"OK, I have a picky toddler, 22 months old. I have a few questions for you all. My biggest issue is getting him to try new things, he wont, and usually when he does try something new, he doesn't like it. I am wondering, how many times should I offer a certain food to him before I give up on it, and how often should I offer it, everyday, once a week etc.. Even if i do get him to try it, and he doesn't like it should I leave it at that, or try again, the next day, week, or month? I am also wondering, if he refuses to try something should I not offer anything else for a while until he is hungrier and then try again? Thanks.
J"
9 comments:
I read somewhere that it takes up to 10 times of being offered something before a toddler will even try it. The article also said to offer the new thing along with foods the toddler already likes. I think it was in Today's Parent. My daughter could sometimes be tricked into eating something new if a favorite person 'loved it' or to have a bite 'for a fave person'. Try not to get discouraged. All toddlers go through picky stages, and they all eventually come out of it. Good luck, and don't give up!!
10X!!!?? Wow, thanks for that tip, it's encouraging. I do offer him new things with things he likes, but I think I should be doing to more often. See, we do sit with our son for supper, and offer him food off of our plate all the time, he always turns away from it. I certainly hope this is just a stage. LOL but he has been picky since he was 1 !
And, be prepared for him/her to try things, like them, and later decide, "Yuck." Our son, up until about age 4, liked black beans, baked beans, Indian food, and various vegetables. No more.
Fortunately he could live on carrots and fruit - everything from strawberries and grapes to grapefruit and kiwi. In fact, he'd rather have fruit than most sweets. He doesn't like chocolate at all. Go figure!
Our pediatrician said that as long as he was getting the right mix of vitamins/minerals it didn't really matter if his diet was fairly limited in range. I have to remind myself - when he eats the same thing day after day - that that's the diet of a majority of people in the world.
Cheers!
mseh, I have already ran into that obstacle lol, he used to eat, toast, scrambled eggs, beans mashed up, and now he wont even touch those things. He does like fruit but only in the pureed form...
I watched a talk show one day about picky toddlers & they suggested dips - my son loves it - he eats almost everything now with ranch dip - the things he doesnt like I try again in about 2 weeks
My daughter was the worlds fussiest eater!! For almost a full year she lived off of granola bars and tri colored 4 cheese tortellini (believe me - she knew the difference) She was truly a carb kiddo! finally, we were able to convince her to take only 1 small bite because "part of becomming a big girl is trying new things"...the rule was that she didnt' have to eat any more if she didn't like it...just 1 bite. We also kept a list of the new things she tried and cut out and colored pictures of each new thing. That made it extra fun for her...when she was being difficult...(conveniently around Christmas) we discovered that anything with the word "reindeer" in front of it would get her to try it. ie: "Santa sent over these Reindeer peas for you to try...you can only get them close to Christmas and Prancer LOVES them!" She's still fussy as heck, but we now cover most of the 4 food groups and will try just about anything once :)
LOL I say that about mine alllllll the time. The fussiest eater in the WORLD, and is a cheerios junkie, i worry that he little or no veggies into him, he definitly gets fruit, grains, and dairy/protein, but no veggies, i have recently started giving him some of what were having everynight, but he just doesnt even pay attention to it.... Sigh***
How does he drink? If he's a good drinker, making a smoothie or something might help or see if he'd drink some V8 or a v8 splash kind of drink.
yes i have tried v8 juice... he doesnt like it, he doesnt like ANY veggies. I did try to put some in his smoothies that i give to him, but i can only put a little bit so that he cant taste it. i will just be persistent i suppose.
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