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How do you deal with a picky eater.

k8elee03k8elee03
in Pre-School and Daycare

She has always been a fabulous eater. She ate whatever we gave her. Over the last few weeks, she has been refusing dam near everything, including things she used to love like spaghetti. I've never had to deal with this.

Also, it seems to be a dinnertime thing, and not so much during other meals.

 

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My silly Lily is almost 4. BabyFruit Ticker
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Re: How do you deal with a picky eater.

  • hmr22hmr22
    We have this exact problem with our DS. I will be watching to see what kind of responses you get.
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  • AsquaredAsquared member
    Is it all meals or mostly just dinner?  I aim for no snacks when she gets picky, after lunch and only putting a little on her plate that I really want her to eat, she only gets water too. It also can help to have them dish up their plates- put everything you'd like her to eat on the table and ask things like "do you want a little scoop or big scoop of this?"  If she eats well, she can have more of whatever part was her favorite and some juice or chocolate milk after that, too.
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  • wawa84wawa84 member
    That kinda sounds like my son.  He likes pretty much everything, but goes through phases where he decides he "doesn't like" food x. This may sound harsh, but it works for him.  I give him exactly what everyone else gets.  I don't make special meals (with the exception of things I KNOW he doesn't like...ex:mexican lasagna).  He has to try at least everything on the plate.  We have a no spitting out rule too.  The bite must be swallowed.  Otherwise he says he doesn't like it, will spit it out, but I know he secretly loves it.  Anyway, if he doesn't eat his food that is his choice, but he doesn't get anything else before bed.  I will save it for him and if he says he's hungry later I put out the same plate of food.  Sometimes he gets super stubborn about it and he will refuse to try anything.  At those times he sits at the table until he either eats some of his food or bedtime.  Which ever comes first.  He still makes the choice sometimes to go to bed without eating his dinner, but those are few and far between now that he knows I'm serious.  I do not like wasting food and it really isn't an issue of him not liking the food as much as him wanting to watch tv or play with his toys instead of eating his dinner.  I make a point to let him know that he is the one making the choice to eat or not and depending on what he chooses, he may not like the consequences of that decision (ie: going to bed hungry).
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  • jlw2505jlw2505 member
    At my house, we just don't make a big deal about food.  My girls know that after dinner, the kitchen is closed.  We eat what is served and nothing else is offered unless they have eaten most of what was put on their plate and then they can get a fruit, yogurt or cheese.  We have the girls particapate in meal planning each week and sometimes with cooking which helps a ton.  We give small helpings to start.  We know at this point that their are certain foods they just won't eat so we do make something else for them if we are serving those things but I always have at least 1 thing that I know they have eaten and enjoyed many times before.  We don't do snacks after dinner in my house for the most part since we eat at around 5:30 and bedtime is around 7 or 6:30.
    Jenni Mom to DD#1 - 6-16-06 DD#2 - 3-13-08 
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  • k8elee03k8elee03

    It is mostly dinner, and I have wondered if I give her too much for a snack before dinner, but I think it's than that because she's been refusing things that I KNOW she loves. She also knows that if she doesn't eat her dinner, then she gets it for her bedtime snack. Up until recently, she would go ahead and eat it for her bedtime snack. I don't want to make food a big, stressful deal, or a giant power struggle. But obviously, I need to make sure she eats well, too.

    But I did make a smaller snack, and that seems to help. Unfortunately, we are all rarely home before 6:30, so dinner is pretty much at 7. I wish we could get home sooner and start our evening sooner, but that's a whole 'nother issue.

    There are some really great ideas in this thread, so thank you. I'm definitely going to get her involved in helping me plan the meals and also have her serve her own plate. Generally speaking, the more involved in something she is, the more cooperative she is. She loves writing the grocery list with me and doing the shopping, so helping with the meal plan just seems like a no-brainer. (Except that it didn't even occur to me, lol.)

    Thanks for your help!

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    My silly Lily is almost 4. BabyFruit Ticker
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