Picky eater

Hi everyone! My 3 year old is what I consider an extreme picky eater. He only eats a handful of foods, no meats or vegetables, and only the same 3 things served at mealtimes every single day. He will not even look at a new food. He used to be such a good eater, but since he turned maybe 15 months he started rejecting foods he used to love and hasn't eaten them since. And if a food he does eat isn't cut perfectly or there's a crumb hanging off, etc. he will not eat it. He's doing well in height and weight percentiles, but I'm worried he's not getting the nutrients he needs and I want him to at least TRY new foods and have a healthy relationship with food. Has anyone gone through this? Please tell me there's hope! Thank you!!!

Re: Picky eater

DD is the same way. She won't even try new foods. It's a phase and eventually she will eat more...I hope!

I have a friend whose daughter was like this and she did a food therapy program that worked for them. I'm not interested in that, though. It was also very expensive.

Re: Picky eater

I’m certainly not an expert.

BUT, we always say food is delicious ourselves (so we never say we don’t like something) and we give them food that they must try. They can’t NOT try something.

Also, no snacks before dinner. No heavy amounts of milk or juice with dinner. We limit them at about half a cup. No other meals than the one served. We make sure that they like something each meal. No dessert with every meal (kids are smart and will wait to full themselves up). Hungry kids eat best.

My kids are all great eaters. They have likes and dislikes, but that’s life. With 3 kids, they will not eat their favorite thing every day. This method worked for my sister’s kids too (and they ate barely anything).

Picky eater

My kids aren’t really picky. My one is because of certain textures due to low muscle tone but he’s gotten so much better. Every meal they get a divided plate and eat what we eat. They have a fruit or veggie or both a carb and main meal. They tell us if they are done and if they don’t eat, oh well, they will get hungry eventually and I pack it up if it’s truly not touched. They are good eaters. They get 3 milk cups a day and 2 snacks if they want. With meals or snacks they only get water. They are very active and skinny so I try and keep the milk up even though they both eat like 2 teenage boys. They are 21 months and 24 and 21lbs but tall and big appetites. I don’t fight them on food but I’m also not a diner and won’t make something separate. If there was a true underlying medical or feeding issue I would obviously do what I need to to ensure they are eating but if it’s just about being picky, I would just give whatever meals you are having and if he doesn’t eat, oh well, he won’t starve and will likely eat at his next meal good luck!

To add- sometimes my kids don’t want a cracker or something if it isn’t a whole cracker or whatever they are hung up on, I honestly ignore it. A cracker is a cracker, If they decided to toss or crush it up, the natural consequence is you no longer have a cracker and you don’t get another. I am very strict when it comes to health, safety and nutrition, they aren’t “negotiables” in my house. If they want to run and bounce off things and drive their trucks cross my windows so be it they are having fun as they should but certain things aren’t up for an argument with them

Message edited 10/10/2018 11:42:57 AM.

Re: Picky eater

Posted by Mago

Hi everyone! My 3 year old is what I consider an extreme picky eater. He only eats a handful of foods, no meats or vegetables, and only the same 3 things served at mealtimes every single day. He will not even look at a new food. He used to be such a good eater, but since he turned maybe 15 months he started rejecting foods he used to love and hasn't eaten them since. And if a food he does eat isn't cut perfectly or there's a crumb hanging off, etc. he will not eat it. He's doing well in height and weight percentiles, but I'm worried he's not getting the nutrients he needs and I want him to at least TRY new foods and have a healthy relationship with food. Has anyone gone through this? Please tell me there's hope! Thank you!!!

Re: Picky eater

My dd1 pretty much only eats carbs and certain cheeses. We’ve done feeding therapy. I’ve been a short order cook. I’ve screamed my head off. I’ve coddled. Ive done rewards charts. Ive made little deals of it. I’ve made big deals of it. I’ve tried every suggestion ad nauseum. The only thing I do now is cook what I’m going to cook, serve it to her and don’t stress. She won’t starve. The rule is that she doesn’t get second helpings of the carbs of dinner. But there’s usually enough cheese or something for her to add to it to make do. She continues to not eat veggies or proteins. But I’m more relaxed. She’s relaxed. Growing. Probably not the healthiest but we are happy. She’s almost 6. She started refusing foods at 6 months old when they were first introduced. We did purees then, we did baby led weaning. We tried everything back then too.

My 3 year old eats everything under the sun (except string beans).

ETA: she gets no snacks except her morning school snack. She’s only allowed water to drink. We don’t do desserts after dinner

Message edited 10/12/2018 10:30:14 PM.

Picky eater

My advice would be to keep offering him different foods.
In the meantime, try to hide veggies in his food. Zucchini muffins, puréed cauliflower in Mac and cheese. I would take meatballs and cut them up super small and mix it in rice and my son wouldn’t know any better.
Keep trying but don’t get stressed. He will come around.
My son is now 6 and the other day ate a carrot and I almost fainted. Lol

Message edited 10/13/2018 9:56:30 AM.