Picky Eater - Clinton,MD

If the doc says try it-then you should. My daughter got my Grandson to drink milk by putting a little organic juice in it-she calls it a smoothie-he likes it!

You can use the pediasure to make his oatmeal and on his cereal. You could probably add a little to the yogurt too. Just keep trying new things, they say it takes a few times until they like it.

Some things to try:
cereal bars
multigrain cheerios
finger jello (made with juice)
V8 fusion juice

Something to consider: Is this a change in behavior for him? Did he ate a variety of jarred foods when younger?

If he did and suddenly is refusing them, you might want to try introducing table foods--soft cooked veggie pieces, eggs, different types of healthy grains, ground meat to start instead of pureed and cut up fruit

I'm the dissenting opinion here. First of all, your pediatrician is not a nutritionist. He/she did not have to take more than one nutrition course in their medical training. Have you looked at the ingredients in Pediasure? As a health care professional I called Abbott labs and found their website info. Sugar is the second ingredient. There is high fructose corn syrup in this product. Although they don't come right out and say that. Artificial flavors and colors are also added. Your child does not need to drink cow's milk to get calcium. He can get it from many other sources. Children self regulate what they eat. You can make smoothies for him and add spinach to it and green whole food powders. Coconut milk, almond milk, rice milk, and hemp milk are all great alternatives to dairy milk.
Here is the listing of ingredients.
Water, Sugar (Sucrose), Corn Maltodextrin, Milk Protein Concentrate, High Oleic Safflower Oil, Soy Oil, Whey Protein Concentrate, Medium-Chain Triglycerides. Less than 0.5% of the Following: Soy Protein Isolate, Short-Chain Fructooligosaccharides, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Cellulose Gel, Magnesium Phosphate, Potassium Citrate, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Phosphate, Salt (Sodium Chloride), Cellulose Gum, Choline Chloride, Ascorbic Acid, Soy Lecithin, Monoglycerides, C. Cohnii Oil, m-Inositol, Potassium Hydroxide, Carrageenan, Taurine, Ferrous Sulfate, dl-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, L-Carnitine, Zinc Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Niacinamide, Manganese Sulfate, Thiamine Chloride Hydrochloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Cupric Sulfate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Folic Acid, Chromium Chloride, Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Selenate, Sodium Molybdate, Phylloquinone, Cyanocobalamin, and Vitamin D3.

My daughter didn't like pediasure plain but I make milkshakes and smoothies with it (she likes the vanilla). She's always been underweight and small, I've noticed a difference--she is growing well and hasn't been sick a day this winter! Good luck!

I don't know about the pediasure....

But, if your son likes these healthy foods, can you add ingredients to make his meals a little more..... well rounded?

Like adding avocado or banana to the applesauce.
Giving him greek yogurt, there is more protein.
You can add all sorts of things to oatmeal. Try offering grits, too.
And one of my kids favorite 'treats' that I give are smoothies. I just mix yogurt and milk! They think it is awesome, and so do I!

Good luck!

It's normal for a 1 yr old to change food preferences.

My daughter isn't a big milk drinker. The pediatrician said that as long as she gets other sources (fortified orange juice, dairy products, certain veg), she should be fine. She will drink it now and then if it's chocolate or strawberry flavored. Try Nesquik or similar so you can monitor the flavor/sugar. I keep putting food in front of my toddler. Maybe she eats it. Maybe she doesn't. Maybe she'll try it if it came off my plate. But kids need to see and try a new food a LOT of times before they really know if they like it or not.

Kids will do this over the years. Just try to go with it as much as possible (as reasonable). The more you fight, IMO, the more it will become a struggle. We just keep firm that meals need to include healthy food and not just chips or something. So if my daughter doesn't like peas, fine. Here's a salad.

My son is also very picky. He goes through periods of time when he won't eat meat or chicken or good sources of protein. My advice is to just keep trying different things and see. Just because he doesn't eat it today or this week, maybe he will next week. Have you tried eggs? My son used to eat eggs when he wouldn't eat other things. Now, he doesn't like them anymore! I think as long as they are gaining weight they will be ok.

If you call pediasure and explain your situation they will send you some free samples to see if your son likes it or not. We went through this as well. Now and almost 7 we are still a picky eater, but finally the other day I was allowed to put sauce on my daughter's ribs. I was also a picky eater growing up. My mom would fix a seperate meal for just me. We loved pediasure and then one day my daughter was like "no thank you".

If he is full and weight is not an issue and he is healthy I would say keep up what you are doing.

I have 3 picky little eaters in my house, so I know how frustrating it is! I have had to do pediasure with my 2 year old son because he will only eat a handful of things as well. He doesn't like the thickness of the pedisure drinks so I tried buying the strawberry flavored ones and watering them down and he loves them. I also buy infant multi-vitamin drops and give him some every day in his juice. My dr told me to just keep offering him other types of foods, but that it's okay and pretty common for them to be picky and that they are tough and still manage to grow healthy. Good luck!