My Son Is Not Eating Right

I think all you can do is give him time. My daughter ate everything as a baby and young toddler, then became quite picky. Now she is nearly five and is getting a little better. She loves asparagus. How did I get her to try them? I told her they were really good while I ate them but didn't give her any. The next time she asked to try them. I gave her pieces without the spear, assuming she wouldn't like them. She later asked for those and swears they are her favorite part now. He will eventually start wanting what you have so just be patient. Good luck.

Actually it sounds like what he is eating is actually healthy.
If I understand right he will NOT eat Hot dogs, mac and cheese, meat those aren't necessarily good options.

Make sure he gets fruit and veggies, peaches and corn... good choices! If you are concerned vitamins will help too. i do make my kids try one bite and some they like and some not. I don't make them try anything like dessert or fried since I know it isn't healthy.

Yogurt peaches in corn are really good and be glad he is makeing good choices. My kids didn't like mac n cheese at first they only ate plain pasta...

Make sandwiches into faces make broccoli "trees"
Cut cheese and meats into shapes

Good Luck!!

Here's my bizarre-o advice....ignore your kid...OK seriously what I mean is this.... Put a little of something on his plate if he eats it great if not so what? Try again another time. It takes between 10 and 15 exposures to a new food before a child will accept it. Here's my other big advice---if your kid says "No" or "I don't like it" ignore them...put it on their plate anyway...9 times out of 120 the kid will eat it anyway. When our daughter was very young she made a very big tactical mistake that gave me a huge insight into kids...she said she didn't like ice cream. What? Huh? I realized at that point that kids have no clue what the heck they are talking about...and that "no, I don't like that" doesn't mean bumpkiss. Just keep putting things on his plate and eventuallly he'll try them. Good luck! PS--you really don't want your kid eating mac and cheese or "kid food" anyway. Don't stress. My kids fave meal now is salmon, broccoli and rice!

Hi T.,

I have a 15 month old boy and he is certainly particular about his food too!

This is a list of food that he eats:

Avocados
Cherry Tomato
Mashed Potato
Strawberries
Banana (a whole regular Chiquita one!)
Baby Carrots in a jar (the chunky pieces)
Baby Apples in a jar (the chunky pieces)
Cherrios
Gold Fish Crackers
Pancakes
Toast (ripped into little pieces)
Hamburger (somtimes)
Yogurt (Yo yo baby yogurt with oatmeal)
Fruit cups (drained and the lite syrup rinsed off)
Quiche
Skinny Cow mini ice cream bar
Ice cream cup
Anything chocolate (he starts chomping- he just has chocolate for the first time about 3 weeks ago- he was ga ga over it!)

I am sure I am missing some foods, but this is a pretty good list of where we are at. Don't worry- When he is older all he will want to eat is mac/cheese, hot dogs etc. ha ha. :)

For my son, I chopped the food up and set it in little piles on his tray. Mostly he will eat one pile at a time or alternate between them. The foods he doesn't like get spread around the tray and then swept onto the floor by him! (We are working on that!)

Your son sounds just fine. Every week that goes by he will start trying new foods and will find foods he will love!

If you need anything else feel free to email me!

MV :)

hi T.! I am a 22 y/o mom too :) I have a year old son who eats everything. what we did was just have him try everything a couple times. he just got used to what we gave him! everyone told me "kids will eat what they have to eat". when he's hungry he will eat whatever you give him (hopefully) it sounds mean but it was true for my son. hope this might help!! good luck

My son at that age lived on cheerios and applesauce. It's not uncommon. What he is eating is healthy so I wouldn't worry. My son would have total meltdowns if I put something else on his plate even. I would make new things available and encourage his to try them but not get into a screaming match over it. At 9 my son is finally starting to try things. If he doesn't like it,that's ok he tried it. My husband doesn't agree with me on this because he ate what was fixed or didn't eat...but then again, he won't try new things I cook either LOL.

You might try the family fun website, they have some creative cooking ideas. Also, you might try buying the little plastic food sets for him to play with and pretend to eat the peas or pbj sandwhich. This type of play might encourage him to try the real thing. Lastly, involve him in making his meals. He could spread peanut butter with a spoon or dumb a can of green beans in a bowl. I have found my kids willing to try anyting they make themselves.
No worries your son will grow out of it eventually. Just be thankful its not chicken nuggets and potato chips.

I had six kids and 13 grandkids. They all went through some of what you are presenting. I just continued to offer different foods in different ways. He is also in a finger food stage so try a variety of different things in small quantities in that way. A dill pickle with cream cheese and dried beef wrapped around and cut like a pinwheel. Celery with peanut butter or try apples with peanut butter and different cheeses. Little sandwiches with diffferent fillings or crackers with toppings. He will outgrow it Rest assured Hope that helps
B.

If he likes yogurt he will like smoothies. Get a wand blender and add some baby oatmeal to the fruit and yogurt mix. Blend with a little juice or whatever. You can sneak all kinds of things into a smoothie.
Also I agree with one of the other writers who said to just put the food on the plate w/o comment. If your son doesn't eat it, at least you have tried to expose him to different foods. Don't give up! Serve him whatever you are eating and let him decide whether or not to eat it.