Mayo Clinic has a 10 tips for picky eaters list, lets all go over that together:
1. Respect your child's appetite — or lack of one
Young children tend to eat only when they're hungry. If your child isn't hungry, don't force a meal or snack. Likewise, don't bribe or force your child to clean his or her plate. This may only ignite — or reinforce — a power struggle over food.
Here is the problem, how long do I have to respect this, 2 years, 3 years? Good eating habits have to start somewhere
2. Stick to the routine
Serve meals and snacks at about the same times every day. Nix juice, milk and snacks for at least one hour before meals. If your child comes to the table hungry, he or she may be more motivated to eat.
Routine, yes, for the most part meals are at the same time each day unless we have sports practice, music lessons, church and so on.... he comes to the table hungry and still won't try what I serve him
3. Be patient with new foods
Description was long, but yes I know it takes a whole bunch of tries before your child will try and/or like a new food.... been there tried that....
4. Make it fun
Serve broccoli and other veggies with a favorite dip or sauce. Cut foods into various shapes with cookie cutters. Offer breakfast foods for dinner
I cut up sandwiches with sandwich cutters, I have made smiley faces out of fruit pieces, I have made water creatures out of hot dog pieces and noodles (don't ask) This does not fool ANYONE
5. Recruit your child's help
At the grocery store, ask your child to help you select fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods.
He loves to shop for fruits and veggies, we weigh them, bag them, cook them....seriously this kid will be a gourmet chef before he tries anything green. We grow a garden and he gets to choose the seeds, he plants tomatoes, he waters them.... Yay its so much fun, and that's it
6. Set a good example
If you eat a variety of healthy foods, your child is more likely to follow suit.
I do I really, really do, I cook meals and eat veggies and he does not care what I eat. Let's just breeze through the last few here
7. Be sneaky
Yup he sees right through that
8. Minimize distractions
Sometimes this is the only way I can get him to try something is sneak it in his mouth when he is not looking
9. Don't offer dessert as a reward
Sure let me serve him cake for dinner....ok
10. Don't be a short order cook
Well heck, what else am I supposed to do?
Does anyone have any real solutions for me?
5 comments:
I say wait him out. Doesn't sound like it's a totally unbalanced diet. My Dr has told me repeatedly that they know how to listen to their bodies better than we do so let them be. It may be maddening but it WILL pass. They make chicken nugget lunchables so maybe there is a way to get him chicken nuggets in his lunch each day. I remember eating bologna everyday for over a year in school. It's all I would eat. Then I didn't eat it for like 3 years after I was sick of it.
My kids are super picky. The key really is to make it fun for them, but also about disguising the healthy foods with a little something sweet: "ants on a log" with celery, peanut butter and raisins. Fun pinwheels, with low-fat cream cheese, minced colorful bell peppers, cheese, etc. Yogurt with a little bit of candy in them (The YoCrunch kind with cookies/candies are good), etc. It's all about disguising something healthy! Have you tried that?
Thanks guys, Lisa I can't stand bologna and cannot imagine eating it for that long lol and Jenna, I have tried to disguise his food but he sees right through it all. It does not help that he doesn't like to dip anything and wont try ketchup or ranch or any sauce for that matter. I guess I will just have to hang in there til this phase passes.
I saw a medical show once where a kid was seriously ill and they couldn't figure out why until the parents said that he would only eat oatmeal, so just waiting them out doesn't really work.
My son, same age, is the same way, I tried all the Mayo Clinics suggestions plus others and I do agree with them but the only thing that has nade any real difference is to only have what I want him to eat available and only at specific times. Like today he wanted hot Instant Breakfast for breakfast, okay, no problem but that means he's had all the milk and sugar he needs for the day so if he wants a yogurt later then he has to eat veggies at lunch to balance it out, no matter what. I have explained to him how nutrition works as far as balancing what he eats and that one of my jobs as his mother is to help him be healthy and take care of his body and that I wouldn't be doing my job if I let him eat only junk. I have let him just go hungry, all day once, and usually the next while goes really smoothly after that. I don't make him eat anything he doesn't want to I just don't let him eat too much of anything either.
I was also surprised to find out how little he really needs to eat so I never push for more just a balanced amount of each thing. It's still a work in progress but we've come a long way from him only drinking milk and eating peanut butter and honey sandwiches.
Have you tried making V8-like popsicles? Watermelon and cucumbers with yogurt frozen into "dreamsicles"?
Make your own pizza and add more stuff into the sauce? If he eats pizza, he does eat veggies.
Vanilla yogurt with homemade granola? Or cereal "sprinkles" on top?
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