My 21 month old used to eat so healthy.. now he wont each much of anything.. once in a while he'll eat peanutbutter and honey sandwhiches... and he loves sasuage... to be honest aside from fruit snacks he wont eat much of anything else. He loves his multi-vitamins... I try not to give him junk to make up for him not eating, but I feel like i'm not offering him enough choices or something. I know he's a toddler and he might not be growing.. but I need some Healthy food ideas.. I've found some healthy bran muffins he likes but I feel bad giving him those all day long!!
Okay...so he likes fruit leather.. but only once in a while... and banana's...
He has this weird thing with apples and carrots... he chews them up and spits them out!
It drives me crazy!! I keep offering them hoping he'll eat them once in for all. but to no avail.. and he loved apple sauce for a day and then quit.. soo picky..
Dipping works.. only with ranch and broccoli.. but he usually eats the dip and leaves the food.. I'm telling you PICKY! ha... I'm feeling better tho.. I'll let him live on pretzles and bananas if he so wishes..You guys have been very helpful
I'll try not to worry so much!!
Hi S.,
I hear you on the fruit snacks--my son LOVES them, too! A great alternative that I found are Craisins (cherry or orange flavored dried cranberries). They are in the baking aisle and are actually really good. Also, have you tried flavored rice cakes? My son thinks it's popcorn. Speaking of--popcorn without the butter and salt is also healthy.
good luck
Good job wanting you son to eat more healthy foods. I think that the apple/carrot thing might be a texture issue rather than a food issue. My daughter now 7 won't eat meat, she used to chew and chew it and then spit it out. My biggest suggestion is to offer a milk shake for breakfast. I know sounds weird but you can put all kinds of good foods in a "milk shake" like, carrots, wheat grass, protein powder, bananas, frozen fruit, their multi-vitamen, nuts for fat, anything else that is lacking in their diet. This gives them a good start for the day. My kids 7 and 5 still drink their "milk shake" every day before school, then I don't worry as much the rest of the day. I hope this helps. If you want to know exactly what I put it in I will send you the recipe.
:)
My son is 3 now and used to eat anything. Once he hit 2, it all changed. I think some of it is a power issue. The things that I have found that he likes are Danimals drinkable yogurt, chocolate milk, string cheese. He seems to like tortillas for some reason so I try to make breakfast burritos or bean & cheese burritos. Costco has turkey bacon that is a favorite. Sometimes it is a negotiation. "You can have a treat if you eat all of your dinner". Also, if they fill up on snacks, they aren't hungry at meal time. Our doctor said not to worry. He will eat when he is hungry.
both of my kids LOVED veggie burgers, I put them in the toaster oven and then cut them up into bit size peices, worked wonders. Also try pan frying some tofu in vanilla and frozen friut, cut the tofu into bite size cubes and frry it up with some blue berries, or any other frozen fruit and a splash of vanilla. I thought it was really icky, but my kids gobbled it up!!!!
I have three kids, ages 14, 10 and 5. Let me tell ya, they all go through this! They get focused on one food, and that's all they want. For my oldest, it was fruit juice. My middle child only liked tuna (???) and my third only liked Mac and Cheese. They get through it. Don't let it worry you.
I found that if I put the food on the plate in a 'cute' way - with little toothpicks even for them to 'dip' their veggies or whatever, that made it exciting, but again - just don't lose sleep over this. Mine all are good eaters now.
Keep offering healthy food and you are right to say that you don't want to compensate with junk food. Sometimes it is better to let them get a little hungry between meals.
Have you tried offering stuff to dip the healthy foods in? My son thinks that dipping is the bees knees and will eat anything if he can dip it in something.
Hi S.,
My son is 20 months and is very picky also. I just continue to offer him different things. Sometimes he will try something new and sometimes he won't. I have finally realized that if he is hungry enough he will eat some of it. My son doesn't eat a whole lot of meat and protien, but I have found that if I put it on his plate first he will try a little of it. Then once he has at least tasted it, I give him the rest of his meal. My son still doesn't eat veggies, but I still offer them. I figure eventually he will come around. Sometimes I give him carrot juice, since he doesn't eat a lot of veggies. My son loves mac and cheese, so sometimes I give him the SuperMac from Kraft. It's a little better because it's made with whole grain pasta and it has added vitamins. You could try chicken nuggets. They're a little healthy if you make them at home because you can bake them instead of frying. I don't know if you have tried canned peaches or fruit cocktail. Yogurt is good too. You can try making yogurt smoothies. I do that for my son's breakfast with yogurt, frozen berries and bananas. He loves it. Hope that helped.
Good Luck
If you are providing a multi vitamin, then I wouldn't worry. most times children change their eating habits. Have you tried carrots, or other veggies with Ranch dressing??? Instead of fruit snacks, how about cut up apples with peanut butter or bananas with peanut butter on them. Fruit snacks have too much sugar in them, try some dried fruit as well.
Good luck
His behavior is very normal for his age. I have a super picky 2 1/2 year old. I used to worry a lot, so I did a bunch of reading and found that kids will make sure they get what they need. As long as you are offering a variety of healthy foods it will work itself out. Do not pressure him to eat something he doesn't want. Toddlers are intimidated by all the new colors, smells and textures of different foods. They exert control over this by picking and choosing what they want. Give him a few choices, including one item you know he will like, let him eat what he wants and give him more if he requests. Also, I have found fruit leather at Costo & Winco (sorry I forget what it's called) but it's 100% fruit with no added sugar. It's the only fruit my son will eat, but at least I know he's getting actual fruit!
my son is a picky eater too. He started doing it around 2 he is 3 now before that he would eat anything. Now that he is older he will eat something if he has helped to make it. Even if I just let him mix some cheese into his noodles. Also with him part of it is that he doesn't like getting messy and that useing silverware makes it messy so some things he'll eat only if I help him. Try this... Have him help you look through a cook book and pick a picture of something I would suggest a book like rachael ray's 30 min meals for kids. I know he's young so you don't have to have him Actualy cook something, but let him pick let him help you find the ingredients at the store and have him help you mix up anything that isn't on the stove, like putting the cut veggies in a bowl after you cut them. My son is easily occupied with a bowl a small slice of apple and a plastic knife. Helping from begining to end may open him up to trying new things. Hopefully he'll find a new meal he likes. Hope this helps. There is always hideing veggies in food he likes. I'm really interested in if this works for you let me know. ~V.
Get a juicer and blend up fruit and throw in some veggies he won't taste them one bit. Tell him it's just like fruit snaks in juice form. You can freeze the juice as well to make a frozen treat. (The fruit over powers the veggies! he won't know they're their) The body needs raw fruits and veggies. Multi's alone don't cut it. Especially because one thing will block the obsorbtion of something elese. ie... calcium blocks iron, give thoes two seperatly.
