[Chelnae6]

We have Miki for the week and she's an extremely picky eater. She's not exploratory at all for most food items and for others, she'll take a bite and just hold it in her mouth. She's 3. The only things she'll eat are pizza, chicken, chicken nuggets, spaghetti, mac n cheese, rice and fries. She'll eat everything when she's at daycare mainly b/c all of the other kids are eating it, but when she's with us, she's so stinkin picky. Kraft Mac N Cheese is her favorite but I refuse to feed her mac n cheese EVERYDAY!

I cant stand it when she just takes a bite of something (that I know she's eaten before) and just holds it in her mouth for a long time. I have to bribe her by saying things like "If you dont take another bite, I wont let you watch SpongeBob". Once she wouldnt swallow some spaghetti (which she didnt eat much of) and I told her that I'd give her some mac n cheese if she swallowed. I made the mac n cheese and sat it up on the dresser (out of reach) to let her know that I was serious. She never swallowed it. Needless to say she ended up crying and taking a nap with the spaghetti in her mouth. When she woke up, she finally swallowed it. I really dont want that to happen again.

How do you get your child to eat? Do you just feed them what you know they'll eat all the time? Any tips?

[LisanAndy]

She sounds EXACTLY like Taylor. There's not much else I can do. I give her V8 Splash because it has vegetables in it and it's the ONLY way and I can get her to eat veggies. She likes fruit and yogurt so that's not too much of a problem. I usually say "MMMM look at those gummy fruit snacks (or whatever sweeter thing they would prefer to eat). They sure look yummy but we have to eat all our lunch/dinner before we can eat them... darn! Ok lets get to it!" I'll even open up a pack and set them on the counter out of reach but she can see them from her chair and she'll say "have those mommy" and I say well I'd love to but remember, we have to finish our food first. It's a visual aid that really helps Taylor want to reach the goal LoL!

[Frozendesire]

Oh it's tough! The one thing I really strongly suggest is don't get mad or stressy with her. I've always tried not to make dinner a stressful period for Curtis. He's SUPER picky about what he actually eats. He eats everything usually, he'll try anything.. but actually getting him to finish is our problem. Rewards like dessert help, normally I can do this with fruit (thank goodness). Sometimes I just have to let it go. Usually I'll pick out a few items on his plate or bites and say he has to finish those, that way it's not the WHOLE overwhelming food on the plate and looks more reasonable? Not that I feed him too much but it's a mental thing I think.

Food is tough when they get to a certain age haha.

[~*sierra*~]

GL with piki miki! I cant believe she held it in her mouth while she slept, thats so crazy. the pp mama's have great advice

[Mars]

I was just coming to ask for ideas. Amara's hardly anything today apart from applesauce, about 3 peas from her lunch and perhaps half a pear (1/4 this morning and 1/4 just now for dinner). I offered her plenty options all day and she's not taken to anything. Thankfully she took her milk well.

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The only thing I could suggest for Miki is to maybe try smoothies if she likes those. You can make a meal with them. I would love to make some for Amara but she's still working on transitioning to the cup so it's not going to work right now.

[Chelnae6]

Thanks for the advice ladies. I baked some chicken tonight so she ate that. Its crazy how when she's at daycare she eats WHATEVER b/c all of the other kids are. Hopefully Kalani wont be like that, but I was a picky eater so it just might happen.

The smoothie is a good idea if I had something to make smoothies with lol. I might go out and get some strawberries sometime this week and try it out.

Lisa I'm going to try that, although it didnt work with the mac n cheese (her favorite). Hence her going to sleep with pasta in her mouth. I'll try sweets though. she likes oatmeal cream pies

[szczepanski]

My DH is a super super super picky eater. Like he wont eat the most random of things...no salad dressing, mayo, cheese ONLY if it is mozzarella, no cream of anything especially mushroom, no mexican food.....

Finally after figuring out "ewe I don't like that" really means "Oh, I've never tried that" I pester him until he actually tries ONE BITE of it and decides if he likes it or not. And most of the time he does, hahaha.

So I feel your pain, only I don't have a toddler that I can bribe with anything to get him to try it, hehe.

[♥Ashley♥]

I think i am literally the pickiest person in the world so i feel for all your kids!

[ScottishBrit]

Cambria's bad too! All she wants to eat is Mac and Cheese and spegetti! Breakfast is horriable! She was eating nothing but pankcakes but now she doesn't want that! No fruit, No Yogurt, Nothing too cold, no pizza, no meat, nothing!!!! Veggie wise she likes corn and pea's though. Im always running out of idea's!!!

[Frozendesire]

Oh another tip I have... DIP! That helps us ALOT. Either ketchup or ranch dressing or something (could even make your own healthy dip). It's fun for them to dip and much away.

The only down side is Curtis has learnt to suck the dip off and re dip haha.. but then he runs out and I say no more until you eat a few bites.

We had hot dogs tonight and I used ketchup to get him to eat. He still only ate half a hot dog and a couple bites of the bun.... where as Dustin ate 2 hotdogs... My oh My how different they are!)

[misfitinmn]

Ben is kind of a picky eater, but we follow the division of responsibility in our house.
Basically, we (the parents) are responsible for what, when, and where he eats.
He is responsible for how much and whether he eats.
Ellyn Satter Ellyn Satter's Division of Responsibility in Feeding

I do not typically prepare something special for Ben unless we are having something spicy that he can't have (which is rare) - so there are meals when he eats very little. I do, however, try to include one thing I KNOW he likes with each meal - sometimes he won't even eat that, but I offer it at least, and once we are done with the meal I will offer him some fruit (which he will eat without fail).

It is so frustrating, but she will eat, and she'll get used to eating what you do eventually! Just make sure she isn't filling up on milk/snacks before a mealtime and that those things aren't her main source of nutrition.
I would highly recommend reading through Ellyn Satter's site, she is incredibly smart and just makes sense, and it reassures me that I am doing the right thing. I have read several of her books (I have a degree in nutrition, so a lot of this was school related) and they're soooo interesting!

Another good article about picky eaters, here:
https://ellynsatter.com/showArticle....65&section=278

[Chelnae6]

Thanks Sara! Off to check out the site

[Mars]

Amy, I'm in the same position. Amara used to ea cheerios, cheese, fruit and sometimes crackers for breakfast. Now she won't eat anything except the fruit. This morning I tried her with pancakes, she ate 2 pieces and then threw the others on the floor. I offered her cheerios and she ate about 6 so I tried cheese and she refused. So I gave her a 1/4 of pear and she ate that all down to 3 pieces. I don't know how she's surviving. A bit later I got her to eat a cracker before her milk. I'm seriously in so much trouble. And she's not been wanting to eat her foods that have protein and I know she needs to make up for her protein. It's very frustrating.

[Alison81]

E was never picky, but I work with picky kids. They are 2-4. This is what we do. Say the parent wants them to start eating chicken and veggies. We'll put a small amount of chicken and veggies on the plate, and hold something they really love out of their reach. Then we ask them to touch or kiss the chicken or veggies, and each time they do that they get a piece of the food they actually want. That way they're still getting something to eat, and at the same time are learning to try something new. Once they are comfortable touching or kissing the other food, then we'll start asking them to take a bite and swallow to get the food of their choice. If it's something they are REALLY picky about, we will use a high preferred food, like chips or candy. I use the same thing with my daughter when she's picky about something, and it works really well and takes away the frustration for both of you. Eventually they get to the point where you can say, eat this many bites of this and then you can have a cookie or something else they like. It's kind of like bribing, but it does work, and often they end up finding out that they like what they were initially opposed to.

[*krista*]

She is so strong willed! What a silly girl, keeping it in her mouth like that even while she was sleeping!

I can only share my plans for when I have a picky toddler in the house, which is probably easier said than done, but... here goes it. I don't plan on compromising when it comes to food. She will eat what I give her, or she will just go without until she gets hungry enough to eat it. I mean that in a general meal planning basis, if there is something she doesn't like, like onions, then I can work with that.

I just discussed this with DH and apparently we have different philosophies on the topic! He called me a nazi! And somehow worked in a loving "tree hugging hippy". But that's a different subject.

[Chelnae6]

Well today she came to me hungry and I gave her a list of options of what we were having for breakfast or what she could eat (eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, cereal or pop tarts). She chose poptarts although she didnt eat it yesterday. she barely ate it today, I ended up making her eat only a 3rd of it and it took her an hour to eat that 3rd. I baked chicken lastnight and she was perfectly fine with that.