Do Any of You Have a Picky Eater That Just "Grew Out of It" on His Own?

My daughter is about to be 10 in a few weeks & still picky, but in an interesting way. I think for her it is more of a "You're not the boss of me" kind of thing. She never wants to be told what to do in any situation (which I understand, I'm kind of the same way) and I think for her it comes down to control sometimes.

On the other hand, if we're having something with very strong flavors like a vinegar-brined chicken, or artichoke, eggplant & roasted pepper lasagna then she's all over it, but chicken & noodles she'll skip or eat 3 bites & just push the rest around on her plate.

All food is an aquired taste. My ex-husband didn't grow up on a variety of veggies. His Mom mostly made canned green beeans-peas and corn, my Mom made all veggies and fresh or frozen, very different flavor. When my ex and I divorced my kids didn't want the healthy veggies I made. I struggled for 2-3 yrs gettingmy kids to eat veggies. I explained to them that I only made good food for them and they had to learn to eat it so they could be healthy. They had to eat 2 pieces of veggie, no matter what. There were a few times they almost fell asleep at the dinner table, you want to go to bed then eat!! Yes I was strict but they learned to eat their veggies. Now all 4 of my kids eat and love aspergras, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, carrots, green beans and peas etc. The only things they still won't eat are beets and parsnips. Now that they all have kids of their own they have taught their kids to eat veggies. My kids and grandkids eat any vegie offered to them except the two I mentioned. They also eat salads without a fuss.
This isn't a matter of choice kids need their veggies.

I was an exceptionally picky eater as a child (the only veggies I would eat were: cucumber, corn and potatoes),I didn't like cheese unless it was melted on pizza, I hated strange textures and refused to try anything new. Now, as an adult, I've come to LOVE a variety of veggies, in fact, the only ones I STILL don't like are bell peppers, onions and carrots, the rest are just fine! I LOOOOVE cheese, the stinkier the better. And will try almost anything once. My son stated to me at 6yrs old "if it's green, I won't eat it". Knowing what I knew about myself, I didn't push it too much. He was always served a piece or two of broccoli, or one asparagus, or a couple of cherry tomatoes at meals. Every once in a while, I would insist he eat one bite, which he would, making faces the whole time, but it was never a big deal. This went on for years. He's now 13. Guess what? He LOVES onions (raw, caramelized, anyway he can get them), mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, he'll tolerate broccoli, and almost any other veg. Last summer, we went to Japan to visit my parents, and he ate EVERYTHING that was served to him, some of it was quite exotic, and loved it all! So YES, growing out of bad eating habits is very possible!

I was a picky eater as a child and so was my daughter and both of us have widely expanded our food universe as adults. Both my mom and me, when I became a mom, did not make a big deal about it and would make separate meals if necessary. There are still some things I don't like that are very strongly flavored but I eat a wide variety and I eat extremely healthy. My daughter will eat absolutely anything. On the other hand, my husband was and remains an extremely picky eater. I make a separate meal for him almost every night of the week and it usually looks like the special meal you would make for a kid (hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, spagettios, grilled american cheese). His parents were the "clean your plate or you're not going anywhere" type. So my conclusion is, don't force it, it might make it worse!

Most picky eaters do grow out of it. My daughter went through a phase when she was young of wanting scrambeld eggs and strawberry-banana yogurt for every meal. My ped said to offer her other stuff, but if she insisted on eggs and yogurt to let her have it, and give her fruit juice to balance it out. He said that she would get tired of it after a while, and she did. By the time she was in kindergarten, there were very few foods that she would not eat. Her favorite meal at 5 years old - red beans and rice, mustard greens, and cornbread. She's now grown and will try almost any food once.

I insisted that she had to actually taste a food before saying that she didn't like it, but if after tasting it, she didn't like it, I didn't try to make her eat it. After all, I don't eat foods I don't like, and no one can make me.

yes - me! Now I love food, all food, maybe a little too much! :)

Yes, 2 of them. They both started doing better around age 5. I did make sure not to cater to them though. What I made for dinner was what we had, and they had to at least try it.

My Son who is now 4, has been a picky eater since he was 6 months old and started solids.

We do not battle about food or his eating.
He, is a 'grazer.' He knows what he likes/dislikes. He, goes by HIS body's cues for hunger and fullness. We do not feed him junk. He does not eat out of boredom or for emotional reasons. Which is good.
It is fine.
He never, starves.

NATURALLY, as he has gotten older, his palate has expanded. He now eats more things. Unforced. We do not force him to eat, nor punish, nor scold him nor bribe him, to eat.

We do not have battles at mealtimes.
No matter what I cook, there WILL be something there that he will eat.
Its fine.
He is healthy, lean, tall, rarely gets sick and has always been in the 95-97th percentiles for growth.

There is also something called "Food Neophobia" which ABC News did a show on.
Here is the link:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Recipes/extremely-picky-e...

All the best,
Susan

Oh yes. My son would not eat anything with tomato sauce. Pasta was plain. No pizza. Eventually he got out of the chicken nuggets and veggies bit. His first time eating pizza was just after he turned 10-though still has to have light sauce. He had his first baked mostaccioli last Thanksgiving. Surprise, he actually thought it was good. Go figure. Just keep offering the foods and one day it will sink in.
Oh, my son will be twelve next month.

Our daughter was like this and I just allowed her to skip meals. I did try to have at least 1 healthy thing served that she liked at each meal.. She liked raw carrots, celery and cucumbers.. so that was always available.

We did not make a big deal out of meals.. ever.

I also tried to give her choices.
Should we have spaghetti or pork chops for dinner? Should be have green beans or peas?

Sometimes she said none of them, so I would say ok, mom gets to pick!.. I still served her very small portions and if she tried it great. We would tell her, Thank you for trying. If she did not try it, we did not say a word.

Here is what blew me away. One day I needed to drop off something at daycare. I peeked in the window on the door and she was eating lima beans! and BEETS! I later asked the teacher if our daughter was a good eater.. she said yes, all of the kids are good eaters! I mentioned the lima beans and beets and she admitted the kids ate food she would not even eat.. I guess there was powers with all of the kids being served the same thing and watching each other eat..

I did discover our daughter did not like casseroles of any kind. So I would keep the items separate for her, but still serve her a small portion.
She is an adult and still does not care for casseroles, but does like sauces she can pour the portion herself.

She is the cook in the family and loves discovering new foods and preparing them.. We like to tease her a little about all of the raw veggies she ate. Like a rabbit..

My mother pureed my food for me until I was 18months old because I was so gaggy about food is what I was told. Up until school age I was very picky--ketchup on everything etc. Once I started school--it all changed --ate just about everything except turkey legs...blech! Now I'll eat just about any veggie or protein or grain (quinoa, squid, eggplants, fennel...) from a variety of ethnic cooking. I know my mom catered to me when I was young but that is just not the way I am as a mom. My daughter was a great eater until a year and a half old. Became more picky until now at 2.5 she is eating more and being willing to try something that she didn't particularly like before. I did try to have one thing at a meal she would eat and then she had to wait to the next meal, no exceptions. I did learn not to show my emotions of frustration at the table and that seemed to help and a year ago the "one bite" rule didn't work for her-she would battle with me too much, which was itself reinforcing...but now she is more willing to take a bite and even says something is yummy even if she doesn't want to eat more:) Different strokes for diff folks when it comes with how to deal with it i think

My kids go through phases where they're picky....then they're not....they eat like food is going out of style....then they just move it around their plates.

As long as he's healthy and growing properly I wouldn't stress about it too much. Maybe try and make sure that *one* component of dinner is something you know he will eat and make him try at least 2 or 3 bites of everything else before he can say he doesn't like it. That way he's not starving and he is trying new stuff, but you're not really 'catering' to him.

I was a very picky eater when I was younger and I'm less of a picky eater now (although would still fall under that label). I eat about 3x more foods now than I did as a kid, but it was on my terms when I'd try new things (in my teenage years and beyond). And it turns out the foods I really refused to eat are trigger/bad foods for me with diagnosed IBS now. I think I must have instinctively known as a kid what was harmful to me.

Our son, on the other hand is an extremely picky eater and will NOT eat foods that he doesn't want. The only things he will eat for dinner are peanut butter sandwiches, grilled cheese or McDonald's chicken nuggets. That's it. Zero fruits or vegetables (eek!). He will skip meals endlessly if he has to and goes into rages if presented with offending foods.

We're struggling to get our son to gain weight at all, so it's become an urgent issue. We're actually working with a behavioral therapist on this right now and he believes food is an anxiety for him. We're doing rewards just to get our son to the dinner table for foods he DOES like and haven't even worked up to tackling new foods. You can get medical help if you believe it's getting serious.

Good luck!

My husband was a "picky eater" as a kid and didn't really start trying new things until he was in college- mainly social pressure. Come to find out a few things:
1. MIL is a fabulous baker, but a lousy cook... everything is "over done" and "under-seasoned".
2. The only ate the things that actually tasted good and she restricted her cooking to meet the kids' demands.
3. We did not repeat this cycle with my son...

we have a "you have to try it" rule in our house. Basically, he has to at least take a bite of whatever we are having for dinner. I usually make sure that at least 50% of the meal is something he likes so that we aren't battling for an hour. But... whatever the "new" item is MUST be tried. About half of the time, he realizes that he likes it and eats it... the other half we file away to try again another day.

My husband did "outgrow" it, but probably would have really enjoyed eating as a social activity much more if he had been "trying things" along the way!

I am curious to see how people answer on this one...Good question!

Every picky adult I have ever been around was picky as a child...and never forced to eat anything else. I have always operated under the belief that if you are not forced to try things new or put in a situation that requires it...you will generally stick with what you are comfortable with.

I get annoyed with my children when they don't want to try something new...I can't imagine what kind of hell it would be if my husband were the same way! I have met many men who "only like meat and potatoes" or some other similair comment, and it just impresses the heck out of me that some women will cater to that. I won't, and never will. I make what I make, and if you don't like it...don't eat.

My granddaughter ate salad and popcorn, really freaky, but that was all she would eat. Violates everything I know about nutrition, and yes she eats more now, and is 1st chair violin- so, didn't harm her.
best, k

I know you don't think this is a sensory problem, but it is. He needs a good oral motor program to "wake up" his sensory receptors in his mouth. Once things get woken up, children start eating.....see it everyday!

My son had the exact same problem. Picky with sensory issues and I was given a lot of "opinions" about feeding him different foods, but he would scream and skip meals easily. I wanted peace for the one meal we ate together as a family, so I choose to feed him something different for dinner and adjusted for breakfast and lunch. I didn't "cater" to him as others insisted, I made him eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner each night for 9 years! He finally got tired and it and at 8 years of age we started to have him try what we were eating for dinner every night (by this time he was ready). He eventually learned to like meat althought it took 2 years of only fried and crunchy to eating it off the bone!!! I catered to him for about 2 years of eating other foods and getting used to the texture, but I believe every choice I made was worth the extra work. Vegetables were a lot harder, (textures are awful for him!), so I make him a green smoothie that he drinks once a day (before dinner) and it includes vegetables like spinach, kale, collards, carrots, zucchini, etc. He fought me at first, but I put fruit in it to make it better and bribed him and other such things, but he now knows he HAS to drink it and now does it well.

As a mom I had to make "unpopular" choices for my children, but I knew what they needed and we needed as a family and made them with confidence that I was doing it for us as a whole.

One last thought, there is a huge difference between being picky and having sensory issues! Those who have never had them have a hard time understanding them.

I hope this helps.