Finicky children

AHHHHHHHH! Anyone else have a finicky child? If so how have you gotten them to try new things? I am at my wit's end.

We have tried:
taking him to the store to choose what he might like
Going through cookbooks
going through the net
forced watching of the food network

Forcing does not work. He will just skip eating. He does this at friends' houses as well. We recently found out that after spending a couple nights with a friend he chose to eat only one meal out of 6. The family does not allow junk food so he was not eating at all.

If I let him get away with it he would only eat plain noodles, plain rice, ramen (the 25 cent kind), plain potatoes, cheddar cheese and strawberries. Anyone else see a trend?

Any thoughts?

Since carbs seem to be in you might try a variety of pasta dishes/sauces. It's easy to sneak veggies into pasta sauce, even Alfredo can be made reasonable healthy.

sub vet said:

Since carbs seem to be in you might try a variety of pasta dishes/sauces. It's easy to sneak veggies into pasta sauce, even Alfredo can be made reasonable healthy.

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We do this. Spinach, kale, carrots pureed into spaghetti sauce.

I was bad as a kid with being finicky but my children are a little better. It's tough, I know.

It's been a whole bunch of years since I was a kid but I DO remember the Food Wars my parents and grandmother and I waged over the dinner table in Tucson.
I refused to eat tomatoes.. They tried salt, sugar everything they could think of to get me to eat them including not leaving the table until I did eat them. If they hadn't given up, I'd still be sitting there with my lower lip pouted out.

I also refused sour cream in my stroganoff, asparagus and brussel sprouts.

I lived. Now I eat tomatoes, sour cream in all forms and dishes, and asparagus. (note the oxford comma, [MENTION=93173]dangerousdon[/MENTION]).

Kids grow out of these food foolishnesses..

IMHO.. let him eat what he wants until he's tired of it.

BTW.. I STILL refuse to eat Brussel Sprouts. They make me gag...

natenaaron said:

AHHHHHHHH! Anyone else have a finicky child? If so how have you gotten them to try new things? I am at my wit's end.

He does this at friends' houses as well. We recently found out that after spending a couple nights with a friend he chose to eat only one meal out of 6. The family does not allow junk food so he was not eating at all.

Anyone else see a trend?

Any thoughts?

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Does he have junk food available at home?

dave

How old is he? Our 4-year-old has a lifelong disdain for anything that isn't noodle or chicken nugget based, but we manage to sneak in fruits and vegetables in various sneaky ways. She's still growing and healthy, so we make sure to limit the fatty/fried stuff and then let her load up on calories with whole grain pastas, the one or two vegetables she'll accept, baked-not-fried chicked products, stuff like that, and a good multivitamin every day. Not much we can do otherwise, WWIII would be less destructive than trying to confront her head on

YKMV said:

IMHO.. let him eat what he wants until he's tired of it.

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I tend to agree with this ...

We're in a unique position ... our soon to be eight year old has a diet similar to the OP, though she does eat vegetables at times. She needs, however, to put on weight ... she's very tall and lean and on a medication that affects her appetite and has a high metabolism. So we tend to let her eat whatever she wants, and as much as she wants. It can be frustrating at times, but I'm a firm believer of pick your battles.

She's healthy ... but lacks variety in her diet.

It is what it is.

Kids will outgrow it

Oh, I forgot to mention, my younger son (age 26).. He won't eat anything that is not Organic......

He constantly pesters me about eating butter, frozen pizza, non-skim milk.....

When he isn't destroying the kitchen he goes out to eat.....and bring the wrappers home.

Our two year old is a pretty picky eater, and I am by no means an expert. But my wife and I are under assumption that if he is hungry he will eat. We don't have cookies, chips, soda, etc in the house. Right now he is really liking pears and apples. So that's a win. He also enjoys tortillas we aren't really worried about that. When it comes to meat if we tell him it is chicken he will eat it.

The big thing that we do and I know my parents didn't do with me, is that we always sit at the table as a family. We eat together without distractions. No tv and no phones. Just good ole family talk. He sees us eating the meal and enjoying he then he tends to as well.

But I will be honest there have been plenty of days where the fight isn't worth it so for dinner he either eats cereal, pancakes, or yogurt.

jjking54 said:

... she's very tall and lean and on a medication that affects her appetite and has a high metabolism.

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I'll need the name of that med.

cvargo said:

Our two year old is a pretty picky eater, and I am by no means an expert. But my wife and I are under assumption that if he is hungry he will eat. We don't have cookies, chips, soda, etc in the house. Right now he is really liking pears and apples. So that's a win. He also enjoys tortillas we aren't really worried about that. When it comes to meat if we tell him it is chicken he will eat it.

The big thing that we do and I know my parents didn't do with me, is that we always sit at the table as a family. We eat together without distractions. No tv and no phones. Just good ole family talk. He sees us eating the meal and enjoying he then he tends to as well.

But I will be honest there have been plenty of days where the fight isn't worth it so for dinner he either eats cereal, pancakes, or yogurt.

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+1
kids can survive on surprisingly little food at times (so says Dr. Spock). my kids are all grown, but we didn't force them to eat, but we also did not allow a lot of alternatives. You don't want dinner? Fine. I'll leave the plate here in case you change your mind.

I ate what my dad made. If I didn't, I didn't eat at all. I was stubborn, but he was moreso.

danbuter said:

I ate what my dad made. If I didn't, I didn't eat at all. I was stubborn, but he was moreso.

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this


...this reminds me of the movie A River Runs Though It and the dinner table scene.

How old is your child? At certain ages, they just will not try any new food (I believe its around 2-3). If its becoming really bothersome, you might want to consult with a pediatric nutritionist. We did that with our girls (7 and 5) and its been great. For one thing, they really listened to the nutritionist and were enthusiastic about some of the ideas (eating a rainbow, making sure that everything is proportional, trying a new food 20 times, etc.) after the meeting. For another, it was good training for us. We learned to make sure that trying new foods should be a fun experience for everyone and to give us the confidence to only serve what we would like them to eat. The common refrain was that as parents, you control when they eat and what they eat. The child only needs to make the decision whether to eat. This can be very hard as parents to accept since we're so hard-wired to keep our children well-fed, but its especially important to stay strong and not back off (i.e. giving them Cheerios if they don't eat what was prepared, or giving them more pasta even though they haven't touched their vegetables). And we let them have "cheat days" like pizza and ice cream on Fridays for instance.

Our kids are still very picky but they haven't been as bad about eating as they were prior to meeting with the nutritionist. Its been a lot of work for us to make sure we always have vegetables and new types of food to try on the table daily, but I've noticed our girls making progress even if incrementally.

DoctorShavegood said:

I'll need the name of that med.

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My parents had a fairly simple method for breaking my habit of being finicky: I would have a range of choices as to what I eat from a pre-selected lineup, but I had to pick something and eat it. If I didn't, fine...it would be served to me again at the next meal, and if needs be the next one after that, ad infinitum. I think their logic was that hunger would win out eventually, and it did every time. I still have an aversion to most cheese based foods, onions, and peppers.

If we went out to eat, another rule was in effect: order whatever you want, but whatever you don't eat, you pay for. It was remarkably effective after two weeks' allowance went into a half eaten turkey dinner and a few subsequent stomachaches after piling it in to prevent the aforementioned allowance drainage. It taught me fiscal and gastrointestinal planning and responsibility. Later in life, I learned why that rule went into effect: some years ago, they went out to eat with my cousins and watched as their two daughters proceeded to order 'the whole left side of the menu' and refuse to eat most of it because they were 'watching their figures'. The only figure that didn't seem to concern them was the one at the bottom of the tab when it came out.

Staring into an iPhone or iPad all day doesn't make for an appetite. Send them out to play with a ball, make up yard games like Red Rover, get the bean-bag toss game, play crochet, get the garden hose out, walk the dog or toss a Nerf ball. I was so hungry after coming in after playing hard I could have ate my dad's bench grinder with a smile and want more.

My daughter was very picky. Advice from the Pediatrician? "She won't starve herself." The doc wasn't wrong.

Do what you can - sneak in hidden veg, try smoothies, yogurt drinks, etc. If your boy likes pasta -- would he try zucchini strings? Once covered with sauce he might not mind.....

But don't make a battle out of it or he'll shut down on particular foods you make an issue with. My daughter will never, ever eat keilbasa because I decided to take a stand one time when she was about 6 -- I figured she liked hot dogs.... but then it escalated.
(Heck, my wife only recently started eating scrambled, fried, boiled, etc., eggs (she's 50yo) because her mother made her and her brother sit at the table for 2 hours to finish their scrambled eggs once when my wife was about 4.)

Also.... Ketchup covers everything, and you can hide a lot underneath it as long as the texture isn't too noticeable.

DoctorShavegood said:

Staring into an iPhone or iPad all day doesn't make for an appetite. Send them out to play with a ball, make up yard games like Red Rover, get the bean-bag toss game, play crochet, get the garden hose out, walk the dog or toss a Nerf ball. I was so hungry after coming in after playing hard I could have ate my dad's bench grinder with a smile and want more.

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Aforementioned daughter has day camp this week, and soccer on Tuesday/Thursday ... she's eating well and SLEEPING well this week