when is he going to eat better????

[lin7604]

when my ds was 12-14.5 months he ate great.  He tried alomost everything that was given to him, sine then ( now he is 18 months) he has gottten super picky!  He only will eat yougart, toast only with butter, soup ( ckn with rice, ckn noodle or connsume with rice), applesause of any flavor and fruit except melons and fish crackers.  He used to even eat chili, tacos, lasagna, cannollini, ckn finger, fries, fish sticks, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, corn but won't touch any of them now.  sometimes i can get him to put it in his mouth only for him to give us that discusted look, pull it out and wipe off his tounge!  I don't get it, why is it getting worse by the day???  i figured it was a short pahse but it's been goin on for months now.....  I still intoroduce new things and familiar ones and ones he used to eat weekely but he freaks when i ask him to try a bite.  is it just a phase, when wil it end?  if not how do i get him back into eating those foods he used to love?
today he only ate a small bowl of rice krispies for breakfast, i slice of bread with nutella on it for lunch and a slice of garlic toast for dinner with 2 spoonfuls of cottage cheese. that's it, and that is the way his days go now?  i offered bananas, no go, pineapple, no go, lasagna, no go, and a waffle today, no go.

[anniedooday]

I feel for you. I have a 19 mo old and 3.5 yr both girls some time I wonder how they grow. My 3yr dd ude to eat whatever was put in front of her( granted it was pretty limited, she was allergic to milk from 11mo to age 3) she is slowly learning to like new foods again but the lil one, one day she might gobble down something and I think YEAH!! then the next day she won't touch it. The first real food she ever ate was frozen meatballs the only thing she would eat for weeks then it was mac-n-hot dogsforever. and now everything is just touch and go. I feel bad giving them thigs like hdogs and chknuggets but some times it is the only way I can get protein in them especially the youngest. at least I can reason with my 3yr old and bribe her to eat her veggies. I saw on someone else's post that she gives her kids a smoothie before bedtime w/ some protien powder and vitamins I am thinking of looking into that. good luck p.s. my 19 mo I think thinks food is for a scalp massage not nourishment.

[lilmonkey]

It will get better.  DD has phases like this all the time.  My niece was such a picky eater for the longest time, even her dr was concern about the lack of variety in her food.  But now at 8 yo, she eats like a horse.  My brother and sil have to limit her intake as they are concern about her being overweight.  As parents, we will forever be concern about their eating and sleeping habits

[lin7604]

true very true, but it's hard when you are out and about, as no mattter what i get him he won't eat it!  so then he can't go all day with out eating!!!  plus he gets very whiney and cranky and there is nothing like have a hungry cranky baby in a store!!! i feel for parents i saw with difficult kids in the past as i had no idea mine would be like that too.   I usually pack a few snacks in the bag but yougart won't stay cool enough, and i'm not bringing a seperate bag with a ice pack as his back pack is heavy and inconvienent enough.  so then he lives ff nutragrain bars, aninmal crackers or fish crackers and apple sauce!  no variety in those packaged goods that are convienent and then it doesn't get him out of that rut either....

[Deb_in_oz]

i feel for you - mine have each gone through phases - and dd1 at 4 1/2 is just starting to try new foods again (although nothing can be mixed and she refuses all fruit and veg. hers started at 3+yo).

what i do when we are out though is i always pack food for Alex when we go to other people's houses or a restaurant etc - i throw in a PB sandwich, some yogurt and perhaps a snack. i might pack some food for Liv too depending on where we are going. we went to a party yesterday afternoon and evening and Alex only touched potato chips from the food laden table so then had her sandwich.  Liv had a sausage, some calamari rings, some olives (i brought for her - one of her faves) and bread - and she was my original picky eater.

when we are out and about most days for snack and lunch time i juts bring a lunch box (fabric not hard) with a slim ice brick and i find it keeps everything cold enough for the few hours - i pack yogurt at least half the time and it is always fine.

i give them 90% of foods i already know they will eat and then add in one item that i know they are likely to reject but keep offering and sometimes i get lucky. in Alex's case that is fruit and veg. in Liv's case it is new vegetables and trying to get her to have pasta with sauce instead of copying her sister. and eating the newish food with them has been somewhat successful. i decided to snack on carrot sticks and hummos at their dinner time recently and Liv decided to dip her carrot sticks in too (neither would eat carrot sticks previously) and Liv discovered she loves both carrot sticks AND hummos. 1-2 weeks later when i put carrot sticks with their dinner again she asked for hummos and i almost fell off my seat (i did not think she would even remember since i had forgotten) and now we have a new food combo that is healthy and portable! so maybe try picking one food a meal to add in with the things like garlic bread and cottage cheese and just leave it to lo to try or not. they say it takes at least 10-15 offerings for some kids to try or accept something.i have never stuck with things long enough to see it through cause i just get frustrated - but if you are more patient you may have success.

honestly though i would say 18mo - 2 yrs is a big turning point with kids asserting their independence and some go through it swiftly and others take longer to get back to broader eating habits. the biggest thing though is not to create battles or make a big deal of it.  i just breathe and walk away if necessary if i get frustrated that no one wants to try what i made LOL and i don't go to as much trouble now but limit fish stick consumption to twice a week if i can (Alex would have them for dinner every night otherwise)

[lin7604]

thank you very helpful!  i try dip all the time and no luck do far either, today i made 2 kids of soup as he loves soup so much but he refused both of them!  He ate pretty well today but it was all carbs pretty much.  he ate 3 banana muffins, strawberries, goldfish crackers,2 mini go yougarts and a small bowl of cereal.  i'm happy with the amount he ate but then we again go back to the same foods!!!!  i tries a new soup at lunch ( beef barley) he ate it once with grandpa but not today, he ate a spoonful and then stuck his toung out and took it all out of his mouth!  Cream of mushroom was the other one and he has had that several times and once again 3rd time in a row he has refused it?  I hope this phase will end soon or when he goes to daycare in the fall he will be one hungry cranky boy all day not eating their snacks!  plus the only sandwich he will eat is a nutella one and he can't bring that to daycare ( no nut policy).

[Deb_in_oz]

sounds exactly like a day of alex's food and she is at preschool now with a no nut policy too (she could live on peanut butter).  to be honest though your day has good variety not all carbs - alex won't eat any fruit that is not in  muffin or pancake so your strawberries have me jealous (my other lo will eat fruit all day long if i let her).

you said he ate the soup with grandpa - were you eating it too today or just ds? just wondering if it is a case of him eating what others eat etc - in which case you may find at daycare he will just eat what the other kids have.

we never had luck with dipping either - liv will sometimes dip french fries in ketchup but apart from that neither of my kids fell for the dip your veggies in dressing or cheese sauce etc.  LOL

[lin7604]

ya i was too, even at dinner we made cream of mushroom adn grandma and I were both eating it, i even put his cracker he loves so much into it but NO GO!  i just don't get it.  I can't get any veggies in him unless i make muffins with it and have if finely shredded.  Then he seems to be eating muffins daily!  i just don't get the no chicken finger now??? so now i can't get any protien in him unless he has his hazelnut spread on bread.....

[Deb_in_oz]

protein sources i use - yogurt (find the best yogurt he will accept - my 2 eat a no sugar added, all natural one that is thick and creamy - Jalna brand), eggs (only alex eats these and only sometimes), sausages from a good butcher (less or no "fillers"), chickpeas - alex likes the roasted ones and liv will eat fresh from the tin or hummos, try tuna in water from a tin, cheese (the girls both eat grilled cheese or shredded mozerella cheese, but in her past life LOL alex was a no cheese eater who at 18 mo discovered strong cheeses and used to eat blue cheese or brie on crackers (not now though)), used to both love roasted chicken but after rejecting it the last 5 or 6 times i have shelved it for now 

sometimes it is textural issues sometimes flavour etc.  my kids have never once accepted a chicken nugget, mashed potatoes or soup and i think those 3 are good examples of textures and flavours that some kids do not like or start rejecting when they feel more in control and able to say no.

[lin7604]

my son won't eat any of what you mentioned!!!  he will not touch any of it at all.  ( except yougart any kind any flavor)  I try all kids of cheese, slices, shaped cheddar, mozza cubes, sliced.  cheese strings, cheese whiz, you name it, no go!  He is allergic to eggs so no going there!  i have no clue what to do?  maybe put a protien powder into a smoothey?

[Lissybits]

Just a thought, but, could you invite a little friend/friends of DS's round for lunch/tea on a regular basis so DS could see and hopefully copy?

This worked for a friend of mine whose son ate next to nothing!
Lis
xx

[lin7604]

i don't know of any other ones his age they are are older, in school.   We didi have company the other day and they have a 14 month old but we see them once a year pretty much!  He did eat not so bad at dinner, she didn't eat well but my son decided that he would eat her smiley face potatoes and strawberries as i guess hers tased better then his??  he still wouldn't touch the chicken fingers though.   it's a good idea, but i guess i wil have to wait till the fall when he starts daycare and hope then it gets way better....

[Lissybits]

I bet you see a big improvement when he starts daycare and eats with all the other kids!
Until then - keep trying and patience, patience, patience!! Sometimes I wonder where I find mine from!!
Hugs,
Lis
xx

[lin7604]

thanks!  i hope i do too see a differnce come fall time.  i just don't see how one thing can be so yummy one day and so repulsive the next??? it baffles me.  i guess he is gettin genough though, he is still a solid monster but it's certain vitamins or protien that i will haev to see what his dr says wether or not i need to give a vitamin drop or something until he eats better.

[lin7604]

today was a good day for eating!! YAH... i hope it continues.  he ate a small bowl of special K with the strawberries for breakfast, for lunch he ate a whole piece of bread (RYE yet!!!, never before) with nutella on it, he TRIED  ( as i was having a salad for lunch) a baby carrot, but wouldn't eat it and a sugar snap pea, wouldn't eat it either but he put it in his mouth and attempted.  He also took a small bite of a mushroom but then wouldn't eat that either.  He ate strawberries and a few pieces of pineapple.  Then dinner he ate a few fries ( i fried them instead of in the oven and Viola he ate a bunch!  i also gave him a 3 smiley faces, he ate 2 and a bunch of strawberries.  No meat, or dairy besides milk, no actual veggies but i was impressed at the amount he did eat when he ate.  hopefully he is getting out of his phase and will keep attempting to try new things...... hope i didn't jink it or that it was a one day spell.