My daughter Alexandria is beginning to be very picky about her food. She is a little over thirteen months and this is a very new thing. Was wondering if anyone is dealing with this also and if so I could definitely use the input.
-C.
Look into Ellyn Satter - I believe Feeding a Healthy Family is one of the first books I read. She has several books on feeding children. She is a Registered Dietitian and has wonderful ideas and methods for feeding children. It can be very challenging to get our kids to eat well but her methods work and if you start now you can set the stage for relaxed and enjoyable meals/snacks. Good luck!!
Hi C.,
At this age, Alexandria is more aware of what she does and doesn't like, has her own preferences about tastes and textures. She may want to eat more table food, or on the other hand, not be ready for the textures of certain foods. Just as you have your food preferences, things that you like and do not like, so does she. Continue to introduce and reintroduce foods, but don't force the issue. A lot of times, parents think that their child needs to eat a huge variety of things and it's not true. While you don't want to end up with a child who only eats grilled cheese, macaroni with butter and applesauce, a child doesn't need to eat every fruit and 10 different vegetables and every variety of meat/chicken/fish/protein. As long as you find something from each food group that she likes, her nutrition will be fine. I think that as adults, we would find repetition of the same meals over and over to make us crazy and often it makes parents crazy when the kids want that, but familiar foods that they know they like are comforting to young children.
Good luck!
The one suggestion I see alot is that you should offer her the foods she's less interested in first while she's the most hungry. Then follow up with something she really enjoys, so she relates the not so enjoyable stuff with something that is enjoyable for her. Hope this helps - and welcome to the days of independence. I haven't had this particular issue yet (mine are 2yrs9mos), but they're definitely not shy about sharing their opinions. One other possibility is if you keep up a running conversation with your girl while you're feeding her - it can be enough to distract her from focusing on what she doesn't like. Oh-and one other thing-my pediatrician always offers the wise advice of "there are 2 things you can't force a child to do - one is eat and the other is sleep" - and he's been right so far.
Is your daughter eating table foods or still pureed baby food? My daughter refused to eat any pureed foods around 12 months. Also, my daughter went through the same thing after she turned 1. She had been eating everything I gave her and all of a sudden began refusing foods. I think she was just realizing that she can make choices and control what she ate. I started giving her a choice of 2 things ("Do you want carrots or peas?) I show her both and let her pick. Since then, she's been eating pretty much everything again.
My son is so picky and has been since about that age as well. He is now 17 months old and eats about 20 foods and no fruits or vegetables unless they are pureed. Our pediatrician said to give him the foods he'll eat and when he's hungry he'll eat. He also said to give him a multivitamin. Good luck!!!
my daughter is very picky... She is 2 now. She would not eat, banana, and a lot of fruits. What I have done is give her something new every other day and see what happens. Also, mix it into cereal and things like that. Try try again. I know its not a lot of help, but I have been there and still there. Try mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes. Also, try a few plates, she may like that. There are lots of books and resouses at teh library and on line. I also started a group on meet up.com Something Special. It is free, it is for specail needs and allergies, but picky eater too. Take care and keep trying.
