Picky Picky Picky Picky

[pstone]

My little 1 year old is so freaking picky.

lets see, he will eat toast, bread, toast and toast.
He will put anything in the world in his mouth except food.

I can still shovel baby food into his mouth with a spoon, but please help me.

Is this normal? what can I do?

Man can not live on bread alone.

Toast man.

A carb fiend after my own heart. And toast makes that cool crunching sound. He won't eat toast for the rest of his life, I promise. But a few weeks or months from now it will be pasta or pancakes or bananas or whatever the new fave is. I think it's pretty normal for kids to get in a rut like that, especially once they can start voicing their opinion and having some say.

Can you put anything on the bread or does he want his toast straight up?

[DCJenn]

Ah, the joys of toddlerhood. We're experiencing the "if I can't feed it to myself, I'm not going to eat it" stage. Talk about frustrating.

Peter- wait til Kelly reads your post and she can chime in on what her son ate his entire second year of life. Poor Kelly was apoplectic as I recall. (if I remember correctly, I think mac and cheese was one of the food groups)

Jenn

Here is my suggestion. Give him a vitamin, a variety of fluids, and wait.

You could sneak some healthy foods into shakes too. Will he eat only plain storebought bread or can you get him to eat home made stuff, or the 9 grain types? You can really bulk breads up.

Just keep offering him a single taste on his plate of everything else.

Its mindblowingly frustrating though.

[houseelf]

Peter,

If you read through the archives, you will see that this has been a HUGE issue in our household. Even in kindergarten, it still pops up and well meaning adults comment on it thereby making it a bigger issue with which to struggle.

Now this issue takes on a different form. I send him a fully packed lunch and he'll eat the carrots out of it and leave everything else untouched. I know that he doesn't get enough calories in on many a day. (Ummmm....can I catch whatever he has?) When he was younger, this was a huge deal to me because his height and weight were not on the growth charts for 3 plus years. (You know how the child experts always advise parents to relax because no child will starve themself...well mine came close.)

The key to this is to keep on offering foods...Over and over and over and over and over again until they gradually eat some. Seriously, this process has taken years. Now he eats several vegetables, a few meats, etc. One thing that helped was to limit calories from beverages. DS gets 2 to 3 glasses of milk a day, maybe one serving of orange juice, and all the water he wants (except for pre-bedtime because of accidents...but that is a whole 'nother issue). Although we do indulge in treats, the one food issue that I am considered strict on is beverages. Capri-sons, gatorade, fruit juices, and soda pops are all special occasion treats reserved for parties and Grandma's House. They just strike me as empty calories and bad for the teeth. BUT, I know that we have nutritionists on this web site...perhaps they see things differently.

Some other things I tried were offering the new stuff first thing in the morning when he was really hungry. This made for some odd breakfasts, but he seemed more willing to try green beans on an empty stomach before anything else was offered.

Also, try healthy but odd things that you may not necessarily like: turkey pepperoni (great texture and size for the uber-picky toddler), olives, carrot cake clif bars, carrot juice mixed into orange juice, peanut butter mixed into oatmeal, pumpkin muffins, zuchini bread, humas, sun dried tomatoes, whole wheat sphagetti, microwaved squash with cinnamon and butter. Even though my son was picky, picky, picky, he would eat things that I wouldn't. It was really odd what he found "acceptable" and "gross". To this day, he refuses a lot of "normal" kid fare but will eat spinach salad with sliced strawberries. Who knows?

Modeling is a big thing in our household. Now that DS is older, we talk about 5 a day. I often let him help carve a watermelon or snap the green beans. He really enjoys making his own "ants on a log": celery smeared with peanut butter and raisins. Who knew that he would eat celery? But if you make it a "special cooking project" well then, that's a whole 'nother story.

The downside of all of this is that I have to practice what I preach and model good behavior. No more tray of brownies for dinner for me.

Good luck. If this continues, you will need lots and lots and lots of patience. I honestly didn't think DS would ever eat as much variety as he currently does. He will always be what is referred to as a "super-taster" meaning flavors matter more to him, but *hopefully* we've got him on a good start.

Kelly

[Sheherezade]

I've always had luck with providing lots of variety and (of course ) modelling eating behavior. You could try sitting down with him, toast for each of you and a large plate (or an ice cube tray) filled with little bits of this and that or things to try on the bread. My kids would have tried something else after a few days of watching me jazz up my toast. In my experience, pressure with eating always backfires. Better to let them have the crazy idea of eating something other than bread today.

[pstone]

toast with margarine yes, jelly no. Kix cereal yes, corn chex no....

is crazy....thanks for all the advice...I do try to act like everything is just great!

I wonder if he might fall for a "french toast" kind of thing where you've dipped the bread in egg whites and cooked it ... sneak a little protein in that way maybe?

I make "chocolate milk" using chocolate soy milk mixed w/regular milk to sneak some protein in that way. During bouts of intestinal issues I've been known to make smoothies w/banana, peanut butter and chocolate soy milk just to get the banana in there + some protein.

My kids are awfully picky eaters, so I'm not really much help. Best of luck!

Smoothies are a great idea, if he likes them. I make them at least 4 days a week for my kids. Banana, OJ, and plain yogurt and protein powder as a base and then add in extra fruit if it's on hand or easy. They love it. The milk, PB, chocolate, protein powder ones are really good too.

[DCJenn]

We're big Eggos fans here- I buy the Nutri-grain ones and then butter them and cut them into strips- loves, loves, loves them.

Jenn

[pstone]

Oh man, I so hoped for french toast, he somehow knows...just smashes it into the table.....heh....

Ate Pizza today...hoping he is over the milk protien allergy!