When did your picky eaters start eating better?

hopeful34 · March 2013

My kids are pretty picky. DD eats no meat at all. Won't try it either. She eats pasta like mac & Cheese, french fries, all fruits, P&J sandwiches, Strawberry cream cheese sandwiches, raisens, applesauce,pureed vegetables only, yogurt. I always give her what her brother is eating. DS eats all of the above but he eats fish sticks and chicken nuggets as well. But will not eat any vegetables at all. I get the pasta with it built in. He does however try something at least once.

The problem i think is that we do not usually sit down and eat as a family. We are going to try or at least have me sit down and eat with them. DH isn't usually home until after 6.

I also cook them what they eat but a different dinner for us. MY DH has diabetes and high cholesterol so i tend to cook stuff that are low in carbs etc. Not sure if it's the right diet to give 2 growing kids?? Also when we get home at 5:30 they are starving. When i give them a snack they don't want dinner. The snack usually only consists of a few crackers.

I need help/suggestions. I really want them to try new things. I'm sure eating as a family is a good start so I will be making more of an effort to eat with them.

I know i'm doing all the wrong things so i need to fix it now. I want to set a good example for them. We eat pretty healthy because my DH health issues.

Thank you!!

MKDee · March 2013

My DS1 is very picky, and honestly, it took until he was 3.5 to see significant improvement. We do three types of dinners each week: a meal that I know the kids will (rotisserie chicken with fresh fruit and some kind of pasta is one; spaghetti is another), a meal that has some food the kids will eat and some they won't (tacos is a big one of these--we set the taco fixings out and let them eat what they want. Sometimes that includes veggies, but some nights it includes nothing but the tortilla wrap and cheese), and nights when we do separate food for the kids and us (last night was fish for us, Mac n cheese and oranges for them.)

Even on those nights, we offer a few bites of whatever we're having to the kids. We usually ask my older DS to at least try one bite on those nights. Sometimes he fights us on it, but at 3.5, he usually agrees to at least try one small bite. We do sit down every night as a family, and I think that has helped. Honestly, being exposed to new foods at daycare helps too. Ds1 ate a banana for the first time EVER this week because his favorite teacher at daycare offered it to him. So keep offering new foods, try to eat as a family when you can and know that it gets better with age! One other thought: I know many people will recommend offering one meal for the family, and if the kids don't eat, don't worry about it, but we found that approach didn't work for us. DS1 used to make himself vomit when presented with food he didn't like. We decided that a lower stress approach worked better for us AND got the kids to try new foods.

MKDee · March 2013

Wow, phone formatting completely screwed that up. Sorry about that!

hopeful34 · March 2013

Thank you so much for the ideas. We will definitly try this starting this week. I like the idea of having one night cooking something just for them when we have fish or something. I can only ask that they try it so thank you sooooo much!!

logoz80 · March 2013

My daughter eats less than that and won't try anything. I try Pediasure and she won't even touch it.

MKDee · March 2013

Happy to help- hopeful34. I went back and edited my post to fix the phone formatting bugs, so it should be easier to read now. We went through a TOUGH time with our older one. There was a time when the only fruit he would eat was apples, and he would only eat vegetables if they were in soup form. Over time, we found that if we made a big deal about what he was or wasn't eating, he was even less likely to try new foods. So that's when we came up with our idea to vary the dinners so that on some nights, dinner isn't "hard" for him, and on other nights, he has to stretch a bit to try something new. It has worked well, and he now eats a wider variety of food. DS2 is better about food, but after what we went through with the first one, we're using the same approach with him. Good luck!

TiffanyBerry · March 2013

My daughter goes through stages, but I've found that she's at her best (picky eating wise) when we are regularly sitting down and eating dinner (the same dinner) together. My husband is a more selective eater than she is (I hate the "picky eater" label - https://spoonfedblog.net/2011/02/23/want-kids-to-eat-better-stop-calling-them-picky-eaters/) so we often have three dishes (meat, veggies, potatoes, stir-fry over rice and a salad, lots of salads!). Sometimes it includes a carb other than veggies (root veggies supply carbs), sometimes it doesn't and she gets more of that in the form of fruit for dessert.

Also, for me, no snacks other than what is going into dinner (like the carrots I'm slicing, or the like) within 45 minutes of dinner. I'll give my daughter a snack in the car on the way home before then if I know it's going to be close. Otherwise, like you say, they don't eat! We eat at 5:45-6pm, so I might think a sit-together dinner (maybe a fast one, or one that was cooked ahead of time) might be possible at least many nights a week.

AmericanInOz · March 2013

I can't remember where I read it - but when I have something new on her plate, I ask dd to smell it and then touch it to her tongue, eventually after being presented with stuff a few times like that (and watching me eat itl....) she'll give it a taste. Even if she spits it out and says yucky I praise her for trying it

it's hard man - so hard and frustrating. I can see slow improvement - but it's definitely SLOW! daycare has helped us a lot too - she gets exposed to so many kinds of foods - and is willing to try them cause the other kids are eating them!

fancynewbeesly · March 2013

My daughter goes through stages as well. Lately she has been understanding the concept of "taste" or "one bite" even if she doesn't like that idea. I have had success with having her coloring book & crayons on the table, in eye sight but out of reach for her. If she fusses about a new food, I tell her to take one bite, then she gets her crayons. It has been getting her to taste more, and many Ike's when she is coloring she will eat it if I feed to her. If she really like it, she will feed herself!

also, she doesn't like getting her hands messy so sandwiches, etc have to be easy and non messy to grab

Court0026 · March 2013

At age 4...but my good eater started being picky at the same time when she was 2.5.

Erinmmo · March 2013

totally understand the picky eater thing- our almost 29 month old went through a really bad stage but she is starting to come around- slowly but I am positive.

I just keep reintroducing stuff to her. I use those seperation plates, which I think she likes. I always put two things on there she likes, and at least one thing she has said no to before to see if she will try it again. My dauther too will only eat pureed veggies- only. BUT the other night she actually ate peas- I put them on her plate like every other day and she finally ate at least a serving.

She also likes eggplant parm and turkey burgers from the grill. I was shocked at that too!

When my mother in law comes here she can get her to try new things- she'll say okay eat this then I will give you a this- something she wants. I also do the bribe thing- since she is understanding counting I will say if you eat 5 bites of your chicken then you can have pudding for desert. Sometimes it works!!!

Oh and we all sit at the table. I think that does help a little.

tiffanymuegge · March 2013

I can really relate to your post. My twins are going to be 2 next week, and DD will eat just about anything you put in front of her. DS, on the other hand, will eat next to NOTHING. Other than green beans, chicken nuggets, sometimes pizza, corn, strawberries, and apples, that is about it. I can count on just my fingers how many different foods he will eat - he won't even so much as try it. He will smell it and then push it away. I keep telling myself he will eat when he wants to, but it is frustrating when his sister will gobble down just about everything! I try to at least incorporate one thing that he will eat into every meal so that he has something, but it is getting difficult when he won't even so much as try anything he is unfamiliar with...good luck to you and let me know how sitting down as a family goes. It is next to impossible to do around our house because DH never gets home at the same time each day, and little league has started up with older DS which means practice everyday from 5:30 to about 7:30 which makes supper even all the more difficult!!!

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