My 2 Yo Is the Pickiest Eater!!

Maybe this will help you it helped me. After I was finished cooking dinner i would get her plate down and have her pick out how much she wanted and what she wanted to eat. Once we had her plate ready i set her at the table and told her that this is what is for dinner and there will be nothing else. At first she threw her lil temper tantrums and everytime she got sent to her room until she was done. Eventually she wore down and now she eats everything. there are only a few things that she will not eat.

Good luck

My daughter has been going through the same thing. She has been like that since I started her on solid foods. She does have her "favorites", but she will eat very little, if anything, before throwing the rest on the floor. Other times she will load her mouth as full as she can get it, hold it in for awhile, then spit it all out. She has no problem eating chocolate and mints (of all things!) Her pediatrician said that as long as she is eating something and not losing weight, she'll be fine. She knows when she's hungry and when she isn't. The big mistake I made was giving her too much to drink. She would fill up on drinks and ignore her food because she wanted her drink instead. Try not offering her anything to drink (or a very little amount, anyway) for about 2 hours before mealtime. It's a hard habit to break, but giving it some time with that consistancy should help her realize that she needs to eat when the food is there. Give only a little bit of what she really likes to eat with each meal, and once she has eaten it, she'll start to realize that everything else on her plate will fill her up. I hope this helps!

Experience speaking here - we made all the mistakes with the first one, now that she's 8 she's finally willing to try things. We're having great success with our almost 2 year old trying new things because we've relaxed and stuck to these rules. Offer dipping sauce with everything (they'll even dip green beans, peas and SPAGHETTI in ranch or ketchup). Don't make a big deal out of the meal - it's your responsibility to provide the food, and theirs to eat it. At each meal, make sure there is something you know she'll eat along with several other "choices" on her plate. Give her a reasonable amount of time to get through the meal, and then take it away. Don't threaten her with anything. Whatever you decide on "awarding" desserts, stick to it, but don't make it a huge deal - stay calm about it. She's old enough to understand you when you say, "Eat (whatever) FIRST, and then you can have (a cookie)." Even if she does try something and says she doesn't like it, be sure to offer it 5+ more times at other meals until you're sure she really doesn't like the flavor or texture of whatever the food is. Don't make meal time stressful, and don't let her control the meal.

Our Pediatrician told us that kids go through these stages. Sometimes they will eat and eat and other times you will worry cause they hardly eat. He also said that, because my 3 yr old grandson is doing this too now, whatever they will eat, whatever good stuff they will eat of course, just let them eat that and they will eventually move past this stage. He told us "he will let you know when he is hungry and don't worry about how much because this phase will pass."

H.,

I think you are doing fine. What we did with our two year old is cook one thing I know she will eat, usually a vegetable, and then try offering different foods to go with it. For a while she would only eat steamed brocolli for a veggie. I also have a stash of Hormel lunch bucket meals in the cabinet that I let her pick from for dinner. Her favorite at the moment is beans and weiners.

We also went through the mac and cheese only phase about two months ago. I thought our daughter was going to turn orange from all the cheese. Gradually she started asking for diffferent foods. My nephew went through a phase where he would only eat white or light colored foods like corn, mashed potatoes, and bread. Toddlers are funny things they are fighting to have some control and want to test your limits on what their parents will put up with.

Good Luck,

J.

I have the exact same problem with my 18 mon. old. She only eats chicken nuggets, spaghetti, and hotdogs. She is little too. Last time we had her at the dr. she was 19lbs. She used to eat almost everything i gave her but I think she was curious about all the different foods. Now that she knows what it is all about and the fun is over she only wants what she wants and that is that. I think it is just another fun phase we have to work thru. :)

My daughter went through that phase.... just slowly introduce things along with her favorites or... i would hold out on her favorites until she ate something else on her plate...
You might try steamed broccoli with cheese..try vegetables and just put cheese on them...she might be more receptive to that!!!
B. nicole marie

My 4-yr-old has always been a picky eater. He's a little guy, too; he wears the same size clothes as his not-so-picky 2-yr-old bro!
I give him a "milkshake" every morning: the generic version of Ensure, which is the same stuff as Pediasure, but about 1/2 the price. Plus, to get him to try other foods than pb&j and chicken nuggets, I make up silly names. I made tri-color rotini pasta one night, and told him that they were "clown noodles" and would tickle his tube (his way of saying throat) all the way to his tummy. He cleaned his plate and asked for more! So now when he turns up his nose at something, I come up with a name for it that I know he will like.
He's actually starting to put a little meat on his bones, so give the "Name Game" a try with your little picky kid. Good luck!!

J.

Hi H.,

My story is close to you. My daughter(16 months) is also too picky about eating, and I know though doctor's say its normal you might not be feeling comfortable about it. Here are some things I do to go around the problem.

1)Let her eat with her own hands if she just does not let me feed her (it is very messy though)
2)Make her watch her favourite cartoon show while eating and tell her that the 'goofy' will go away if you don't eat
3) At times give her only what she wants to eat
4) Make her starve a little (I skip her 5.00 p.m snack) or reduce her milk.
5) I give her multivitamin drops every alternate day to compensate her lost apetite if any.
6) Put grated carrots, tomato etc in rice
7) Sometimes I have even fed her forcibly holding her hands and she ate:)

try all these and let me know how it worked. All the best!!

my daughtor just turned two and for a litle while she wouldn't eat hot dogs but changing it up with something fun like pigs in a blanket. she got better about it my mom and i have had a few other time of trying to get the kids to eat and we will some times bribe them with thingswe know they like. other times i compramise wih letting them get away with just eatting the meat.

Hi H.

I am going through this too with my 15 month old son. We just went through a graham cracker phase, now we're on a jello phase. Landon will eat anything I put in front of him but he has his favorites! His ped said to let him eat whatever his choice was att as long as I tried to give him his veggies and stuff. He burned himself out on crackers for awhile, he also did this on applesauce. He's also at the stage where he is wanting to spoon feed himself which is hard for me to deal with!!

Anyways go with the flow, as long as she's eating thats all that matters.

she is two........ its a stage........fix what you want for dinner and if she doesn't eat it, don't worry.....just make sure she gets lots of fluids and the pediasure drinks for toddlers are great to help you out on this journey. don't let her think that just cause she throws a fit or refuses to eat what you make she is going to get what she wants. after about an hour and if she still don't eat her food let her down and say i'm sorry but thats all we have........and if she says she is hungry a couple of hours later give her her plate back for dinner of whatever.......don't give into her. she is testing you all and two year olds are very smart and like to test people. don't cave in.........

i have three kids......... they went through all that stuff, and i would put their plat in the fridge and give it to them later and if they still would not eat i'd just give them their pedisure and make sure they had lots of fluid......... its not gonna hurt them....... now they are the only kids i know that love brussel sprouts, beets, spinach, and all that other stuff..... i was not going to let them win the battle, and now they love all foods. you really don't wat to force food down their throats, by doing that it gives them the idea that they have to eat or they will get in trouble and it gts in their mind and they will more than likely become overweight when they get older. if they aren't hungy they just aren't hungry.........they will eat when they are ready, but don't cave in and give them what they want. stop buying mac and chees and all her favorite foods, and only give them to her once a week.......... it helps out a lot. now i am relieved that no matter where my kids go they will eat healthy and not worry if they are going to like it or not.

Kids are just picky so you may be S.O.L! I was a picky eater when I was young. My mom says the only thing she could count on was apple sauce! I remember having to try new things, though. It was made clear that we had to try it. We didn't have to like new things and didn't have to eat it, either. But we HAD to try it with an open mind. That's still the rule at my Mom's house and I still surprise myself with the things I end up eating! Your daughter may be too young to understand the rule, but it's something to keep in mind. Good luck! --S.

This is what I do with my daughter. I offer her what I cooked. Make her sit at the table until my husband and I are done eating. If she still hasn't eaten, I put siran wrap over her plate, stick it in the fridge and that is what she is offered until it is gone, including snack time. I don't ever offer her anything that will make her puke she hates it so much, but if I know that she is just holding out because she thinks I will cave in and give her whatever she wants later, she's got another thing coming. She'll eat eventually, and when she does, she'll realise that what I served wasn't so horrible after all!