VERY Picky Eater - Austin,TX

Yes, this is one of the adjustments! Present her with food at lunch. If she doesn't eat it, take it away and wait for the next meal. Don't force, beg, plead, comment, or anything else. Just say, "OK, lunch is over. You must not have been hungry." No Chick-Fil-A until she starts to eat other stuff. Expect tears, but DON'T give in. She will eat eventually.
Try to remember who is the adult here.
This all sounds easy, but it isn't. Just be consistant.
Good luck! My picky eater only wanted peanut butter sandwiches and Cheerios. This was not too bad, but we lived in Paris and had to import all that.

The best advice I have ever been given about kids and food is - your job as mom is to provide healthy food for your child. Her job is to eat it. You do your job, let her do her job. If she starves herself for days and days (which she most likely will not) then start to worry about helping her with her job. Otherwise her body will take what it needs. The more you try to control her part of the job the more she will struggle with you. It becomes a power struggle then.

Good luck!

I suggest that you contiue to offer her a variety of different foods, and let her see you and your husband enjoying a variety of foods as well. I would also suggest that you avoid buying Chick Fil A for a while. If she thinks she can hold out until you give in and get them for her she probably won't ever learn to enjoy new foods. A child has to taste a new food many times before deciding whether or not he or she likes it. So even if she says she doesn't like a certain food the first time, you may try waiting a few weeks and introducing it again.

I have to agree with the previous. You have to choose your battles. I was very picky and my Mother made me sit at the table until she got tired of seeing me there. I was absolutely not going to eat the things she told me too. Mealtimes are family time. SHe will get enough nutrition from cereal if need be. Give her a kid vitamin every day along with some sugar free juices and maybe a V8 thrown in? One of my children is picky and I make sure I have at least one thing he will eat at dinner, he has to try the other stuff. If he is still hungry, he can have a bowl (or 2) of Cheerios. Good Luck.

Hey L.: Just in case you needed more science facts than mommy-advice... Below I've pasted in the results of a study of children's meals from fast food and restaurant chains. Basically, fast food should be a rare exception to your daughter's normal diet. And I really don't mean to make you feel bad; I know, I work FT... more often than not, it would be so easy to run up and get something, especially when the Chick-fil-A in Bee Caves has that playscape for kids to play on too (we live in Lake Point). But try to re-gear her taste buds and food preferences. Similar food items that you make at home (or the frozen chicken nuggets, fish sticks from Whole Foods) is better than fast food items. I've been making mini meatballs (I call them "cannon balls") for my 2 yo... she eats them up. I'll try and send you some fast & easy home-made dinner ideas...

Below are the study's results. It was initially on CNN but they remove the article. I found it on http://drrobyn.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/fast-food-flops-f...

In August the Center for Science and Public Interest released a study that said 90% of children’s “kid’s meals” at 13 major fast-food and restaurant chains are too high—way too high—in calories for our little tykes.

Here’s the scoop:
* Who did the study? Center for Science and Public Interest (CSPI), a non-profit organization.
* What were they looking for? The report aimed to investigate the nutritional quality in 13 major restaurant chains.

What did they find?
1.) 90% of 13 restaurant chains were too high in calories for our children. The recommended number of calories per meal for children between the ages of 4 and 8 (the majority of kid’s meal eaters) is 430.

2.) Half of the children’s meals exceeded the National Institute of Medicine’s recommendations for saturated and trans fat. These fats can raise cholesterol levels in the children (an issue that’s been given a lot of attention lately) and increase heart disease.

3.) 86% of kid’s meals are too high in sodium. Again, this is startling because, according to CSPI and recent studies, a quarter of children between the ages of 5 and 10 show early signs of heart disease, such as high LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) or elevated blood pressure.

4.) Eating out now accounts for 1/3 of children’s DAILY caloric intake—twice the amount consumed away from home only 30 years ago.

5.) In a nut shell… Many kids’ meal combos are too high in calories, fat, and sodium: CSPI found that nearly every possible combination of children’s meals at popular stops such as **Chick-fil-A**, Sonic, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, and KFC are too high in calories. Most of the kids’meals (93 percent) at McDonald’s and Wendy’s are too high in calories, as are the possibilities at Burger King (92 percent), Dairy Queen (89 percent), Arby’s (69 percent), and Denny’s (60 percent—though its kids’ meals don’t include drinks).

Fast food restaurants are just as they say they are—fast and convenient but not healthy.

I think as mothers we worry way too much about meals. Your child will not starve. Do not make meal time a battle. It is not worth it.

But,you cannot have your child only eat Chicken nuggets. What you can do is fix meals that are kid friendly, this means, not highly spiced, not large portions and include all types of textures. Keep the meals simple. If you make pasta with a sauce. Place very small portions on the plate and all separate. Let your child decide what parts she will eat. She may eat the sauce but not the pasta. If you are having a salad, put a few small leaves of lettuce, 1 cherry tomato and 1 carrot stick and a small amount of dressing. Let her eat what she likes and if she wants more give her more of that item. If she refuses to eat anything, have her sit quietly at the table till all of you are finished eating. Or you can do what we used to do.

Picky eaters need to be taught to be "Brave Tasters". Encourage the young one to eat 3 bites of food and not spit it out. Also no ugly faces or ugly comments. For each successful brave taste she can be given a sticker. When she reaches an agreed amount, she can be allowed to suggest a meal for the family for another night or as suggested by another mom a fun activity.

Do not make special foods for her. In our family, if you do not want what is for dinner (or any meal), you are allowed to make yourself a bowl of cereal (non sugar)and nobody makes a big deal or makes a comment.

You can also your own chicken nuggets and baked potato wedges. I shake chicken tenders in bread crumbs and bake them.

Or, make whatever you're making and tell her she can have that or not eat. She won't starve herself.

She may be doing it as a control thing. Most kids go through a "I'm not going to eat" phase in their 3-5 years. Let it go and her behavior will probably change.

How frustrating! Hugs to you!

You need to stop feeding your kid fast food regularly (but you know that, right?) That stuff is so bad for her health, and has done a number on her taste buds now, too.
Okay, so serve fun meals, kid-friendly stuff like apple slices, cheese quesadillas, peanut butter and jelly with the crusts cut off, whatever. That's lunch, we eat, when you are done you may be excused from the table. Didn't eat anything? Tell her "We'll eat again in (you name how many) hours." She'll eat when she's hungry enough. If you are firm and loving, no pressure or force, then it's her choice and you are not the bad guy. She's 5 and old enough to be reasonable.
I have a 7 year old who eats the same thing for lunch every day. Pb&J, granola bar, yogurt tube, pretzels & raisins mixed, juice to drink. He's slowly trying new foods,but it's amazing they can not only survive but actually grow on this rediculous diet! I work within his limits by buying natural & organic stuff without artificial colors or flavors whenever possible and he eats baby carrots (the only vegetable he'll touch) at every meal. Hang in there.