Getting a picky eater to eat

I need to get my 4 year old DS to eat better. If it was up to him he'd have chips all day long.

He won't even try anything new. Basically, his meals consist of the following items:

- hummus
- multi grain chips
- pizza
- veggie soup with pastina (the veggies are blended so he can't see them, otherwise, its over)
- waffles
- fruit
- pasta with tomato sauce
- brown rice with duck sauce
- cream cheese on ww bread
- yogurt drinks


If he sees ANY vegetable in his plate he stops eating. Even if he was enjoying it - the second he sees a sliver of green or orange or whatever - its over.

I am stressed at meal times because I don't know what to make him. He gets bored of the above items as well.

How do you get them to even try something new? I've told him he needs to at least take 2 bites of something before saying he does not like it. He takes a nibble and spits it out before it even touches his tongue

He refuses to try ANY cold cut - no matter what we tell him it tastes like. I thought maybe salami because he likes pepperoni on his pizza - nope, won't even touch it - just says eww.

I need help - because we are 5 months into the school year and he only eats cream cheese sandwiches or hummus. I'm tired of making the same thing lol

I should add that he snacks on chips as well - this week I told him if he does not start eating better at his meals - no more chips in the house. DH balked at that suggestion, but I need to show DS I am serious.

Message edited 1/5/2015 1:24:40 PM.

Re: Getting a picky eater to eat

I would love to hear ideas as well - from the people that have overcome the picky eater.

You are not alone as I have 2 that won't try anything but there staple diet.

I am tempted to get rid of all sweets in our house and see what happens.

Re: Getting a picky eater to eat

This is my 4 year old as well and it is beyond frustrating especially when we aren't home for a meal. I go in waves of extreme anxiety over it to just accepting that this is how he is and hope he'll outgrow it. Every now and again I can get him to drink a homemade smoothie with hidden veggies in it, as long as it looks like its "just strawberries" in there and tastes sweet he happily drinks it!

Re: Getting a picky eater to eat

I have a 7 year old and she is the worst eater. She will only eat a corn muffin for breakfast, peanut butter sandwich for lunch. She will only eat a handful of things for dinner (mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza and cheeseburgers). It's terrible. At dinnertime, I've stopped making separate meals for her. If she won't eat it, she doesn't eat. I have talked about this with her MD several times over the years. She tells me that she'll eat when she is hungry. If she skips a meal, it's fine.

Re: Getting a picky eater to eat

I would try and first hide healthy foods into the foods he already eats for example, if he likes pancakes then what I do is make pancakes from scratch and mash up bananas in the batter. Does he like chicken? If he does shred the chicken and incorporate the hummus and make a sandwich or wrap with that. He might like the chicken if the hummus is on it. I would blend carrots or other veggies into the red tomato sauce so even if he is eating his usual pasta with sauce at least it has veggies in it and he wont know. Does he like eggs? Maybe whisk up a big batch of eggs and bake them in mini muffin tins. Kids usually like small foods, I would try anything in a muffin tin. There are healthy muffins that you can make that even have chocolate chips in it but are still nutritious. I usually go onto skinnytaste.com and get ideas for DD's meals. If he likes yogurt drinks would he like a homemade yogurt smoothie where you can hide other veggies and fruits in it?

Also, Jessica Seinfeld has a cookbook called deceptively delicious where there a ton of recipes that have healthy foods hidden inside. She has a black bean brownie recipe that is supposed to be really good.

Message edited 1/5/2015 3:17:37 PM.

Getting a picky eater to eat

Is he not that hungry bc he's snacking on chips? I would offer things like fruit or raw veggies to snack on and save chips as an after dinner treat only if he eats well. DD is big on cookies and she knows she can only have on after dinner and only if she eats well. She's super picky but for a cookie she'll usually have two bites of most things. If she doesn't, then no treat and she doesn't get an alternative. I figure if I can get her to eat two bites of something new it's a start. Last night she ate all her pasta and then two bites of broccoli and two bites of eggplant parm so she could have a cookie. She still makes me nuts at mealtimes but at least she's trying different things now.
As far as hiding healthy foods, we do spinach in berry smoothies and she likes those. She'll eat meatloaf if I puree the veggies so she can't see them in there.

Getting a picky eater to eat

I'm the same as the other poster. Some times I'm
More aggravated about it then others. I don't have an answer except that dd (4) saw Dora in a package of dr preggers fish nuggets and wanted to try them. They are her new go to "chickem" nuggets lol. I'm just happy she tried something new. So we go back a nd forth btw those and reg chicken nuggets. I try and hide stuff she finds it lol. It's frautrating but we try our best

Getting a picky eater to eat

I'm the same as the other poster. Some times I'm
More aggravated about it then others. I don't have an answer except that dd (4) saw Dora in a package of dr preggers fish nuggets and wanted to try them. They are her new go to "chickem" nuggets lol. I'm just happy she tried something new. So we go back a nd forth btw those and reg chicken nuggets. I try and hide stuff she finds it lol. It's frautrating but we try our best