If your kids have to (at least) try everything on their plate...

jettagurl

at what age did you start that?  

Ben and Nat have to....Ben is a great eater, and often is the first one done.  Nat will do pretty good, but can take an hour to eat if I let her.  

I just can't remember when I started this. Eli will only eat bread-type foods, a little applesauce, and yogurt.  When we did purees he did well the first couple months, then went on a spoon strike and would only self-feed. Just about a month ago he started eating spoon-fed foods, but totally refuses anything warm, vegetables/fruits/pastas/meat...nearly everything. I did find out over the weekend he loves McDonald's chicken nuggets.  Gabi is similar, but will eat fruit and some veggies (broccoli & raw carrots).   

I know at 16 mos I can't 'make' him....just dreaming about the day I can....lol. 

justEK

With DD, she just seemed to follow the rules. We never really had to fight her on much food wise (until she got older!) But she at least always knew she had to have a bite of everything.

With DS, totally different story. The kid flips if we put anything but pasta in front of him. Just recently we have been able to get him to take a bite (and I mean a single bite) of everything, but only if he asks for seconds of the pasta. He cannot have seconds until he takes bite of the rest of his food. He will sometimes yell, "It's yucky!" Other times he says, "Yummy!" but will not eat another bite of it. And he's 2.5, btw. It's getting quite old. I know he will eat other things, but it takes a good 10 minutes of him freaking out and me not giving in telling him, "Sorry, this is what we are eating" before he gives in and finally eats. He'll eat it, it's just not what he prefers.

JOEBunny

No.  I don't make them.  I just serve them.  They get to decide what to eat.  They do not get snacks often between meals, just milk (they don't get milk with meals, just water).  DD gets a snack at school, but that is it and they are usually something healthy.

DS would only eat watermelon tonight at dinner, but he came back an hour later and wanted more.  I gave him his meat again and he ate it.  It is a pain, but he is not even two.  DD knows that if she doesn't eat at dinner, she is SOL. 

goodheartedmommy

By 2 I expected it with Maile.

Temp970088312507122

Yes, I think around 2.

KoriBrett

Hell I dunno. ?A year? ?They both have to have one bite of everything, no matter how much screaming is involved. ?Because 80% of the time, they wind up liking it.

Cbidt's girl

My kid ate everything easily until the miserable 3.5 hit. So we instituted the try everything/1 bite rule then. I would have started earlier -2.5 maybe if I needed too.