Support thread for moms of picky eaters

[Mom to M&M]

Having a particular rough time here lately. DD just got two more teeth and is working on others (eye teeth and molars) so meals are even harder. I can spoon feed her with distractions (letting her play with a small toy or the jar or a lid or something) sometimes but not always and she's barely doing finger/table foods - and those are with distractions too. I just really hope the slide down further is from teeting and nothing else and turns around soon.

[binxyboo]

Thank you, Debinoz. I realise that it's my job to prepare nutritious, healthful food and present it regularly to lo, and that it is up to him to eat as much or as little as he wants, but it's stressful day after day to see him eat next to nothing. I will try my best to let go of the guilt.

Thanks again, Michelle

[Katet]

Thank you, Debinoz. I realise that it's my job to prepare nutritious, healthful food and present it regularly to lo, and that it is up to him to eat as much or as little as he wants, but it's stressful day after day to see him eat next to nothing. I will try my best to let go of the guilt.

Thanks again, Michelle

Michelle, I have let go of the guilt with ds2... & he generally eats pretty well... he is also BIG (about same height, but a bit less weight than your lo) BUT he goes through times where he eats like a sparrow.
but I fear I left the lettting go of control too late with ds1, he learnt (from teenage d-step-d) that there is a place called McDonalds & things like "chocolate" & would eat all that & I became guilty of the "better to eat something & not have him wake" (he wasn't a good sleeper) Anyway now he is 3, we are slowly getting on track as I have explained "one sugar food/day" & "only hot chips on "S's weekend & after Library time"  & he asks sometimes if things are "sugar foods"  But we still only have about 1-2 things from each food group he eats & Bread & jam/vegemite, weetbix/cornflakes, apples & bananas, mash potato (with corgette hidden in it) & meat (in most forms)  get served up pretty much day after day,meal after meal with milk, yogurt, & custard & sometimes cheese.

[Sylvia.]

dd1 is so fussy, very small eater, never let me feed her from forever, i hope the day would come, and guess what it did, she spooned meat into her mouth and she let me feed her again, there is hope, now if only she will eat broccoli

[Meg's Mom]

i pulled this from another thread...very interesting to see in black and white:
I think you'll feel much better if you read "Touchpoints," by Dr. Terri Brazelton. I bought it this week and it helped relieve a lot of stress. He writes about picky eaters and offers minimum daily requirements when you think your baby isn't getting enough nutrition. Here is brief sketch of the minimum RDAs:

1. Whole/Breast Milk - 16 oz
2. Protein - 3 oz (Hamburger, eggs, beans)
3. Iron - Usually in meat or or beans
4. Orange Juice - 1 oz OR a few bite sized pieces of fruit
5. 1/2 slice whole grain bread
6. 1/2 cup whole grain cereal
7. Cooked green vegetables - whatever they will eat, usually green beans

Brazelton explains that a toddler's diet must not be assessed in a 24 hour period, but rather a weekly average, since eating habits change so frequently. I recommend keeping track of what your lo is eating over a week or so. You just may find that on average, it's quite close to the RDAs, which, according to Brazelton, are just fine for sustaining your toddlers growth and development.

[binxyboo]

I have also been rereading the portion size on the site and feel so much better. I have printed it out and put it on my fridge. pp is great too

[Mom to M&M]

So today Marisa has only had 7 ounces of milk, 3 ounces of water, 3 small bites of whole grain English muffin, a few Just Bananas and 4 small bites of grilled cheese. And a few pieces of veggie booty. And it's past lunch and she's sleeping. I did speak with the doctor and we're bringing her in tomorrow morning just to get a weight check and rule out anything physical.

[Lucysmom]

Michelle - Thanks for that information.  I think I will have to get that book.  Sounds very interesting and informative.

Karen - Sorry things are not going so well in the eating department with Marisa.  That is good you have an appt for tomorrow just to check things out.  Is she acting ok otherwise?  Perhaps this is all teething related.     I swear the day Lucy has all of her teeth I will spend the entire day doing a happy dance.  But let us know what you find out tomorrow.  {{{HUGS}}}

Lucy is eating but only a few things.  So it is the same old story here.   

[Mom to M&M]

Thanks Melissa - I really hope it's just teething too. That's definitely not helping matters at the minimum. She woke screaming from her nap after 2 hr 10 min - finally calmed down but cried in high chair and booster. After refusing almost everything she finally had some milk and Just Bananas sitting on floor. We'll see how dinner goes.

[Melsy]

Can i ask you fellow mum's of picky eaters some questions please??  I would love to hear from you guys your advice!  DS has just turned 2 and soooooooo incredibly fussy it is driving me up the wall!  Anyway, my questions are:

* What do you guys do when you have offered your dc a snack and they are wanting something else instead of what you offered?  Example: I offered fruit to ds for snack this arvo.  I offered banana and rockmelon.  Bananas are a favourite and rockmelon he used to eat but hasn't for a while.  He went to the cupboard wanting crackers or fruit bars or whatever and when I said no he had a fit (as toddlers do) and started trashing the room.  Anything within reach was thrown on the floor.  I tried to restrain him and say "we do not  throw things" etc and try and get him to sit and calm down which he eventually did.  After 1/2 hour or so, he ate 2 banana's.  So I guess I won, he ate the fruit (well some of it) and didn't get the crackers (which he had had earlier in the day) but I got hit and head butted and my living room got trashed.  Is this the right approach???

* What do you guys do with an EXTREMLY active toddler who barely stops running around to eat, let alone wanting to sit at the table for meals?  He seems to eat better when not confined at the table in his booster seat but obviously mummy would prefer meals and snacks to be eaten at the table.

* For a non veggie eater - am I making things worse if I start baking carrot muffins etc to try and get SOME veggies into him??  Aren't I basicaaly giving in to his sweet tooth?

*  I got a product from the chemist (after a recommendation from a friend) called Incremin which is basically an iron suppliement and B vitamins but it apparently is supposed to increase appetitie.  She swore it worked for her.  Anyone used it or something similar and did it work??  It is cherry flavoured but I can't seem to get my lo to swallow any of it and I end up wearing most of it. 

*  Any tips for getting ds to eat something besides Vegemite on his toast and sandwiches??  I am grateful that he at least eats that, but would love to get him eating peanut butter or honey or jam or cheese spread but he rejects it always.  I try to give him some of my toast with other spreads but he doesn't ever want it. 

Ok, I think that's enough questions for now!

Melissa.

[Katet]

Melissa & anyone else... I work on this theory.
At age 4 my Mum tells me I ate, apples, bananas, custard, bread & cheese & mashed potato & sometimes eggs. EVERY family member tells me I was the fussiest eater out. My mother Always put a food I would eat & a new one on my plate & I gradually started eating more.

As a teenager, I went on a school camp & "won" a reward for "trying new food"... by the time I was a teenager I pretty much would eat most things(tried snails at 15yo), the one or 2 things I don't eat now are foods that give me an upset tummy. Oh & even though I would eat other sandwich fillings, I have for most of my life had Cheese sandwiches all through school years & my work career & still do 4-5 times a week. I just prefer them. So why do they have to have variety

If my boys want crackers when I offer fruit, I usually give a few, but still offer the fruit... yep I go through lots of cracker, but I also go through lots of Apples & bananas
I guess for me I have learnt to look at it not as one meal or day, but as a week & yes today Aiden ate really badly, in part due to it being disrupted, but also because the rubbish food was available.

[Deb_in_oz]

Melissa - lost my entire post just as about to submit it  so will have to do a shorter version now...

1. i offer fruit with/after every meal figuring with so many opportunities they will get some in every day so when it comes to snacking it is usually a mixture of crackers (LOTS), biscuits (low sugar) and fruit. whichever they prefer i go with and just cut them off if the cracker intake will interfere with next meal.

2.Liv is extremely active and loves to graze on the run... I do put her at the table for all meals (we also eat picnic style in the garden or playgrounds for lunch semi-regularly) and when she insists on getting down i dont let her take food with her, but when she realizes she is still hungry i will put fruit pieces in a bowl or cereal and raisins and let her eat them in the living area

3. go for it. i just make sure the sugar is at its lowest possible so it is not a real "sweet" but rather a "sweetened" food.  Dh makes an awesome sweet potato and raisin loaf that both girls love and neither will eat sweet potatoes as a "vegetable". zucchini muffins are also good.  I tried to do a veggie and cheese muffin and it went down like a ton of bricks so i guess true savoury ones don't go down well here 

4. woudl not do anything to mess with their appetite unless doctor ordered.  Kids are well known self-regulators. it is very rare for a child to over or under eat when truly allowed to follow his own appetite when presented with varied and nutritious foods.  some kids truly have a low appetite but are otherwise healthy and have energy etc so unless they are found to be vitamin defiicient or calorically suffering I woudl trust that over 3-4 days they are getting enough (never look at a straight 24 hour period)

5. i have limited success with sandwiches and spreads. the only ones liv will eat are toast/bread with margerine or occasionally cream cheese. she rejects jam, peanut butter, vegemite (except a rare moment), avocado, hummos... I just say to continue to offer regularly and let him see you eating the things you want him to try - he may just want to be like mom.  From being desperate to belike big sister Liv has at least tried cheese, ham and peanut butter (stolen off sister's plate) but spits out most things she steals  but after several tries of sister's ham she will now eat a few bites sometimes so i don't get too upset when she wants to try something off our plates and will eat foods around her and offer her tastes... with my fingers crossed.

hope some of that helps
Deb 

[Sabine]

Hi I am semi new to this thread so any help would be greatly appreciated....;my lo is 16 mo old and about a month ago we went through vaccines, teething and illness.  He is now semi back on track.  He has all teeth including one year molars but is very very picky!!!

He used to let me help hiim feed supper but now only wants to self feed (fine by me!) but can't really use the spoon or fork yet.  He uses the spoon for yoghurt and applesauces but that's it.  Everything else he wants to self feed.

This is his typical menu for the day:

Breakfast: 8oz milk and 1/2-3/4 Eggo multigrain waffle or Nutrios or Weetabix dry cereal with 1/2 banana and MiniGo yoghourt

Snack: 1 small box of raisins and Nutrios with water

Lunch: 1/2 piece of light rye toast (not too crazy about bread) sometimes only has a few small pieces
slice of lunch meat (turkey, ham) or scrambled egg
apple pieces
water

Snack:  cheddar crackers or breadstick, freeze dried corn, apples/bananas
milk 4oz

Supper:  (always the same) chicken fingers (home made) with homemade pita crisps or few pieces of potato
few peas, Mini GO , applesauce and Arrowroot

SnacK: before bed Mum Mum or Nutrios

I have tried different fruits--strawberries, melon, grapes he hates the texture and pushes them around on the tray.  I have tried to feed them to him but he spits them out.  Same for veggies.  I am really at a loss for what to do.  At play group, snacks are healthy fruits with water but he won't eat them.  Any suggestions?? WIll this get better or am I stuck with a picky eater forever?? I really don'/t want to get in the habit of making extra food for hm and when he is old enough to really understand I won't but I need to get past this...please help

Sabine

[Zoey]

lurking

[Katet]

Sabine, quantity wise I think he is eating pretty well... I know that you want more variety, but toddlers do tend to have "fads' & quite happily eat the same thing over & over... I keep offering 1 new food with a bunch of old food to my 17mo & he gradually trys the new things. It can take up to 20 attempts with some children before they attempt new foods
I do think if he can self feed with a spoon for yogurt & apple sauce, then try other things, let him make a mess & grab it with his fingers it helps with the learning process... they get neater as they get older. just keep offering variety & not making a big deal out of it.