Many of you have probably seen my monstrous recent thread on this board: HELP! Need ideas to get Toddler to eat Again.... The ladies have been SO wonderful on there and I'm hoping they join me here too! But since it's SO long and outdated (DS is now "eating" just super picky and limited still) I thought I'd start a new one.
For background, DS is 21 months. He was a good eater until 13 months, at which point he became more limited (but still decent). Then worse still around 15 months and much worse around 17-18 months (at which point he also had an ear infection and nasty virus). He is the type of guy that gets hungry pretty often but only eats small amounts (sort of like his momma) but it's complicated cause he's so limited! He will spoon feed himself yogurt or applesauce (or we take turns) and I can give him soup on a spoon (chicken noodle or french onion only) but he won't use a fork himself NOR allow me to feed him with one (though he used to do both till about 15 months). So, if he doesn't like the way it looks and feels to his hands it doesn't get eaten or even tried.
He currently eats: yogurt, applesauce, oatmeal, silver dollar pancakes (at diner or IHOP only, not at home), challah french toast (rarely), dry cereal (cheerios or Kashi heart to heart, sometimes Puffins), toasted whole wheat bagels with butter, grilled cheese (rarely), chicken noodle soup, french onion soup, chicken nuggets (baked white meat ones with wholemeal breading), sweet potato fries, alphabet fries, cereal cookies (homemade with crushed Total, ricotta cheese, etc), goldfish crackers, pizza (either takeout regular or homemade with chopped spinach and orange veggies blended into the sauce) and pasta (only penne noodles or pinwheels) - with cheese sauce, butter or bolognese.
ONCE he also ate a Larabar (which would be great but he's refused since). He tried PBJ once but didn't like it (though would really like to try that again, get that in rotation). And he still likes the Ella's kitchen or Plum Baby organic fruit or fruit/veg pouches - he often has at least one a day. For "juice" I blend up fruit with apple juice and water and he drinks that.
He USED to eat (but now refuses): strawberries, blueberries, grapes, apple slices, bananas (recently out - only as of 2-3 weeks ago), homemade granola bars, broccoli potato pancakes, scrambled eggs (with cheese and sometimes spinach), homemade meat patties (beef or turkey), meatballs and vegetable lasagna, as well as bites of chicken marsala and the like from my spoon.
Some other things
- He's not filling up too much on milk - only drinks about 12 ounces a day plus usually has one 4-ounce yogurt
- He's allergic to/intolerant of the gourd family (squash, melons, etc), as well as pineapple and coconut
Any ideas on how to move forward here? I've tried offering small amounts of new things or previously accepted things along with his favorites - but he will either ignore the new/previous thing, smush it or at most feel it and then drop it. Even if he skips a meal and is super hungry he won't try those things... TIA!