat... But he may be just not growing right now. We as adults seem to think that when the kids are just grazing that they arn't eating a lot... But their bellies are little things... He will fill it up...

Right now is when you set the stage for later eating issues... Do you want a kid that is always saying "I don't like that" and will not eat it? If so, then offer different foods if they show a resistance to what you are serving them... If not, then make the house rule... You gotta try it before you say you don't like it... And that means everytime its offered... If your serving a well balanced mealplan, then let them fill up on one thing and go light on another (after you have witnessed them try it of course...) The next time you serve it their tastes may have changed and they could like the thing they "detested" before.
One thing I do with my almost 2 yr old is save his food... He tends to be a grazer so when he doesn't eat his lunch, I wrap it and refridgerate it. When he lets me know he wants a snack I pull it out and give it to him. (less waste and he still doesn't get away with not eating his lunch so he can fill up on snacky goodies)
Make sure that you are distinguishing meal times. At the table. Snacks may be roaming, but meals are sitting... Perhaps lengthen the time between snacks... No snacks withing an hour to 2 hours before a meal...

With our older kids they know that if they don't eat their dinner they WILL NOT get a snack before bed... Our 4 yr old will at times think that he can get away with not eating at dinner, but then raiding the cabinet and eating what HE wants...(especially on days that we just did a groccery run and there are "special" snacks available...) Uh, nope... They at least have to TRY the food... (I usually say one big bite per year of age before they can say they are done... Then they take care of their plates)

If he does not eat after about 15 min then take him out of his chair and put his food away... BUT if your family is sitting for a meal then let him sit there without his plate till your done (Its called training from a young age and avoiding flying food)It will make future meals more enjoyable for all to not have a little one running about making things go BANG in a different room...

We go through the same thing with our son, same age, since he was younger, it's up and down, some days he eats great, others, only wants bread. He doesn't like things most kids do, like Pizza, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, etc. I have noticed, including him on shopping and helping with cooking, gets him involved and seems to help, he feels like a hot shot. I don't think putting pressure on kids this age is smart, they are smart kids, and if they feel we are stressed, it wont make them eat. Try and make it fun for him. Try different dips or shapes of food, or colors...that helps too!! I have some good books, my ped recomended, if you want the names let me know!

Hi M.---Kids your son's age are learning to exert control over their lives and eating/food are one of the ways they can do that.

Keep offering him healthy choices. Dr. William Sears, www.askdrsears.com, author and contributor to Baby Talk and Parent magazines, says it can take up to 10 tries to get a child to eat a new food. His website has a great column on how to feed picky eaters.

He won't starve himself, but it's hard to not worry about that when they don't eat. You can make him healthy smoothies, putting in all kinds of good stuff like spinach, ground flax seed, pumpkin or other squashes, you are only limited by your imagination. You can also put grated veggies in pancakes and muffins, or even cookies. As another mom suggested, make it fun for him to eat. Serve broccoli 'trees', make faces on tortillas and dinner pancakes.

I am taking a wellness class, offered by a Naturopath who has her PhD in nutrition. So I have a number of files and resources that I can share with you with serving suggestions and amounts for kids of different ages, along with nutrient needs at those ages as well. I also have a couple of DVD's that you would absolutely love.

My goal is to help people to be more knowledgeable in how our nutrition can heal and protect us from disease. I'd be honored to help you. Feel free to call any time.

In health, D. ###-###-####

My 2.5 is picky too. He eats chicken nuggets - so I make sure I only get the ones made from chicken breast meat. He will eat turkey hot dogs as well.

As for protein - I make home made mac n cheese and put cottage cheese in it. I puree it with the milk and add it to the mix. He has no idea and gets a good source of protein. You can make smoothies with yogurt and add some protein mix to it.

I also use the Deceptively Delicious cookbook for ideas - it is a great way to hide veggies in food. Make sure you still put veggies on his plate so he knows he will have to eat them.

One more thing, I make grilled cheese with real cheese (not american) and either a slice of turkey or ham on it. He loves it. Plus I get organic ketchup so I don't feel so bad when he dips everything. Trader Joes and Meijer have great Organic ketchups for only $1.99 a bottle.

I also purchase Lara Bars which are raw fruits and nuts. He loves them and I feel great giving them to him. I also get REAL fruit leather - Trader Joes has good ones or every now and then Costco has them. Make sure they are real fruit and not the sugar ones that are out there. My son always asks for fruit!

This too shall pass. My son loved green beans, stopped eating them and then one day a girl at "school" had them and now he loves them again. It is all about control.

Good Luck

I agree with the advice to keep reintroducing the foods; my 3.5 year old is super picky but eventually, we found a few ways he'll eat meat; one is tacos. Buy ortega taco seasoning (the one that just says Ortega taco seasoning; it's really mild and has onion powder instead of dried onions) and here's a big thing: my son started eating more when I let him "help." I let him stir the packet of seasoning and water into the meat; he feels like such a big boy when he's helping. He also likes spaghetti sauce, and if you chop up your green pepper and onion really small, he won't even know they're there. I don't like the taste of the onions and peppers (more the texture then the flavor) but if it's in spaghetti sauce, I love the flavor it adds to the sauce. I don't buy the jarred sauce, I buy tomato sauce or tomato paste and make my own sauce. It's a little more time consuming, but it is so much healthier and tastes better too. Another thing, if you kids really like spaghetti or tomato sauce, use different types of meat when you make the sauce; use ground turkey one night, ground chicken another and ground beef another and so on and so forth. Also, as long as your kids like peanut butter, they'll get enough protein so don't worry so much. One thing we've started doing with my kids on the recommendation by their doctor is give them a plate of food (be careful not to put on too much)and tell them that they need to eat at least five bites of every thing on the plate and if they get up away from the table before they've eaten, they get 1 warning and the warning is this: "You need to come back to the table and eat your dinner (or lunch or breakfast) if you get up again, then you're done eating." Then you either throw the food into the trash or put in in a plastic container and put it in the fridge. They do not get ANYTHING else to eat until the next meal nor do they get any milk or juice; only water. Going without a meal or two won't hurt them; believe me, I was very surprised when my kids' doctor recommended this because my son is at the bottom 25th percentile for weight. Good luck!

My advice is to avoid making a big deal out of it. Serve healthy food and let him graze if he is one of those kids who won't eat much at a time. Be sure to put protein in the mix quite often - cheese, yogurt, turkey chunks or whatever your family eats. Don't give him a reason to prove he's in charge. Lighten up. He will survive.

Here are a couple of suggestions: Keep reintroducing good foods into him. Make them small portions and don't even acknowledge that you have put them on his plate. Have him sit there until he eats them.

If he doesn't eat, let him go without. It is not going to hurt him to be a little hungry. Ask yourself if you give him unhealthy foods and give him to him, what kind of nutrition is he getting? He's not. I have a burger that I bought at Mcdonalds October 30, 2007. Left in the wrapper, did not referigerate it. The bun got hard, the meat got hard, but no mold. Scarry, right?

These are a couple of things I teach in my healthy workshops. We have to have that tough love so our children learn.

Good luck!

M.

Hello M.,

I can understand your frustration. The only thing is I'm the picky eater. Your child could just be going through the phase were it is perfectly normal not to like anything. Remember the human tastebud reguvinate every so many days/weeks. I would recommend you allow the opportunity to try new things. If you force him/her to have certain things I'd almost bank on it, that will not ever want to eat it. Also if your child does try something do not fuss if they don't like it. If you get perturbed keep in. The last thing a child wants to is disappoint their mom or dad. Note the beginning of psychological game (if the child tries something and doesn't like it mom/dad =upset. If I don't try something =disappointment on a different level)I hope that makes sense.

I would recommend www.family.com they have ways to make healthy things but they are more fun to eat.

I am fortunite because my daughter will eat foods I refuse to eat. She will try foods and knows it's okay not to like them.(she likes vegetables/fruits, I only like 5 of them combined.)

So don't get discouraged when he/she don't like anything just make trying an okay thing and nobody gets upset if you don't like it.

I hope I helped a little (a little wordy-sorry).
L.