Please Help with Feeding Advice

lindzed

I know this is asked a ton and I have read through some post for some good ideas, but I really need some help.  My 2 year old refuses to eat anything I fix lately.  Part of the issue is he has always been around the 5th percent for weight so I was bad about letting him snack and eat things other than at meal times (although I do try to get him to eat healthy snacks) just to try to get him to eat something.  Lately he will not eat anything I fix and only wants goldfish, cereal, or other junk.  I can't get him to eat any veggies and only some fruit.  My pedi told me at our 2 year old apt to quit worrying about him starving and start making him eat more veggies and food at meals.  This makes me feel much better about starting to make him eat much better, but now I need some advice.  Some of you that have good eaters or have turned around your bad eaters how did you do it?  My son eats very little bread and no pasta (not even mac and cheese) so its hard to hid veggies in his food.  Thanks so much for the help!

Spin313

Have you tried fruit & veggie juice and yogurt? Also, does your son eat rice...? My son will eat almost anything that is mixed into rice (even if he wouldn't eat it on its own). Sometimes I will wait until he is super hungry and then put out a veggie tray with dip about 15 minutes before the meal; he'll usually at least pick at it.

Brewtowngrl

Honestly, I didn't worry about veggies and just gave him fruit.  We took all pressure away and now he will eat some.  He even claims his favorite foods are corn and salad.  Today I got him on green beans by mixing with toasted almond slivers.  I figured he would eat it eventually and he did.  I only even offered veggies about once a week.  He did eat them at DC so maybe that is why I didn't worry as much.  It also helped that this year he helped with the garden. 

shelbym

I don't know if you have a farm near you or a pick your own but my experience with my son is that he will not eat any vegetables I put in front of him but if he picks it he will snack all day.  We have a small garden out back and he picks and eats carrots and kale from there and at a neighbors garden he loves broccoli, chard and even asked to eat an onion.   I used to run a farm camp and this happened a lot with young campers there too.

lindzed

Thanks for the advice.  My Dad actually has a great garden and we are heading to visit this weekend so I will try that.  Glad to hear its something that everyone seems to be having a hard time with and I'm not the only one in the won't eat boat.

lewis514

First, remember that it can take up to 10 attempts for a child to eat something/like it. What has worked for us is to give something to her a few times, offer her dip (she will dip anything into ranch salad dressing), try to offer things cooked and raw as they may have a preference for the texture. We also eat the same things so we are all having veggies with our dinner, etc.

Good luck