How to avoid a raising a picky eater?!

[Diane1003]

I have a 14 mo old son that has been developing a dislike of foods...  Tonight he took the first bite fine but then spit out every other bit we tried to give him of a ravioli dinner...  He would eat a banana for a few bites but then he was done with that.   He's had yogurt for months and some mornings after a few bites he'll just push the food out of his mouth and let it all dribble down his chin...  Some days he'll eat a bit more and some days he's done.  My son is still young so I'm pretty sure he doesn't understand the concept of: eat what I'm giving you or eat nothing and next time when you're hungry you'll eat what I give you.  So - at this age what is appropriate?

Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated!  Thanks in advance-

[Me2mommy2b]

I really don't thing you can raise or not raise a picky eater.  I think kids go through the stage where they don't want to eat much.  DD was never a bad eater until she was 2 1/2 and that's when she started with her "i'm not eating this/that".  In any event, if you find out how to avoid that stage, let me know :)

[AnnieBrooke]

My son's pediatrician's only advice was to start him on the non-sweet things first (vegetables before fruits, etc.) so he would not refuse foods that didn't taste sweet.  

Another thing to consider is that some kids have a stronger liking of interesting textures and even strong flavors, rather than sweet or bland ones.  My son liked tomatoes, olives (sliced), lettuce with vinegar dressing, cooked broccoli, pickles, frozen peas, walnuts and other kinds of not-associated-with-baby-food items much more than he liked the standard applesauce-and-pureed-meat diets out there when he was 1.  It took him forever to like rice, breads or crackers, and even today he prefers flatbread to plain bread, and doesn't give a hoot about applesauce.  I read that some babies take a while for their taste buds to develop, and stuff that is too bland has no flavor to them.  Anyway, as long as the item isn't contra-indicated for another reason (like its shape, which is why I sliced the olives) you might try a more adventurous diet and see if it helps.

[Diane1003]

Thanks - we've been all over the board.  Tonight the ravioli was a Gerber 'grabber' thing or something that kids are supposed to be able to feed themselves.  I tasted one and it was like mush.  I am wondering if it's the pasta he was rejecting or maybe the blandness...?  He loves cottage cheese - that's our stand by.  I feel like we've tried giving him stuff that's more flavorful and he's not such a fan of that either.  I'm hoping this is just a time when he's not going through a growth spurt so he might not be as hungry - either that or we've giving him too much to 'snack' on so he's not hungry when it's meal time...?  We're going to try and cut back on the 'snacks' and see how things go.  

But some days he'll be great for the first 2 bites then he pushes the food out - like the yogurt... he's eaten yogurt PLENTY - the exact same brand/flavor and everything -then yesterday morning nope nope nope - wasn't having it.  He took cottage cheese just fine though - weird.

Thanks ladies!  Food for thought!  :-)

[AnnieBrooke]

Cottage cheese seems bland to us, but it's actually pretty tangy.  Try him on some of the tangy end of the spectrum, and varied shapes too, like cut-in-half grape tomatoes and those little square pretzels.  Maybe he's bored?  Maybe he needs a flavor challenge.  Good luck!

[tiredbuthappy]

i was an extremely picky eater. my best advice is not to push things- it totally backfired in my case and to this day I resist many things because my grandma used to force me to eat things.

DD would go through phases like you describe. Honestly, we just moved away from those foods for a couple of weeks, and when we went back to them later on she ate them beautifully. If she chooses not to eat, we do offer healthy alternatives. Also, I have found that it is really effective to allow her to reject a food, but to keep it in front of her while I offer something else. Almost everytime, as she eats the other foods, she'll go back and pick at the first items that she rejected. She allows us to keep it in front of her because we have never made an issue of her rejecting it. She knows she won't be forced to eat it so it's no big deal to leave it there.

for example, last night she ate a decent dinner but decided not to eat her veggies. Since she ate well (chicken and pasta), she got her icepop. Sure enough, between licks she ate peas. as soon as she was done with the icepop, she finished them off.

I would avoid the gerber meals and prepared foods like that. DD never liked them. She much prefers homemade chicken, pasta, peas, carrots, etc... Also, we have found that she will not touch those ingredients when mixed together in a casserole or like a Gerber meal, but will inhale them when offered separately. She eats best when we use plates with separate compartments that keep the different types of food separate.

[mlb1234]

I usually have about 4-5 various items for lunch or dinner (I usually save one I know she will eat for last like yogurt).  Sometimes the meals are totally weird and nothing goes togther but oh well!  Toddlers are notorious picky eaters.  One day they will like it the next day not.  One day eat a lot and the next day nothing.  Try not to worry too much and just let him eat what he wants to.  Parents are responsible for providing nutritious choices and you can't do much more than that.  Making mealtimes a fighting match is no fun and I learned that very quickly.  

Izzy also hates the prepared gerber foods. Her favorite meal is homemade chicken noodle soup (with lots of noodles and carrots).

Also just thought I'd mention that whenever Izzy is getting a tooth her appetite goes WAY down.  It happens every time!  Try not to worry - he will not starve and if you are worried about him getting enough nutrients you can always give him a squirt of vitamins.

[Diane1003]

Thanks ladies - Paul had a fever the other night and I think is popping tooth number 8 so who knows what's going on with his appetite.  He did okay at breakfast -wasn't interested in the blueberries or watermelon that was being offered but ate all 6 oz of the strawberry yogurt...  Snack was good and lunch was okay until he poked himself in the face with his little fork. I'd been putting peices of the mac and cheese on a fork and he'd take the fork and put the food in his mouth but at one point he was a little aggressive and his arm came back to get him then it was no more pasta.  

I was a super picky eater when I was a kid and in many ways still am so I want to do all I can to avoid this for my child.

Thanks for the tips on what to avoid and what to try. I tried one of the Gerber pasta things and it was pretty bad!  It's chicken nuggets tonight - wish us luck!