Dealing with a Suddenly Pick Eater (X-posted)

crsanchez87

Help! My once bottomless 16 month old pit is now the pickiest eater in the world. He will literally spit out and wipe his tongue off after trying pretty much every food he used to eat with no problem. Last night for dinner, after I first offered him ground turkey with beans and tortilla and mixed veggies and he spit it all out. I finally got him to eat cheese and a boiled egg. What are you all having success with feeding picky eaters? He won't even eat mac n cheese anymore ugh!

Bestmomideas

My son used to eat anything and now he's become pretty picky too, but he still loves fruit.  So we have been making him eat 2 bites of the item he seems to not like, and then we will give him 1 piece of fruit that we are eating with the meal.  So for example, he has to eat 2 bites of carrots for 1 bite of peach.  So far this has been working.  I also make veggie and fruit smoothies to help make sure he is still getting his nutrients for the day.

crsanchez87

That's a good idea, Mine will still eat fruit too luckily. I may try a fruit smoothie with some sun butter in it for protein tonight. He will fruit all day but I worry about the protein and carbs he's not getting. 

SmrBrd2012

Hopefully it's just a phase! My son will occasionally be picky and when he is, I usually just put pasta sauce or some other kind of sauce on whatever it is I want him to eat (usually veggies, pasta, sometimes rice) and that works pretty well.

crsanchez87

I used to do that with cheese, but now he just eats the shredded cheese off the top of whatever im trying to get him to eat lol. I will try pasta sauce again, that works sometimes. Maybe I'll try changing it up with alfredo or something.

whataboutscience

@crsanchez87 Based on my experience, I would recommend not worrying about him going hungry for a meal or two and don't offer something else when he doesn't like the meal. Otherwise he will learn that he will get better options if he refuses what is first offered. To me, that encourages picky eating. My daughter has definitely gone through phases where a lot of her dinners were a cup of milk. Very few toddlers will actually end up malnourished if regularly offered a variety of healthy foods. I try to offer something she has enjoyed before during a meal, so I know there's something she can live with. Of course, being a toddler she will sometimes refuse something she once loved and I don't let it bother me. There are days she eats better than others, but for the most part, she eats a wide variety of foods now and she had a very stubborn, picky streak for quite a while. Also, they say to keep offering the foods many, many times before deciding not to serve it anymore. Definitely true. Scrambled eggs was one DD must have spit out on 20 different occasions over the course of half a year or so and now she loves them. Kids are weird. Haha. Try not to stress too much.

WildFlower2350

Glad I saw this post...my little guy (18 months) seems to be on a hunger strike.  He won't eat anything!  It's awful and really stressful.  Breakfast seems to be the only meal that isn't a total disaster and usually consists of a waffle and fruit.  The rest of the day is literally a nightmare.  Even stuff he used to love he won't eat.  I do smoothies too but he must have a refined palate b/c I snuck some sunbutter in there and he wouldn't touch it.  I do put avocado for extra fat.  Ugh.  I feel your pain and pray this is a miserable phase that will pass.  He won't touch 99% of what I give him.  Ahhhh.

crsanchez87

Update**

Well it turns out that a day or so after I posted this, little guy started randomly throwing up the food he was eating, no diarrhea but threw up on me while he was napping, in his crib while he was sleeping, randomly standing. Borderline fever. My XH told me that he had been sick all weekend with stomach issues too. So I took him to the doctor and the doctor said it was a stomach bug-- pedialyte and saltines for him for the next couple of days.

About three days later he was back at 100% and he is now back to eating just about everything, still yucks out on chicken and meat sometimes but I've been putting it in the slow cooker so its nice and tender and he's been responding very well to that. That was my first encounter with a stomach bug and it was not fun! He did lose about a pound which was super scary but I think hes made up for it now.

afwifey2014

We've been having this issue with our 16 month old. I can usually get her to eat a little more if I take her plate away and wait 5 min and then try again. She also will eat a little more if I use my fork, instead of her spoon.

We discussed this today with our Pediatrician, since we were worried about her weight, and she mentioned that we should offer her regular food and not special "other food". We should give her a chance to eat and if she doesn't like, to take the food away. I also like to add a little more milk to her bottle at night when she doesn't eat enough, but the Pediatrician recommended we don't do that.

plumpous

She's been refusing a lot lately. She still loves scrambled eggs with cheese so I hide mashed cauliflower and she has no clue. I also put peas on the fork with pieces of chicken and she ate it after refusing earlier. 
I can't force her to eat. If she doesn't take it, I try something else. I don't know if this will make her picky later, it might, and I will probably regret it, but I can't wrap my head around not giving her dinner just because she didn't want peas. 

mothernorth

Meat. My dude is 17 months old, and has gone on a meat strike.

I honestly think it's out of laziness though, like he doesn't want to take the time to chew it. He basically inhales what he eats and I have to actually force him to wait between bites or he won't take a break.

borgie05

My son has become picky too. Getting him to eat chicken or turkey is hard. And veggies. He used to eat them no problem, but now he picks them out. If I try to melt cheese on top he will either just pick the cheese off to eat or lick any sauces off. Apparently he thinks Ranch dressing is a food group (I regret introducing that to him ever... if it's out he won't eat anything else but the ranch... clearly ranch with veggies needed to wait longer). He won't even eat sweet potato fries anymore! (He used to LOVE those.) BUT I was worse at a toddler (apparently I only ate pb&j sandwiches and cheese at one point) so I know he will be fine. We buy and freeze micro greens and sprinkle that onto or mix it into foods we can get him to eat so he at least gets SOMETHING green. We'll get through this... right? LOL

Mack2342

My son only eats waffles, pancakes, pb & j and fruit/veggie pouches.   He pretty much eats nothing else. DR said he is growing and gaining weight so nothing to worry about.  They did add a vitamin with iron just in case he needed the iron.  He will not eat a veggie unless it purée in a pouch.  I can get him to eat a few fruits but not many.