Support thread for moms of picky eaters

[Mom to M&M]

Marisa still has about one jar of baby food a day - Earth's Best fruit puree mixed with her oatmeal at breakfast (she's 18 months). Rest of the day she has "real food". I could easily use Mott's applesauce instead but she seems to like this (and often has part of a bagel or waffle afterward) so why mess with it? But your case sounds different since you are saying that is all he eats...

[lil mamma]

 ok now i don't feel quite so bad that i don't feel like i'm doing something wrong. yeah he nows how to chew hard food and mashed. he just prefurs jared baby food.

[binxyboo]

Riley is 18 months, and I would say most days he still has one jar of fruit. It's just quick and easy sometimes, when he is in one of his fussy eating moods. Kind of rounds things out.

[reets]

HI there
I feel pretty challenged by my 2 /12 yr old these days, he went from eating any kind of fruit, and the odd veggie,(once he went solid on those it was tricky) but now he'll rotate the fruits and now he wont hardly touch spaghetti, or pizza or soup, or mashed potatoes, then the other nite he woouldnt eat them baked, when he always liked these things before! AAARRGGG! The one thing he always eats CHEESE! But I dont want him to live off the stuff! He just strted to eat bananas again, finally! He loves breads, and pancakes, but again, I dont want him to live off the stuff. I make alot of smoothies, but then I dont want to offer too much fruit after incased he gets a tummy ache, but he wouldnt eat the same fruits in a bowl, but in a smoothie ah yeah!Anyways...hearing you out there!

[Meg's Mom]

Hi there, I haven't been around in LONG time i know.  I missed you ALL!  I wanted to see how you all were doing.  I am reading an awesome book about picky eaters - i can't tell you how often she describes Megan.  It has tons of great info.  I have taken about 2 pages of notes...if anyone is interested i can type up the short version.

I wish i read this book when Megan was 1yr.

It's called: "just two more bites" By Linda Piette.  She gives good info on WHY they are picky (in some cases it is related to gross motor delays, speech delays or sensory intergration disorder (Megan has the last 2), tips on how to help, when to seek help and what NOT to do (been doing lots of those), also a good chart for how their food textures should progress.

Megan is doing so much better w/ her eating, we even have a menu now!  This is not from the book as i just got it, but mainly due to her speech and ot theraphy.   Yip, we have real meals to choose from. 

Big hugs!
Michelle

[Meg's Mom]

lil momma, megan wouldn't eat anything but jar veg until well after 18 months!

[Jenn©]

Thanks Michelle!!  Must look for it soon.  Our new weirdness is that if we go out to a buffet style place, she eats a decent amount.   Someplace where you order and wait a bit, barely anything.  Except a pizza place.      Anyone have any insight there?

[Mom to M&M]

Michelle - so good to see you and so good to hear that Meg is doing well! Would love to hear more about that book, although DD has been eating MUCH better for a little while now (doing anti-jinx dance).

Funny, Marisa doesn't do too well with buffets or too many choices - seems to overwhelm her. But also maybe she doesn't like to wait and she gets frustrated and annoyed?

[Lucysmom]

Michele -

Thanks for sharing the name of that book.  Sounds really interesting.  I will order it I think.

Can you tell me about your menu?  I am envious!  And what are her main obstacles in terms of sensory issues?  Are certain textures difficult for her or is it something else?

Congratulations on your progress and thanks for sharing information with everyone!

[UNCMomma]

Would LOVE to hear about your menu, Michelle!!    Glad things are going so well!! 

[binxyboo]

Our new weirdness is that if we go out to a buffet style place, she eats a decent amount.   Someplace where you order and wait a bit, barely anything.  Except a pizza place.      Anyone have any insight there?

I have read somewhere before, that people in general tend to chose their portion size in relation to what's available. Say, for example, if you were having lunch with a friend, and she put five cookies on a plate for you to share with her, you would probably take two, but if she put the whole packet out, you would possibly eat a lot more. I am pretty sure it was in a diet book I read this. Then also, with variety, there is less chance you can max out on a certain food, eg for breakfast, you may eat eggs, toast, bacon and sausage. But if you were to eat the same volume/calorie count of just one of those foods, eg all eggs, you would stop eating much sooner as there is only so much of one food you can take at a time. Unless it's chocolate or icecream

Looks like Marisa has turned a corner!

[Mydreamcametrue]

Meg's Mom, Michelle: 

Can you please share a little more info about the book.  My son is picky AND does not eat a lot.  I would fine if he was just a picky eater, but he does not even eat that much.

I am wondering if this book would help us.

thanks, Wendy

[Hannah1306]

Hello,
My name is Jill and I have a daughter Hannah who is 14 months old, and she is a picky eater.  (That felt a little like an AA introduction )  I wanted to introduce myself, because I think that I might become a frequent visitor to this thread. 

I am glad to read that a few of you with babes of similar age are still feeding jarred foods.  I sometimes feel that I will be feeding jarred foods to my 30 year old at the rate we're going.  Hannah will eat a few finger foods just fine, but the only way she will eat meat or veggies is pureed.

The real reason I am posting right now though is to find out if any of you have heard/found that certain antibiotics can change the taste of food.  We are currently on a cycle of Augmentin (which she ABSOLUTELY HATES!!!!!).  Last week before we started the Augmentin she was eating like a champ (for her anyway).  She picked up a couple of new foods and would eat a couple of old ones she had given up, and couldn't seem to get enough to eat.  I am pretty sure it was related to a growth spurt.  But this week she has gotten rid of all the new foods and a few of the old ones and she doesn't seem interested in food in general.  She is quite small for her age (20th percentile for height and 3rd (maybe) for weight).  Normally the amounts she eats seems to be pretty reasonable, but she only eats about 6 different things (most of them dairy).  Her size and picky eating habits seem to be somewhat hereditary.

ANYWAY....  I was just wondering if any of you have ever heard of the antibiotic thing?

Thanks for any info you can provide!

Jill

[Jenn©]

Not only heard of it, btdt myself.  The only thing is that once the med stops, the icky taste in you mouth stops too.  No other advice other than hang in there.   
My latest creation: I REALLY did not want to add chocolate/strawberry syrup to Charlie's milk tonight.  So I tried a thing of raspberry applesauce.  Fruit flavored milk that also has some nutritional value added.       And she liked it! 

[Mydreamcametrue]

Uhhh  sorry I am pregnant and the thought of adding applesauce to milk...  BUT.. hey they like weird stuff sometimes. 

My Ped. said it was perfectly okay though to add chocolate or strawberry flavor to milk (if that was the only way they would drink it).