Very Picky Eater - Bedford,TX

If you want your child to eat real food, don't give him junk food in the first place. It takes a little more effort on your and his side, meaning you have to introduce a new ingredient together with something he already likes. If he doesn't like something, try again some other time. But if you're already giving him junk food at his age, then say goodbye to a future balanced diet.
Also, give him ingredients with FLAVOR, that actually taste of something. Junk food (I will add in this category any prepared food you buy) will only ruin his palate.
Don't worry about meat, it's not that important at this age, try eggs, beans, tofu, fish, cheese instead.
Try cutting little pieces of food and let him feed himself, vary colors and flavors.

My daughter is 18 months old and for awhile it was very hard to get her to eat "good" food...I had to stop cold turkey offering her junk food period it was hard for me because its so much easier...the veggies I think your fine on for me as long as the proper nutrition is there who cares? For protein though you may try this it worked for us...mix the veggies that he likes or the fruit with cottage cheese or yogurt?? Then you can probably start phasing little by little chunks of veggies in the cottage cheese. :) Hope this helps!

Sooner or later he will eat when hungry. In the old days if you didn't like what was offered then you didn't eat. Mine are older now and I didn't pander to them then and I don't pander to them now. They eat pretty much what is offered and if they don't like it after eating some of it then they can make themselves something else or eat yogurt etc.(Healthy, no junk) Like if I know that a kid doesn't like corn (yes I have one, who would of thought) then he can have a salad or eat another vegetable. Or I will cook two veggies for the kids to choose from, but other than that type of thing they eat whatever it is I make. And sometimes they even eat it because I only make one veggie and that is just how it is. They would still get a spoonful of the offender and be expected to eat a little amount. Consequently, my children do eat well, are not that picky and by most standards eat alot of foods that most kids don't like or won't eat. They also try alot of new foods when at places that have buffets with weird stuff like chinese buffet. I draw the line at raw things like sushi and oysters. Then can have sushi that has no raw fish if they want. They have even tried dried squid, cooked squid, regularly ask for eggplant and spaghetti squash. So, buck up this too shall pass. He won't die from not getting protein. I think every kid goes through this to some extent.
Good luck,
L.

Hello J.,

My kids don't it mac-n-cheese! My son will eat spagetti (he was about 5 when he started to eat it) my daughter (she's six, won't eat it at all. when she was about 3 she used to eat that tiny pasta that looks like tiny flowers/stars. Don't worry about it. Pizza has about the same ingredients as spagetti... However, you'll just have to become more sneaky on how you present foods. Don't worry, you'll be fine. Good luck! ~C.~

You may have already tried this, but if not, introduce him to dip! Ketchiup became a life saver with any kind of meat, when mine would not eat it before. Also, my son loves quacamole with quesadillas( a great place to hide some shredded chicken), and yogurt to dip french toast in. And, remember, protien comes in lots of places, so do try alternatives for now. Oh, and as for veggies, one night we figured out that my son would eat his brocolli after we accidently got parmesean cheese on it. It was about your sons age too, so it might be time to just make it more exciting. Oh, and if you want to make a smoothie, you can add an agg white substitute (pasteurized so you dont have to worry about sallmonilla) and he will never know he is getting protien. It is a frustrating time, but it will get better. Just keep offering it to him, in very small amounts, and he will eat. Good luck ~A.~