"Ok ladies..I have a question about my PICKY eater!! .......Jeffersons 15 months old now and extremely picky when it comes to his food....so my question is...when he wont eat what we are having....is he too young to understand that its either THIS or nothing?? you know what I mean? I usually...or always...give in and make him something else...so obviously he knows hes going to get his way...but I want to NIP it in the bud before it gets any worse so my question is that...do I let him go hungry and hope that eventually he'll be hungry enough t eat whatever is offerend to him? I mean clearly he is smart enough to know that if he doesnt eat what I give him...I end up giving him something else..so does that mean he's smart enough to learn that its this or nothing?? ok I think I"M repeating myself now...I just need SOME help!! lol thanks ladies...."
-Kate
12 comments:
My philosophy, and what has always worked for us, is to "go with the flow". To me, it was more important for him to eat rather than have him eat what we were eating. Toddlers go through phases like that where they will refuse to eat at all or refuse certain foods or want nothing BUT a certain food and then they'll have times when you just can't feed them enough. We always just went on what he wanted. If we were eating steak and potatoes, he might only eat potatoes or he would only drink juice or I'd make him a peanut butter sandwich. He's over 2 now and his eating habits are better. He'll almost always eat what we are eating now, but when he won't I just give him something else.
Your son might catch on to the "this or nothing" strategy, but it's not something I would personally do. Like I said, I'd rather make him something else than have him not eat at all. Or you could try feeding him after you have eaten. He may just not want to eat what you have right then and there but would be willing to try later on.
Bottom line: it's a phase he's going through and it will pass. Just work with him to get through it. By giving in now, you're not going to send his good eating habits down the crapper for the rest of his life.
I always use a "backup food." If Lauren decides she doesn't want what I've made her (be it a new food or something she just won't eat that day), I'll give her a pickle, some fruit or toast. Toddlers are pretty persistent in not doing something because they don't want to.
Pick your battles is what I say. I hear they grow out of picky eating around age 5, anyway.
My GP has assured me that kids will eat what ever they are served if they are hungry and that it's actually healthy for children to experience the sensation of hunger. She also put me at ease as to how much kids that age should be eating and it's about about tablespoon a meal. Well my Son would a lot more than that early in the day so no wonder he wasn't interested in supper.
my only rule is that he at least try what I have made for supper before I will prepare something else for him and even then I will try putting sauce of some kind on what we are eating to see if that will change his opinion of it. He now (2 and a half) eats just about everything, including Indian Curry, Fajitas, Greek Souvlaki, French onion soup and Caesar salad.
He loves to sauce on things so the ketchup, sweet and sour sauce and sour cream get a good workout at our house.
If he tries supper and doesn't like it but he ate well the rest of the day I'll let him leave the table. If he didn't have much the rest of the day I'll fix him a healthy snack of fruit, yogurt or a sandwich made with whole grain bread.
so you think that I should let him get hungrier and then try again? my biggest issue is that i let him snack, because i dont want my kiddo going hungry right!!
i would let him get a little bit hungry. I don't mean starved or anything, but when he is hungry he will be more likely to try new things. If he doesn't like it then you can make something else for him.
My doctor is of the opinion that we, as a culture, tend to overfeed our children (and ourselves for that matter) and it doesn't hurt kids at all if they choose not to eat a meal every now and then.
Your kid's not going to starve or get sick from skipping a meal. I agree with one of the posts that letting kids feel hunger is not only ok but healthy, and that we tend to overfeed our kids and ourselves. I'm lucky with my kids b/c they eat whatever we're eating without a fuss, but if I had a picky eater, I'd probably stay with the rule that s/he eat what's for dinner.
I had that problem with my little guy for a bit, and I changed his snacks, instead of toast or crackers for a snack if it was within say an hour and half or so of meal time, I would give him raisins, or fruit snacks, or yogurt, less filling snacks, just enough to tie him over. Also, I find that I like to give him his milk before bedtime and naptime rather than with meals, they fill up quickly on milk and juice. My son, now 22 months, really likes "a smorg" for lunches, ham slices,cheese slices, crackers, cut up bananas or apples, stuff he can pick at.
For supper, my son wouldn't eat potatoes for a long time, but I started adding cheese whiz, now, he cleans the plate!
Hope this helps, good luck :)
Tiffany
hello, me again. I just wanted to give you all an update, so i had tried the eat this or nothing thing... very poorly effortwise.. and lets just say it didnt fly... anyway yesterday i decided enough was enough, because jeff wasnt even eating his crackers, oatmeal, or yogurt.. usually favorites of his.. anyway so i decided to try it out, guess what it worked! and i kept it up this morning, i didnt try and feed him right away and i didnt give him his usual cup of milk, i let him play for about an hour.. anyway.. when i tried to feed him, viola he ate all his oatmeal, which i served with water! then after breakfast couldnt even drink all his milk cus he was full!! i am very happy... did the same thing with lunch.. he ate all his yogurt. crackers.. woudnt touch the toast, but hey its a start right??? anyway.. enough babble. I will keep you posted on how well it works to get him to try NEW things...
I am wondering about this too if anyone has any been there done that stories :)
Thought I'd add a little something about picky eaters. My son has always been picky and if left to his own devices, would only eat about 3 foods. So when he was around 18 months we started to play this game with him where we would introduce one new food a week into his diet. Things he had never tasted or didn't usually eat. He had to at least taste it(not necessarily eat all of it) and if he did, he got a sticker or a special surprise ($ store). He discovered a lot of foods he liked (like V8 juice!) and actually started to look forward to the tasting game. Now he is still fussy, but has expanded his diet considerably with tons of new foods. He is also more likely to try something new rather than refuse to touch it. As for meals with him, he is given what we eat and only rarely does he get anything else. However, I might modify the meal for him. For example, he doesn't like tomato sauce on his spaghetti so I put cheese on it (real cheese, not processed) and sliced tomatoes on the side. Same food groups, just separate. And we've switched to whole wheat pasta and brown rice. I find it easier to adapt our meals than make something entirely different.
I go through the same thing with Gavin, on and off. Some days he east like a horse, other days barely anything. On his "not so hungry" days, I give him water instead of juice, and give him lighter snacks. Supper at our house is a family at the table event, so even if he chooses not to eat, he still sits with us while we eat. I figure that this will make him understand the "way things go" at suppertime. Also, I agree with you that your child will not starve if they miss a meal. There is always bedtime snack, or a bigger breakfast the next morning. We all know that toddlers are very different from day to day!
A lot of mothers tend to get really stressed about a child not eating what they "should" be, but once a mother makes a meal and puts it on the table, her job is done, it is the child's responsibility to eat the food, whether it is fed to them or not. When the child does not eat what is offered, they have to learn that when they decide to leave the table they cannot return to eat with the rest of the family and that they will not eat until the next scheduled meal time. You should also only try and introduce one new food at a time, and always offer something that the child DOES like. don't push it on them, force them to try it, or make a big deal if they dont eat it. You need to show a new food to a child 5, sometimes 10 times before they decide to put in in their mouths and that is not to say that they will like it. Kids should also be able to play with their food to a certain extent. If they are not allowed to touch it, squish it, or see how it moves around on their plate they are less likely to try it. So try and be flexible. Some kids are really sensitive to texture and maybe that is why they are not eating a particular item. It is really hard to say what is going on, and only you will be the judge on what to do. I am offering you my advice as a proffessional.
-A Fredericton Nutritionist
Post a Comment