Picky Eater - Marietta, GA

I noticed what works with mine is mixing foods. Give her a bite of mac-n-cheese then a bite of something else. Mine shake their head no then eat it a couple of minutes late or a couple of days later, not the same bowl :) Reintroduce stuff. Sometime mine will not eat anything a certain color. Then the next day they will. I have noticed mine eat almost everything and my niece and nephew are very picky. She will not be consistant in what she likes for a while. Mine use to eat pancakes almost everyday. Now they will not touch them. You just have to be willing to waste a lot of food. Goodluck!

Hello M., picky eating as we all know can be very frustrating and of course a major challenge trying to balance your baby’s nutrition/health etc. What you need to remember is that babies don’t have a distinctive palate like adults, so refusing food at a given time doesn’t necessary depicts they don’t like the taste, it might simple be a mood thing but the error we make knowing the baby is a picky eater we get scared of introducing food back/trying new once and just stick to just what they are fond of..
It might take 20 tries on one particular meal for her to really favor it .Mac N cheese is her favorites because she has been given it a good number of times.

Some fun tricks: If your baby loves cereal, sneak-in some stage 1 pureed organic peas in her milk and add cereal, if you have a juicer, a bit of organic broccoli and apple together is a light refreshing drink. Beef up the mac N cheese with pureed cage free chicken and organic cauliflower she won’t know the difference since it will still have the same color/ texture that she is used too.

I always tell my clients that babies unlike adults don’t know what is available out there in the stores, their choices are based on what you bring home, bring just the healthy stuff home and even though they might not like all what you introduced their choices will be wholesome healthy once!

If you need more help and sample recipes please feel free to contact me at www.yummyspoonfuls.com

Have a healthy week.

Cheers

I have a 2 year old and a 14 month old, but they both eat whatever we are eating for dinner, why not just start having family dinners and putting that on her tray? I have never been a fan of feeding something different for your child but having a dinner and that's what dinner is for everyone. My 14 mo old eats whatever we are eating for dinner, there may be a meat or a fruit or a veg that she doesn't prefer, but she'll eat the other stuff, since she has choices to choose from.

I think all kids go through a phase like this, and my suggestion is to incorporate vegetables like steamed brocoli into her mac n cheese. You can first start by finely chopping it and then have larger pieces and then just try the brocoli with cheese sauce (without macaroni noodles). Then try mac-n-cheese pizza and slowly take away the macaroni while you add more nutritious toppings.

Always offer her something else to eat with her mac-n-cheese meals. I always fix my 3 year old the exact same things I fix my husband even if I had to add some mac-n-cheese on the side because she sees us eating and sometimes tries a couple of bites too. We make a contest of who can eat more peas, or we count our bites of turkey and she really enjoys that. You can always buy the nutripals/pediasure drinks and give them to her once a day to supplement vitamins and minerals, but do not do this and give her any other vitamin supplements (example- flintstones vitamins) because it could be too many!

Do not continue to only offer her mac-n-cheese because that is reinforcing to her that she never has to eat anything else. It may seem like a waste of food if she doesn't try anything new, but she needs to see the variety of foods as normal and that everyone eats different things. You are the best role model of eating habits for your children.

I had the same problem with my daughter at just around this age. She stopped eating her favorites and would hardly eat anything other than grapes, ham, bread, noodles, and apple sauce! I started to buy things at the store that I wouldn't normally buy because I didn't like it. She did eat some of it and some she didn't but it was amazing to see what she would eat when both of us didn't like that food.
Good luck and keep trying.

Hi M.,

I had the same problem with my daughter. She was a very picky eater. I add a little bit of chopped broccoli pieces to the mac n cheez. May want to give it a try. It's very difficult getting kids to try a variety of healthy foods, but just hang in there!!!!

Try to sneak other foods into the mac and cheese. You can try diced meat and veggies, just cut them up really small.

I just want to let you know you are not alone my daughter now 2yrs old was the same exact way all she ate was macaroni and cheese and now her favorite food is spaghetti. I use to worry about her because she weighed 18lbs for such a long time. She was pretty small but the doctor told me to give her vitamins and she would be ok so I bought her the flintstones for one year olds and she is now about 28lbs and doing fine. She is still however a very, very picky eater and barely eats anything. So dont worry get her some vitamins and she will be fine. Also, try spaghetti and hotdogs my baby loves hot dogs.

Hi M.,

I understand the stress of working outside the home and trying to satisfy your little one. (I was 33 when I had my first one and wish I knew then what I know now) It's real easy to give them the mac and cheese, but what would happen to you if that's all you ate. The lethargy and moodiness from not having what you need. Also, your immune system won't fight off those illnesses that will keep you home from the office. The more she has the more she will crave. Remember starches are sugars and can cause yeast and become addictive. Yeast can cause a number of health problems.

I do agree with Dusty. Reinforcing her eating habits can be dangerous down the road. I also would recommend a vitamin suppliment. But I would get a good quality one at a health store or a reliable wellness company and not at Walmart or Costco. Those are mostly sugar and are not much better than the mac and cheese.

Don't stress if she wont eat. She will eventually. I promise! But eating poorly is much more dangerous than being a little hungry.