2 1/2 Year Old on Brink of Becoming a Picky eater...food Suggestions?

My son was/is the same way. Right around 2 yrs old he became super picky. He would eat any veggies that were not new to him (green beans, carrots, potatoes) but only chicken nuggets or hot dogs. The doc said it is normal and fine but keep offering other foods and make the meal balanced. It took a long time but we did get him to eat other things. He still will not eat tomatoes, strawberries, anything with ketchup. No pizza or burgers-his friends don't understand that. He loves pasta-but no sauce. That said, we would make sure his meals were balanced but give him just a little bit of something he did not want to eat hoping that was the day he would start. He got to love beans wrapped in a tortilla which is a great source of protein. Also, I have heard that boys tend to become picky eaters more than girls do.

There is a great book by William G Wilkoff, MD called Coping with a Picky Eater that every parent or provider of kids should read and have a copy of. http://www.amazon.com/Coping-Picky-Eater-Perplexed-Parent...

This book has what I call the Picky Eater Plan. I have used this plan with kids that literally threw up at the sight of food and within 2 weeks they were eating normal amounts of everything and trying every food.

First you need to get everyone who deals with the child on board. If you are a provider it's ok to make this the rule at your house and not have the parents follow through but you wont' see as good results as what I described up above.

The plan is to limit the quantities of food you give the kid. When I first start with a child I give them literally ONE bite worth of each food I am serving. The book suggests that every time you feed the kids (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner) you give all 4 food groups. So, for lunch today I would have given the child one tiny piece of strawberry, one spoonful of applesauce, 3 macaroni noodles with cheese on them, and 2 oz of milk. Only after they ate ALL of what was on their plate would you give them anything else. They can have the same amounts for seconds. If they only want more mac and cheese, they only get 3 noodles then they would have to have more of all the other foods in order to get more than that. If they don't eat, fine. If they don't finish, fine. Don't make a big deal out of it, just make them stay at the table until everyone else is done eating. They don't get more food until they are sat at the next meal and they only get what you serve. When I first do this with a child I don't serve sweets at all. So no animal crackers for snack but rather a carrot for snack. Or one of each of those. I don't make it easy for them to gorge on bad foods in other words. Now if they had a meal where they ate great then I might make the snack be a yummy one cause I know they filled up on good foods.

Even at snacks you have to limit quantities of the good stuff or else they will hold out for snack and just eat those snacky foods. I never give a picky eater the reward of a yummy snack unless they had that great lunch prior to it.

It really is that easy.

Are you planning on making separate meals for your son or meals that kids like that you will be serving to your entire family? I would suggest making one meal, you will enable his picky eating habits if you cater to his tastes. I serve dinner family style making sure there is always something on the table everyone will like (at least one item per person). For example when I make fish not everyone likes it so I make sure the side dishes are what that person can eat. This way I'm making one meal, but able to feed everybody without becoming a short order chef. Also this allows them some control because they are able to choose from the table. I don't make them try anything they don't want. They serve themselves. I do have to help my 3 year old, she just points to what she wants. I do make a few meals out of the week that are entirely kid friendly, pizza, sloppy joes, pasta with all different sauces, sometimes we'll have pancakes for dinner for the fun of it. My oldest is my pickiest eater because I would make him stuff he only liked and then make something else for my husband and myself. The other children didn't get that luxury and they are not too picky. They also go through phases of being picky. Right now my six year old only likes to eat certain things. He loves raw veggies with ranch dip so there are always some on the table. There are nights that that is all he eats for dinner, but hey they are veggies so i don't sweat it. Look at what he's eating through out the week not just in one day. Make his kid friendly stuff for lunch time so at least you know he has his fill mid-day.

L.,

Don't make food a battle it just makes things worse. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a book called Food Fights that I would recommend. Childrens food preference changes over time. DOn't sweat it or it will become a war. Believe me I know! My dtr rarely eats much for dinner. She primarily eats a great breakfast and lunch as well as a healthy snack or two. Just make the food choices around him healthy. He won't starve himself.
My dtr loves quesadillas (I use whole wheat tortillas). Also I use some Deceptively Delicious recipes such as sweet potato pancakes and pumpkin french toast. My dtr. loves it. Best of luck.