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Dinner pickiness - Suggestions?

horn_jm@hotmail.comhorn_jm@hotmail.com
in Houston Babies

My 4 year old has gotten super picky at dinner time.  He went through a major picky phase from 15-21 months but since then had done a great job of trying new things and mostly eating what we eat.  Lately, almost anything new I make and some familiar things are greeted with "ew, I don't like that" before he even sits down.  Even if he helped prepare part of it.  My 14 month old is teething and throwing a lot of his food, so dinner time has gotten pretty frustrating for me.

Ideas for how to handle this?  Suggestions for meals that both you and your preschooler/toddler enjoy?  I don't want to eat pasta or soup every night!  LOL. 

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Re: Dinner pickiness - Suggestions?

  • savannah11savannah11

    O is the same way.  It's "ew!" before I even put it down.  We use the counting method.  You can't get up until you've eaten 5 carrots, or 7 pieces of chicken, etc.  We also make him taste everything.

    Another thing we do, and I'm sure it's wrong in so many ways, is create a healthy competition between the kids.  Last night's competition was to see who could be the broccoli winner (eat all the broccoli on their plate).  The kids are super competitive and it usually works like a charm.  I just make sure they pause long enough to chew.  It also helps get C to eat something as she's more than happy to skip dinner altogether.

     For a while I was making them a separate dinner every day but that got really old.  Since starting the above methods they've been eating the same as us most nights. 

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  • BritanyVBritanyV

    My son has been going through a picky face and he is just coming out of it.  Literally went almost a year not eating any vegetables at all!  All he would eat were fruits!    Now he will eat beats and green beans.  He's also trying a few more things than he normally would.

    I'm not really worried about what he eats as long as it is healthy.   I also don't make him eat a certain amount of something before he can be done.   Most of us were raised to eat all our dinner regardless of whether we told our parents we were full.   This causes most adults to not know when they are full because we were taught as children to ignore the signals from our brain that we had eaten enough, which is why a lot of people over eat. 

    We allow ds to tell us he is finished even if he hasn't eaten much and if he says he is hungry 10 minutes later, he is offered the left overs of what he had just eaten.  

     

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  • lilycatlilycat

    Lucas does this too, even though I think he's very open to many different foods. It seems to be more about control than actual objections to flavors/foods. (A 3-4 year-old thing.)

    Usually, if I can get him to try it, I can get him to eat.

    Yo Gabba Gabba has the Boat episode where Broby won't try a sandwich. The other characters ask if he's ever tried it. He says no. He tries it and likes it. They sing I Tried It, And Now I Like It. We sing this song a lot when we get objections; it enforces the lesson sometimes. Green Eggs and Ham has a similar theme.

    Lucas enjoys:
    Sushi
    Red Beans and Rice (altered recipe to remove spicy)
    Gumbo (altered to be less spicy)
    Dumplings (Chinese-style from HEB freezer section)
    Soups

    Lucas is neutral on:
    Chicken
    Tacos

    Lucas does not care for:
    Meatloaf
    Pasta
    Potatoes 
    Cheese-based dishes

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