Toddler Is a Picky Eater

Hi T.
I west through the same thing with my first son who is now 12 yrs old. I worried that he would choke and I held off on chunky foods. He then did not like to eat anything that required him to really chew. I did find that he could eat a cookie with no problem. Then it occured to me that I was being "played". He would not starve himself, and I went with the idea that you will eat this if that is your only choice. Guess what? It worked! I am not saying that there aren't things that he won't like, just go with the try it before you decide you don't like it. As for nutrition, if your son likes spaghetti sauce...Puree some carrots or others veggies in the sauce. He won't know the difference, and you will feel better. With my second son, I learned by introducing textures early. He is now 6 yrs old and will try anything and likes many things. Live and learn for me! Good luck.
D.

Hi T.,
O. thing you could do is to offer him a little bit of a LOT of foods at each mealtime. It's a bit of a pain, but once you get used to it, not bad. My son still loves a big selection.
For example, cheese, grapes cut up, apple slices, olives, yogurt, soft cooked veggies (could be cooled & given with ranch dip), crackers, hard boiled egg pieces, a slice of buttered bread, etc.
IME, when I would give my son a little of each of a LOT of choices, he would have several things he would eat. I never got into the habit of "different" meal for him and he's now 6 and eats almost everything and actually LIKES to try new stuff whenever he has the option. After all, variety IS the spice of life!
Also, as for getting some veggies in him--try letting him dip them in whatever he wants. My son always liked veggies more if they were in some kind of sauce/dip.
Good luck.

It has been the same here but we are gradually progressing. I can't even get away with melted cheese on veggies!

Try just feeding him the veggies first when you think he is really hungry.

Will he eat soup? Try a garden veggie soup or just adding some extra canned veggies to a soup like chicken and stars. Have you tried shredded carrots--you can add them to lots of things. Or just give him some with a light dressing for dipping.

In the meantime why not keep feeding him the baby veggies that he will eat--that way he is still eating his veggies while you gradually include other veggies here and there. I tried mashing real veggies and putting them in baby food jars (didn't work for my tot but worth a try.)Also worth a try--sprinkling some grated parm cheese on veggies.

I do make one dish of chicken, orzos, and veggies in fat free cream of chicken soup and those veggies all get eaten--so you might want to try some casserole or one-pot meal type dinners. How about spinach-filled raviolis regular or the pasta pickups have veggie ones. It is a process...good luck!

Hi T., Just a thought, but have you considered that your son's issues are texture based and not flavor based? Also he may be picking up any unconscience signals you may be giving when you offer him new foods. The "experts" say that you have to offer a new food at least 15 times before a child will learn to like an item. Remember you are not a short-order cook...he needs to learn that what you fix for dinner is what is for dinner...if you don't get firm with him now you will be fighting the "dinner battle" forever. If he is hungry he will eat whatever you put in front of him sooner or later! Best wishes.

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I will share with you the wonderful advice our first pediatrician (now retired) gave us - your child will not starve themselves. Offer them food and if they do not eat it, do not give them any food or drink except water until the next meal. Feed them what you are eating (which, hopefully, is healthy!). Wasn't fun for the first week or so, but worked well and now my 5 and 7 year old boys eat a varriety of foods. One mistake I made when my oldest was around 15 months old was letting him drink as much milk as he wanted. He wouldn't eat much food, but would drink almost a quart some days. Then his pediatrician reminded me milk is not water, it contains protein and was filling him up so he wasn't hungary for regular food. We switched to only giving him milk after he finished his meal (he could have as much water as he wanted) and that worked well. Good luck!