Picky eater - 14 month old

Starfish+77 · February 2014

I'm sure I'm not the first to post this...but my 14 month DD is driving me insane with how picky she is becoming! Breakfast the only thing she'll eat is pancakes and banana. I've tried eggs in various ways, avocado, oatmeal...all no go. Lunch is pretty much a variety of fruit, will not eat any cheese. Dinner is mixed veggies (frozen organic) and roasted sweet potatoes. Always need to have those on hand, as she typically won't eat whatever meat DH and I are eating. I've tried hot dogs (yeah I'm desperate), chicken nuggets are hit or miss and grilled cheese (used to like but started boycotting at daycare). I'm starting to think its paybacks bc according to my mom I was the pickiest kid on the planet LOL. Any suggestions? What else should I try feeding? She whines/fusses until I give her something she likes. The food she refuses all gets thrown on the floor. Help?

kjsmith9 · February 2014

DD has been a good eater from day one, but she still has her days/weeks where she does't want to touch anything. I try to be thoughtful at those times, and give her very little "extra" food - I don't want a toddler that will only eat 3 things, and they're smart enough now to realize that whining gets them things (i.e., food they like).

At lunch yesterday she was given half a grilled cheese on whole grain bread, blueberries, applesauce, and veggies strained from the soup I was eating. She scarfed down half the veggies, but then started putting them in her mouth, making a sour face (trying to get us to laugh), and then threw them on the floor. She usually loves grilled cheese, but she wouldn't touch it. She ate the blueberries and half the applesauce, and then had a meltdown pointing toward the cupboard and saying "more." I gave her 2 whole grain crackers (she ate one and threw the other on the floor), and then I was like "all done!" and took her tray and got her out of the chair.

If she is eating nicely, I let her stay there as long as she would like, and if we only make enough food for all of us to have one serving (and we eat everything), I will give her some extra stuff - otherwise I'm sticking with "this is what we're having right now, and if you don't want it, meal time is over." They're little, they won't starve themselves.

Keep offering healthy options - it can take more than 10 offers for a child to eat something and learn to enjoy it. We did BLW and DD has been eating what we eat since 6 months old. To this day, she will not eat scrambled eggs - I have no idea why (texture maybe?) - but we still offer them ever time we make them. Only offering stuff they like is a slippery slope.

Since you asked for some other thoughts on what to feed, here are some things my DD loves: bananas, oranges, apples, grapes (cut in half), all berries, kiwi, string cheese, pea pods, soft carrots, green beans, greek yogurt, applesauce, whole grain crackers, dry cereal, oatmeal, spaghetti, baked chicken (she loves seasoned stuff), quesadillas with whole wheat tortillas, black beans, cottage cheese. We also give her guacamole, salsa, hummus, laughing cow cheese, peanut butter, and jelly spread on bread/crackers/tortillas and she likes it all.

Litgirl77 · February 2014

CK2MD said:

We feed LO what we eat. We make sure to always offer a fruit and bread with dinner (she eats breakfast and lunch at DC during the week). Some days she eats a lot, and some days it all ends up on the floor. Some days she loves chicken; some days, all she'll eat is bread and fruit. I would recommend reading up on child nutrition. My favorite are Fearless Feeding: How to Raise Healthy Eaters from High Chair to High School by Jill Castle and Maryann Jacobsen, and anything by Ellyn Satter. It changed the way I think about feeding my LO.

I also highly recommend Fearless Feeding. You can check out Maryann Jacobsen's website too for some good articles.

kateraid · February 2014

My DS went through this for about 3 months and is finally coming out of it. Just find ways to sneak in the things she needs (Calcium, Iron etc) and don't fight it. Making her miserable will only give her a bad association with food.

pb_bride · February 2014

DS is a picky eater too - he doesn't eat cheese (unless melted on bread or in cooked dishes), nor eggs (unless in an quiche-like dish). I read Fearless Feeding and I feel that things are a bit better... At least I don't stress much at meal times anymore.

I feed DS whatever we are having for dinner. I don't cook him anything separate. I try to include at least 1 thing he likes at dinner, but what he 'likes" changes from day to day or week to week, so I honestly don't try too much. If he doesn't like what is on his plate, that's too bad. He usually just sits there and pout, but he rarely throws food or whines. He just simply doesn't eat, and I let him be. I serve leftovers at lunch so he gets a second chance at the foods he was offered the night before. Sometimes he will eat something at lunch that he didn't touch the night before.

Honestly, the more you give in, the more the child controls what he or she eats, and that is not what you want. The less you pressure your child into eating something, the more likely he or she will try some.

Some kids just don't accept new foods that easily (like my DS). So for me, I see it as a success if he even touches the new food. I do not expect him to eat the new food at the first, or second, or third setting. If he is willing to touch it, that's great! If he puts it in his mouth but spits it out, that's great because that is an improvement.

So try to continue to offer a variety of different foods, and not to stress about it. If they eat it, great! If they don't eat it, that is their choice. Your job is to provide healthful foods in a variety, their job is to decide whether they want to eat it or not.

Jennynovakoff · February 2014

My 16M dd is a picky eater too. I have to a sneak foods past her all the time. Some days are way easier than others, but at least she'll eat fruit. : ))

Starfish+77 · February 2014

Thanks everyone. I guess I just need to be patient. I have to pack her breakfast and lunch for daycare and lately I've been told she 'ate very little'. So perhaps it's just a phase. I really want to kick the bedtime bottle since this is her only bottle left, but am afraid to do so since her solid intake is pretty crappy. Again, appreciate all the input!

beccalee721 · February 2014

My 14 month old is doing the same thing! She eats her fruits and vegetables and bread, but no eggs, meat or pasta. Well, I've gotten her to eat frozen chicken tenders but that barely counts. For her protein she eats a lot of greek yogurt. But at daycare she rarely eats the main course for lunch whether its a meat or a pasta or whatever. She'll eat the fruit or vegetable they offer. I'm definitely going to look at the Fearless Feeding website / book cause I don't know what else to do! We try offering new food all the time but she's just in a rut.

mellie86041 · February 2014

My 13 month old is super picky, but only because she wants to be, not because she doesn't like certain foods. It's never the same likes and dislikes from one day to the next, so we're constantly playing a guessing game of what she's going to eat that day and what she won't.

We always feed her what we're eating, for every meal. If it's a food she's never had, or doesn't remember, it usually takes either DH or me taking a bite from our own plate, then taking a bite off her plate before she knows it's ok to try it. Most of the time though, her "pickiness" just seems to be a way of her asserting her independence.

So this might sound harsh, but if she doesn't want to eat what we're having, she doesn't eat. I don't think it's doing her any favors to go out of my way to make only things she likes, especially since what she likes changes anyway from one day to the next. (Obviously I also don't constantly make foods that I know she doesn't actually like).

Sometimes she'll go a few meals with only taking a bite or two, or none at all, or will only eat one particular food and completely ignore everything else. Eventually she realizes we're not giving in and will eat everything served to her with no problems at all for a few days until she decides she wants to be stubborn again.

I also give her multivitamin drops every morning in a cup of juice, just in case she decides it's going to be one of those days….

designerchai2230 · February 2014

My twin boys go through phases like that too. Here are some ideas that have worked for my boys.

Breakfast:

Waffles or pancakes (different flavors so they don't get sick of it)

Applesauce

Oatmeal

Smoothie (spoon fed - spinach and banana with almond milk)

Blueberries

Strawberries

Cantaloupe

Toast with a little jelly

Homemade quinoa muffins (Protein packed!)

Lunch

Sandwich thins with hummus

Wacky mac pasta sprinkled with parm cheese (enriched with veggies)

Black beans (Protein!)

Green Beans

Breakfast sausage (Frozen and precooked)

Smiley potatoes (Frozen)

String cheese

Cheese quesadilla

Dinner

Turkey burgers

Chicken cakes (Chicken mixed with egg, bread crumbs and fry in pan)

Peas (Frozen bag)

Broccoli florets (Frozen bag)

Chicken nuggets

Ravioli with parm sprinkled

Homemade soups (like chicken noodle)

Grilled cheese with avocado/guacamole

Tofu cubes sautéed

Roasted sweet potatoes

Angel hair pasta with light sauce

There are also some really fun recipes on Pinterest if you search for "Toddler Foods." I look for recipes that "hide" veggies, since my boys can be anti-veggi at times!

Hope this helps!

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