Picky Eater - Eagle Mountain,UT

I have 4 kids. My worst is my oldest. If she is yuck, the rest won't eat. We have taught her to not say anything, so that the others will eat. We also found that she had acid reflux (explaining why she didn't like tomato baste products) and that she was allergic to nuts(explaining why she didn't like peanut butter sandwiches). I have always tried to create a good variety for dinner. I usually try for one something I know they could eat lots of, and then I have the rest of the meal that they have to at least try one bit of. Even at 2 years old. If he was not and is now picky, he is just pushing your buttons to get only what he wants. If he is not starving for weight and he is a good healthy kid. Let him know that this is what you are having for dinner, he can sit at the table and eat with the rest of you, or just sit at the table until everybody is done. Skipping a meal will not hurt your child. I would also cut back on snack sizes before dinner time, as he will be even more hungry and more tempted to try something new. My doctor told me that as a general rule, kids will not starve themselves if there is food for them to eat. stick to your guns for a week or two and see what he does. If at that time he still will not eat anything, then talk to your doctor. I would not give in and feed him only hot dogs! There are worse things than hot dogs, but there are far better things. And of course, the easiest thing to do is run out of hot dogs and don't buy anymore. That curred my kids of eating them!

My little boy did the same thing when he was about that age and the only thing he would eat was hot dogs and drink milk. I know hot dogs aren't the most nutritious, but at least he is eating and he seemed fine. We kept trying to get him to eat new things, at least take a taste, before I would give him anything else. Most of the time he would spit it out. When he got older he had to eat what we ate, but I didn't do that until 2 1/2 or 3. I would also try hiding food in the food he liked and feeding it to him. It took a while, but now he eats almost anything. If your little guy is healthy I wouldn't worry about it too much. I think a lot of kids go through this phase. Keep trying to get him to try new things. Good luck.

When my son was that age I gave him hotdogs, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, mac-n-cheese just whatever he would eat. They go through phases where they don't eat much either. But don't force him to eat he will eat when he wants. They say if you force them to eat you can stretch their little tummies. The snacking use to bother me too but they get over it. My son is now 4 years old and he was fine eating those things. For the last 2 years or so he has eaten what I fix. But for a long time I just warmed a quick dinner for him. You just have to find the things he really likes and keep giving them to him. Good luck.

Check out Dr. Cristine Woods web site www.kidseatgreat.com this might be helpful. The Doc also deals with good nutrition especially with children. Training your children to eat right is essential in todays fast food environment.

Nutritionals You Can Trust-Usana Health Sciences-Independent Associates- www.jerrbiz.usana.com

This is quite common. Experiement widely even with things you normally wouldn't buy. If he'll eat hot dogs, then get turkey hot dogs, or all beef hot dogs, which aren't so 'gross'.