Picky Eaters - Specifically Toddlers

I am loving the new Pregnancy and Parenting forum. 

Is there anyone else out there with picky eaters that are specifically toddlers?

What do they eat/will not eat? 

What do you typically prepare for them? 

I, for one, am a proud parent of a wonderful toddler who happens to be one of those picky eaters.  I am looking for new meal/snack ideas from other parents of picky eaters. 

My daughter will eat cheese, chicken nugets, or yogurt.  Everything else is a chore.  (except for maybe cookies or chocolate of any kind)

My son's not overly picky, but he's going through the "I'm only going to eat 2 tiny nibbles of this and 4 of that, but none of the other" phase.  I've been combating this by giving him only a couple bites of 1 thing on his plate at a time, keeping the rest on mine and refilling (He thinks he's eating mommy's food.  This sometimes causes confusion for me when entering servings, though; sometimes he eats part of my share too!).  This may or may not help with the picky-ness, but it's worth a try.  I also like to put strange things in front of him, like soybean pods (First time he popped one out, it shot across the room and made us both jump! tee hee).  Also try offering the little tike a toothpick as a utensil (With careful supervision of course.).  The more interactive they can be with their food, the more they usually eat.  Keep them surprised; that's my motto to a healthy eater!

When my son was at that stage (he's 15 now) I tried to have him help with meals.   That sparked more interest in the food at hand.

One thing I did learn to was not to offer bribes or rewards for eating.  That can cause it's own problem

Also try to limit the amount of juice/milk/water as that tends to fill them up.

They also learn by example.  So if there is a food you don't like ~ keep it to yourself.  I learnt this the hard way.  I don't like brussel sprouts and I had made the mistake of saying probably more then once and both my children won't eat them. 


 

Any ideas for healthy lunch alternatives appropriate for school?

Any ideas for high calorie foods for toddlers would be appreciated as well.

Some good foods to include in his diet are: puddings made from eggs and whole milk, non-lean meats, fattier fish such as salmon, tuna packed in oil, put butter on his muffins, bread and toast, cream cheese on quick breads like banana bread or pumpkin bread, high quality frozen yogurt, peanut butter crackers, peanut butter dip for fruits and vegetables, cheese, full fat yogurt, avocados, bananas, papayas, butter his vegetables and potatoes, serve fruit smoothies for a snack made in a blender with full fat vanilla yogurt and any of his favorite, fruits, serve pancakes, french toast, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, and eggs, try cheese sauce on top of vegetables and potatoes. Make sure the milk he drinks is whole milk, that his yogurt is the whole milk variety and the same for his frozen yogurt, cottage cheese, and other cheeses.

Thanks for the WONDERFUL ideas Sheila!

My son is 8yr.
But, Chandler has always been a picky eater.
He is the opposite of your son though. My son (if you see my avatar or family pic in my gallery) is clearly NOT skinny :)
He is very active though, so I know he will grow out of it...

Anyway,
He recently discovered he loves wraps. I let him make then with turkey and cheese, ham and cheese, or sometimes, peanut butter and jelly.
I will make one wrap, and then cut it up into hor d'eurve size pieces.
Then, put a toothpick in it and let him munch on them like finger food while watching tv.

(Chandler also loved "Dragon Tales" when he was younger.  He named our cat Emmy after the girl on the show :)

Back to the topic at hand though.....

Just last week I started using my George Foreman grill and I have been making chicken breasts on it. He LOVES them.  I know you said your son won't eat them unless they are nuggets, but why don't you cut up tenderloins, bread them in ground up Fiber One crumbs, and bake them like nuggets?
Healthier, more filling, and tasty too :)

I saw a post in Foods about the Foreman grill and someone suggested making quesedillas on it.
Your son might like that?

Since I am starting to eat new things and I am letting HIM know that I am experimenting myself, I am kind of letting him "take the journey" with me.
I just present everything to him in a different way. More often than not, a finger food version :)

My son is almost 2 and is extremely picky too!  I think Sheila's post (#5) is a complete list of the only things he'll eat.  That seems like a lot of food, but we don't make all those things every day. 

It's frustrating sometimes because when he was younger, he ate everything I gave him.  Somewhere in the last few months he's become Mr. Picky and won't eat anything.  And, yes, he nibbles too.  I think I've finally found something he'll eat only to have him refuse it after 5 or 6 bites.  Ack! 

I discovered the night before last that he likes raw red peppers cut in strips.  He also just discovered cherries (pits removed first), and he can't keep his hands out of daddy's cucumber salads. 

I can't beleive people on CC are giving their kids chicken nuggets!

Syd is a big snacker too. I always have good stuff for her to have little bits of. I never push food on her & have a "snack tray" for her to pick her snacks from. She likes the choices.

Syd loves:

thawed frozen cherries/peaches/blueberries over yoghurt

full fat greek yoghurt

fruit smoothies

trail mix

rice/oats/quinoa/millet/grain cereals with whole milk, nut butter & berries/cranberries whatever

Peas & edamame

baked tofu/tofu curry

guacamole

zuccini/carrot/"morning glory" muffins

french toast "sticks" (french toast cut into sticks frozen /thawed)

scrambled eggs

turkey "rolls"

string cheese

Nut butter plain or on something

Wow, Carleyrapp, it's amazing that your daugher like's so many things of different varieties. You are lucky! That must be fun preparing all sorts of little things for her!

Being from a transplanted Irish-to-USA home, I grew up in a house where my father ate no vegetables whatsoever and we disliked American/Italian food, so the example to eat "well" has been poor for me all my life. I was a very thin child, LOL! I am ok now eating a wide array of foods, but my young nieces and nephews suffer from the same thing I did - being super duper picky, eating nothing with any flavor whatsoever, only wanting candy and being very very very thin.

Even now after all these years, my two brothers (40 years old!) don't eat any veggies or anything really except meat and potatoes -- therefore my two nephews eat very little and are so thin. The eating issues rubs off on each other

I know that their moms want them to eat whatever they possibly can so often times the only thing they will eat are chicken nuggets. It really isn't so bad if done in moderation! And in fact, chicken nuggets aren't all bad, they can be made quite healthily very easily (as the amazing MC pointed out above, LOVE those Fiber One chicken recipes!). And sometimes, when the little guys haven't eaten anything all day except a bowl of Cheerios and a Zone bar, we just want them to eat something else. Give em a few nuggets and a yogurt drink. Voila ... they eat! It's true, and hopefully a phase as they are otherwise totally healthy little guys.

In any case, has anyone read the Jessica Seinfeld book Deceptively Delicious???? I don't have kids yet but have the book and made some of the recipes! YUM! Who knew sweet potato pancakes and chickpeas in choc chip cookies could be so good???? My nephew Peter thinks they are white chocolate, gotta love that ... LOLOL!!! (plus there is a recipe for chicken nuggets in there )

After babysitting my nephews a few weekends (think instant single working parent for 5 days in a kid safe house where I can't find anything the first time), I believe that whatever the kids will eat to get them enough calories is something to be glad of. Chicken nuggets are a far cry from the worst food around, for an adult watching their calories sure they're awful, but for kids who are active and need more calories I'd bet they're a godsend.

I was a very picky eater as a kid...almost any veggie or fruit I'd eat, but meat I did not like!  I'm sure my parents had concerns but since they didn't make too big of deal out of it I turned out pretty normal.  BTW, my mom convinced me that meat was the lesser of two evils for protein, beans (I had only had refried so I didn't know they could be good) were the other option, I chose meat.

Other snack foods that I loved as a kid (most make me shudder now)...baby dill pickles wrapped with a slice of swiss cheese...actually, I may try this one again.  Mild cheddar cheese dipped in sugar. Bumps on a log...celery sticks with peanut butter (you could try soy nut/pumpkin/sunflower butter) with raisins on top. Cinnamon toast.  Blended orange juice (just with air but I like it fluffy).

Thanks for the posts. This is incredibly helpful.  I have two year old twins.  One who with a little coaxing will eat a good deal of foods, especially if he sees them in Mommy's plate first and the other who just won't eat anything but chicken nuggets, breads like pancakes, muffins, french toast, grilled cheese and potatoes.  He does like some fruits like apples, pears, peaches but won't eat them all the time.  I recently started giving them cereal bars, which he will go nuts for. What makes this even more challenging is my picky eater is experiencing developmental delays with speech and other motor skills. Talk about frustrating!!  He will drink milk and I finally got him to eat the green mashed potatoes I made for him the other day which I blended some spinach and mixed in.  My next task is to blend carrots in his muffins. It's crazy because he is so suspect of anything I do to his food. LOLOL

Original Post by nycgirl:

Wow, Carleyrapp, it's amazing that your daugher like's so many things of different varieties. You are lucky! That must be fun preparing all sorts of little things for her!

It's funny you say that, because everyone tells me she's a picky eater & hardly eats anything. I think it's because when she stays with my mom she offers her "kid foods" like chicken nuggets & fish sticks & I offer her a tray of choices to choose from throughout the day.

Like most toddlers she likes choices. If I give her something to eat she says "NO!" & wont eat it. By letting her choose from my choices she gets what she gets.

Junk foods aren't things we've ever had in the house so she's totally unfamiliar with them (obviously not all chicken nuggets are junk foods, but you get the idea)

Like I said, she gets to choose from a snack tray & is offered whatever we're eating for meals. She usually has a good breakfast with me, but only has a few bites of her snacks, but she asks for them throughout the day & her only frame of reference are whole foods. She doesn't know any different. We don't keep anything I don't want to put in her body in the house (Besides coffee, which she already asks for )

She also likes "chocolate bars" (Odowalla bars or Chocolatl larabars). I put 1/2 of one on her snack tray for the day & keep the other 1/2 in my messenger bag.

I bet you could hide pureed carrots in pumpkin muffins.  I've been taking a pumpkin bread mix, one can of pumpkin pureed with 1 cup of water and baking them in muffin tins.  They're a little chewier than regular muffins but the flavor is fantastic.

All my 5 year old will it is chicken nuggets, mac N cheese and hot dogs.  Everything else is a battle that I fight everyday.  I'm told that i'm too strict when it come to making him try things, but I think it's worth the battle because I grew up eating fast food 3 times a week and I will not have my son have the same eating habbits as me.

I'm not trying to incite a parenting riot, but a diet of chicken nuggets, macncheese & hot dogs is NOT OK.

If you dont keep those poor food choices in your house then he wont only eat chicken nuggets, macncheese & hotdogs (HOTDOGS? COME ON!!!!!!). Imagine what that poor nutrition is doing to his body! Fattenting processed foods? No fiber, grains, vegetables or fruits? High cholesterol? You ARE setting him up with the same awful food habits that you have. He could develop diabetes before he becomes an adult! That is not ok! Not by any standards & certainly not by the food pyramid.

It's your responsibility as a parent to make sure he's offered nutritional food that will feed his body & brain. Get that crap out of your house & give your child a future!

I am really shocked!

carleyrapp,

I am going to say this as politely as possible since I am not 'trying to incite a riot', but I would ask that you refrain from passing judgement on me.
Yes, me. I am one of those 'horrible' parents who is feeding my son what you feel is "NOT OK".

I take offense to you giving me instructions to "give my child a future".
This thread was started with the simple request of input and advice from those who were willing to give it.
It was NOT asking for judgement.

I appreciate it.
Thank you.

McDerin, you look great! Are you living off of Macncheese, chicken nuggets and hot dogs? Your child is obviously overweight. You feed him processed fattening foods & his weight problem (& all the consequences associated with it) is your fault. You are giving him a future of diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity & social isolation. You shouldn't take offense to people wanting you to give him a future. You should want to give him a future.

I am not "judging" you, I am reciting common sense & what you have just told me. You feed him a poor diet & it's reflected in his body. Everyone knows what poor nutrition leads to. Apparently you are a  Lifestyle & Weight Management Specialist/Coach. You KNOW everything I'm writing already.

You KNOW these foods are unhealthy yet are feeding them to him anyway. Do you also light his ciggarettes for him? 

I am shocked that on this CALORIE COUNTING website devoted to HEALTH AND NUTRITION adults are feeding kids "foods" that they would never dream on living on themselves.

When I came across this thread I thought it was about picky eaters, not about parents feeding their kids diets of macaroni & cheese, chicken nuggets and hot dogs. It is NOT ok to feed your child a diet of processed, high cholesterol high fat high sodium foods to live on.

What are you teaching your son with the foods you feed him?

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/obes ity.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=chil d+nutrition

 Now I am trying to incite a riot. It is NOT ok to feed your kids an unhealthy diet. Bad food = bad bodies & FAT is not a fair burden to place on a child who doesn't know any better.

Most of us have been out of shape or overweight or we wouldn't be here. I am SHOCKED that not every one of us wants our children to have a better start healthwise & lifelong healthy eating habits.

So your kids a picky eater. Give them healthy choices to be picky about.

My 5 year old only smokes LIGHT ciggarettes.  See i am a good parent!

Original Post by carleyrapp:

McDerin, you look great!

     Thank you. I do look great, if I say so myself!
     I always appreciate a compliment.