Picky eater!!

Devbo18

Anybody else have a picky eater on their hands? My son will only eat pizza, grilled cheese, Mac and cheese and pancakes! I can still get fruits and veggies in him from a pouch, but he won't eat anything! Has a full blown meltdown, any ideas? Lol

Blondie1212

Here too! Everything I feel like I don't want him to eat he loves. Those ravioli Pasta pick ups, chicken nuggets, etc...my suggestion is just roll with it. I try new things all the time. Where I can I'll sneak in veggies. I'll add butternut squash purée to mac and cheese or fruit in yogurt.

MrsG071809

DD isn't really too picky, but I would suggest just continue to offer things, and offer a variety of things.  They go through phases - DD love love loved broccoli at first, and then randomly for like a month she wouldn't touch it, but now she eats it again just fine.  I try to offer her several things at every meal, and just let her dictate things.  We did BLW, which is pretty focused on letting the kid direct things, and I really think that has helped!  She is also still nursing, so I don't worry too much about what or how much solids she is eating because I know she is getting her nutrients from the BM mostly. 

lars1226

My LO also goes through phases of liking different foods. He will usually eat veggies if they are on/in things like quesadillas, pizza, mac & cheese. You could try adding whole or pureed fruits to pancake mix, we use blueberries and bananas. We also started giving him a toddler fork or spoon to use, he loves trying to get food on there and into his mouth. Also, he wants whatever I'm eating even if it's the same food he has. He says "More" and opens his mouth for a bite.

Devbo18

Glad we aren't the only ones!! I'm still nursing too, so I'm not too panicked, I just feel like all this cheese will start to bother his system, but it hasn't yet. I'll keep offering and crossing my fingers that he will eventually eat something. I just worry about the lack of protein, but I guess he's still getting it from my breast milk. Thanks for the pointers though ladies!!

honeydew01

I have the world's pickiest eater here (exaggeration of course) but I am convinced she is the pickiest eater. She is pretty strong willed too, so starting 9 months or so she refused getting help and she gets pretty offended should you try to "help" her in any shape or form.

She refuses any carbs, so breads, rice, potato, pancakes, muffins, cereals..you name it. She puts them in her mouth and it's 50/50 if she'd eat it or not. If she does eat it, she is done after 2 bites so imagine a serving size as big as a nickel. I am not exaggerating, today for breakfast she had a piece of waffle as big as a dime and refused to eat more. Yesterday she had 3 cheerios for breakfast. 

Absolutely no egg of any shape or form, scrambled, poached, hard boiled, omelet. I may have given it 500 tries for the last 6 months and I continue to offer it and wait for a day that she'd eat it.

She does like peas and edemame beans. Broccoli is a hit or miss. 

Dairy: she takes maybe 4 oz of WCM all day long after many offers. She likes yogurt but hasn't mastered using the spoon or the pouch. And refuses help with either. I can't wait til she figures it out...not a fan of cheese either, she eats maybe a few strings of shredded cheese...

So yea, eating is a very stressful subject here at our house. I have read a lot of books and researched the topic of picky eaters as much as I think I should write a thesis about it. I have to mentally prepare for each meal time before going to eat. We've tried everything from exaggerating eating, praising, not praising, ignoring her while eating..

Our Ped referred us to a feeding therapist. We have gone to it maybe 4-5 times, to this date I haven't heard anything from the feeding therapist that I haven't already tried or read about on my own. Right now we are shedding $150 dollars a week for "feeding therapy"...It is very stressful. I never thought that eating would be something that I would constantly have to worry about...

Anyway, sorry I am rambling I think....not much we can do besides keep offering, providing a pleasant eating experience and hope that they eat and/or outgrow the picky eating...

Jbunny100

DS just hates to eat.  I have a bucket of toys that he plays with while I feed him.  He has very little desire to self feed unless it is snacky foods.  I have tried doing just finger foods, but he eats a small amount and then throws the rest of it on the floor.  I fear that as he gets older I am always going to have to distract him with toys to eat his food.  Sigh...

I am so jealous of moms who have babies that willingly open their mouths for food.  I have no idea what that is like.  Feeding time is a real test of my patience.

honeydew01

Jbunny100 said:

DS just hates to eat.  I have a bucket of toys that he plays with while I feed him.  He has very little desire to self feed unless it is snacky foods.  I have tried doing just finger foods, but he eats a small amount and then throws the rest of it on the floor.  I fear that as he gets older I am always going to have to distract him with toys to eat his food.  Sigh...

I am so jealous of moms who have babies that willingly open their mouths for food.  I have no idea what that is like.  Feeding time is a real test of my patience.

Yes same here. Like I have to take a deep breath before going for another feeding session. I'm so jealous of moms whose babies eat..I always hear things like DD/DS has half a toast or pancake or this or that for breakfast and I imagine a day when DD would eat a bite that's bigger than say a nickel. Or stop spitting the damn food out over and over and over. The distraction thing does not work with my DD, no matter how distracted she is, if she doesn't like something and you put it in her mouth, she immediately spits it out...

honeydew01

It's one of those days here at our household again. DD had absolutely nothing for breakfast. Was offered eggs 3 ways (hard boiled, sunny side up and scrambled), blueberry muffin, strawberries and blueberries. She didn't touch any of it. 

No snacks in between breakfast and lunch so she'd be hungry for lunch.

For lunch she refused everything on her plate, she had a tiny piece of a tofu smaller than a dime, then sat there and stared at me eating my food and then started fussing or taking the mat that suctions to the high chair off..

How is this normal. UGH I'm so so frustrated with her eating, god please give me some patience to deal with it.

honeydew01

pavlovcat said:

If these children hate solids so much, why not just give them toddler formula (or breastmilk, if you're up for it) while continuing to offer food at mealtimes? 

Just as some children walk late or talk late there are going to be some children who transition to solids late.  As long as they're healthy, I don't see a reason to let mealtimes become such a battle. 

There's no way in the world I'd make three different kinds of eggs to try and entice my child to eat unless there were health issues in play.

I didn't make eggs 3 ways on purpose. I was making sunny side up and one cracked so it became an scrambled egg and the hard boiled was for DH's lunch I was making so I offered her a tiny piece of each type. On a normal day there is no way I'd make eggs 3 ways...I do offer her a variety of various food..I have always been offering her more variety than it's normal but then the feeding therapist we see also indicated that it's a good thing because in order to get any volume in her we need different stuff so hopefully she'll eat a little of each thing..anyway the egg thing made me laugh because I hadn't clarified and if someone else had written that I'd be like "is she crazy making 3 type of eggs..."