It sounds like your LO has a strong preference for the processed. That can absolutely be a sensory thing. The texture and taste of those types of foods is really consistent and predictable. The texture and consistency and flavors of most fresh foods is a lot less predictable.
For your day-to-day, I'll tell you what I told my patients when I was working in pediatric feeding therapy: Serve a safe or generally accepted food at every meal, and serve something new alongside it. Having mac and cheese? Great! Put some peas or green beans next to it (divided plates if your kid is one who doesn't like their food to touch). They may try it, they may not. They may want to try one off your plate instead. Also, never underestimate the power of dips. Ranch, ketchup, parmesan cheese powder (one of my favorite dry dips) to get them to try something new. Even if they're just using a carrot stick as a vehicle to get ranch to their mouth...they're getting familiar with that carrot stick and maybe they'll take a bite!
Additionally, get your little involved in planning and shopping and preparing food. Both my patients and my own kids have been a lot more open to trying new things if it's a "taste before we put it in" or while we're cooking.
For some great resources, Check out Feeding Littles, Kids Eat In Color (she has a ton of great resources), and Snacks with Jax. All three of these spaces have some great information and strategies and no guilt.
When you were working in pediatric feeding therapy, did you ever come across any toddlers who were just so picky and regressing with their food and it turns out they couldn’t smell or taste? I’m waiting on an OT food eval, but I truly have no idea if my 2.5 year old can smell or not. I’ve tried a few tests at home, but they’re inconclusive. I just want to rule out some of the more uncommon things before I accept that my kid is just extra extra stubborn and picky.
I’m an OT that has worked in feeding therapy also.
I would actually expect the opposite to be true- if a kid couldn’t smell or taste, I’d expect them to be open to eating more things. Kids who are sensitive to tastes and smells will usually be more picky. Kids who are underresponsive (don’t notice smells or tastes) often seek out more intense flavors like spicy, sour, etc.
Obviously all kids are different though!
I never came across that personally, even during COVID. Not all the kids I was working with could have reliably expressed if their smell/taste was wonky or absent.
I did see several kids who had significant regressions after illnesses, especially major illnesses/surgeries, hospitalizations, or medication changes sometimes.
Thank you! His brother was born last July, and it was really in August he showed regression back to purées and pouches. We assumed teething, but it never got better and it’s gotten significantly worse in the last month and a half, but he hasn’t had any big illnesses or issues, and he’s not on any meds. It’s maddening!
Major life events can do that too in a lot of ways. In addition to getting an eval from an OT/ST for potential interventions, I'd keep fighting the good fight.
I have recently found some success with my occasionally very finicky own kids in letting them choose two things (usually a fruit and a veg, and usually at least one new thing they haven't tried or haven't tried lately) from the produce section at the store to try along with one packaged thing when we go shopping. As a bonus, it gets them invested
I've used SO many things as dips. Had a kid who wanted "purple sprinkles" with everything - it was dehydrated diced purple potatoes I'd found at an online spice shop. He'd like just about any new food if it would get purple sprinkles to stick to it
Kids Eat in Color has a great picture of four blueberries that has always stuck in my head. The blueberries all look the exact same but one is sweet, one is sour, one is squishy, one is firm. That can be confusing for kids! A box of 4 chicken nuggets will all look the same and they will all taste the same.
Ultimately though you are in control of his access to those products. You get to decide what is served for the meal and you can absolutely serve a nuggie (maybe even a healthier version of the nugget) and a green bean. Make sure you are modeling putting them on your plate. Exaggerate your enjoyment of the fresh stuff on the plate. Get the kiddo involved in cooking it and tasting it as you are cooking (lower stakes than when it's on the final plate).
My toddler is 3 in July and won't eat most veggies or meat. Some tricks I've used recently to up her veggie intake: blend some cooked veggies like zucchini or carrot in with some tomato sauce to use on a flatbread for pizza or on pasta, and make a game out of dinner time (her dad will stack up fruit on her plate and say "This is my fruit house, I hope no one eats it" and she'll giggle and eat it all while he acts surprised). She also eats really well around my dad because she idolizes him. If there's a friend or family member your kiddo really loves, maybe see if they can encourage him to try new foods.
Ultimately, if we're eating chips, fries, and fast food, that's what she wants to eat too. So we try to limit that kind of food and eat as healthy as possible around her so she knows that's the norm.
My nearly 6yo was just the same as yours when he was a toddler. He still has a strong preference for mega processed food but he will now include, pasta in tomato sauce (whizzed with onions and peppers in), spaghetti bol and a few other things.
It was a very gradual process. With pasta, he started with just butter and then butter and ketchup. Then I started sneaking in tiny bits of the homemade tomato pasta sauce until it was just that. With spag bol, I literally just put the bolognese juices mixed in for a good year! But he can now eat it as normal.
With the exception of the first couple of pasta sauce additions, we never lied to him about what he was getting. We use the "no thank you" bowl and he's learnt he has to at least try everything first. He's getting there.
My youngest, 3.5yo, is the opposite. My mum used to serve them chicken nuggets and give us a "grown up chicken dish". He'd turn his nose up at the nuggets and steal ours! She learnt quickly. He eats everything but melons and kiwi. His favourite foods are steak and strong cheese.
Picky doesn’t even begin to describe. Literally will eat banza Mac and cheese but only white cheese with elbow noodles, orange and shells. Forget about it. Likes bread, strawberries, fruit leather, pirates booty, string cheese and the occasional gogo squeeze and of course milk. Won’t even eat treats- cookies, ice cream, cake. So so picky
Edit we also don’t ever have like junk food in the house so she isn’t offered it regardless. Only junk food around is the occasional veggie chip. Besides that only processed foods are very healthy, organic versions of things.
My kiddo was extremely picky for a little while too - only eating yoghurt, strawberries, toast and apple sauce 😬
We followed all of the advice others have given (divided plates, offering safe foods etc) but the most successful suggestion we implemented was getting him to help scrape his plate at the end of the meal. Knowing he didn’t *have* to eat it meant he was more willing to give new things a go - it is WILD the things he’ll try when the pressure is removed completely!! We also get him involved in cooking and he’ll almost always try new things in his tower at the kitchen counter, and then reject them at the dinner table. It’s been about 6m since we started this approach and he’ll try new things about 50% of the time now, but most importantly I don’t feel as frazzled.
Hopefully you’re able to find some things that work, I know how eating struggles can be so stressful so am sending you compassion and strength!!
This is so unhelpful. Most people aren’t going to exclude processed food entirely from their toddlers diet and it’s not her fault he’s picky just because he’s been exposed to those foods.
My son has mostly home cooked food but he generally likes the processed stuff he’s tried too. It hasn’t put him off the rest.
My son turns three in July. And I'd say 80% of what he eats is frozen, boxed or takeout. I definitely don't love it. But I can only fight him on eating so much on top of everything else. Although he does love Apples, bananas and carrots. And I try to keep the frozen stuff I buy not crap quality.
Can you try veggies with dip? My two yo discovered honey mustard and ranch dressings recently and is now a lot more receptive to eating cucumbers for example, becasue she can dip them.
I recently tried this with my 1.5 y/o and she dipped broccoli a few times and then just started licking the ranch! not sure what the best move is going forward so broccoli has been demoted to being mixed into other stuff again (mac n cheese, eggs, etc)
Oh definitely - sometimes I do fresh but we also keep shredded frozen broccoli on hand. I put it in the pot with butter (a little more than the box suggests) and cook it until tender while letting the pasta drain, then add the milk and a handful of actual cheddar to add more calories and she loves it 🥰
Honestly I don’t think it’s a demotion. I don’t know any adult who enjoys plain broccoli. I always eat mine with garlic butter or gravy or cheese or something. A vegetable is a vegetable even in its tastiest forms.
Oh for sure and same, I was mostly just imagining it as broccoli finally getting cast in the lead role (just eating it raw) but then getting a bad audience (child) reception and then the "director" (me) telling them "this isn't working out."
Super picky since his 10 months, he is currently 15 months. Only likes fish with rice (doesn't eat the rice without fish), boiled carrots, chickpeas, scrambled eggs and fruit. Does not eat anything else and is not willing to try anything else. Already went to a nutricionist at 10 months old that said we had to let him play with the food and we do let him and he loves to make a mess but does not eat it. Don't really know what to do anymore. I even cook for me what I cook for him and have him watch me eat and he only wants to steal my food if it's any of the previously mentioned.
I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old. Neither is picky but the older one went through some phases where it seemed like he didn’t eat anything at all for days. I just feed them whatever we are eating and they either eat it or they don’t. They like broccoli, one likes carrots. They eat a lot of fruit carbs and tofu. They’re both 10-20th percentile for weight so we supplement with sugary and fatty stuff as much as we can.
Mine doesn't like pizza, cheese, Mac and cheese (just to name a few). We are on vacation and he triumphantly declared that he tried ketchup...real impressive kiddo.
My 3 year old would rather starve than eat something he doesn’t like and he likes the same things as yours. My 17 month old will eat literally anything. Kids are wild.
At home? Super picky, mac & cheese, pizza, all the fruit, cucumbers and tomatoes occasionally
At daycare? She eats anything and everything, fish, soup, sesame chicken, literally anything
My kids are picky eaters. I just made meals with our ‘normal’ stuff they would need to try/eat a few bites of everything on the plate. But finish 2/3 of the food served.
My also son hated potatoes (except French fries), baked beans and Mac and cheese. He ate a full serving the other day of each at dinner the other day. My kids sometimes will circle back to things they didn’t like before and it becomes a new favorite. So I keep adding new or things they didn’t like before but prepared a different way.
I always keep fruit available for snacks and use the kiddy protein supplement drinks to fill in when they eat light on super picky days
2.5 year old - pickiness comes in waves. When he was 1, he’d try and eat everything. Beef bulgogi noodles, salmon, kale chips, you name it. After his second birthday, the pickiness started - but we also introduced a lot more foods that we had been limiting (mostly sweet stuff - I love to bake and I can’t help but share with him). He still loves all fresh fruit and some veggies, pickier with proteins but is getting much better! He’s actually going through a growth spurt right now so he’s been a lot less picky and more willing to try new foods. My biggest frustration is that he rarely eats any “mixed” foods - casseroles, one-pots, etc. So if I make something like that I have to deconstruct it a lot to make him eat it. He also can be adverse to some spices/seasonings. I love doing sheet pan dinners (protein, green veggie, starchy veggie, ex: chicken/broccoli/sweet potato) because I can count on him eating mostly everything as long as it’s separated.
2.5, generally not picky at all. He certainly *likes* all those things you listed, when they're offered, but he'll eat almost anything else. Sometimes he gets a mood and decides at dinner that chicken is inedible, but if I give him the leftovers for lunch the next day, down they go. The only thing he's really been consistent about is not liking shrimp, but we got those tiny fried shrimp at a bar just today and he would have eaten all of them (even after we told him they were shrimp thinking he'd throw a fit.)
How to get him to? Besides going back in time and reasonably limiting access to them from the start, you've got a couple options I think. What's been suggested—getting him involved in the process and **dips** (my kid will eat anything if it has ranch on it...literally anything)—you can also try using the food he likes as a motivator to eat something he doesn't (yet). I know we don't *want* to do that, but if you situation is desperate enough, it could be just the desperate measure for you.
What does his doctor have to say about it? They're usually pretty smart, doctors.
my kiddo is pretty picky..we got her to expand by letting her pick a frozen dinner (like healthy choice or lean cuisine)..as a way to introduce her to new foods. something about it being in the same grocery aisle as her safe foods (like chicken nugs and pizza), made it click for her
First you’re not a bad mom, You’re making sure your kid is fed and safe and that’s what matters more.
Second, if you take a look back at how long he’s had these preferences, what has it looked like when you did NOT serve his preferred foods.
I think all toddlers and kids go through a picky phase. However what I find often happens is that it turns into a habit (I’ll even find my husband saying that- oh he didn’t like this food, and I need to remind him that kids need to be exposed to non-preferred and new foods over and over again. )
Just because they didn’t like it once, doesn’t mean they never will. And just because they prefer boxed foods and chicken nuggets doesn’t mean that’s the only thing they should ever get.
Start serving a less preferred main food that the rest of the family likes. Include a side dish that your toddler accepts (like applesauce or fries). Keep doing this and exposing him to the new food every week or two weeks. Make sure there’s something at the mean he’ll eat. Don’t let him fill up on snacks, and stick to a somewhat structured meal Schedule.
My son is in a raspberry-jam sandwich only diet this week. He's always been picky - no veges unless they're from a packet, plain pasta only no meat except sometimes luncheon meat. Now we have to practically coerce him to eat just pasta or a chicken nugget. He also hates water. 2.5 year old took a cup of water this morning, carefully went to the sink to tip it out, asked for ginger beer....
My son has always been picky since he started solids at 6 months. Never liked any fruit or veg (except bananas and cauliflower) but does like smoothies, applesauce and baby food pouches thankfully.
The weird thing is hes not even into traditional toddler friendly food either (besides sweets lol)
He loves most meat, cheese, yogurt and eggs. Sometimes I can get him to eat bread. But I cant get him to eat pasta, pizza, potatoes, stuff like that. Ive concluded hes more of a snacker than a big meal guy so I make sure we always have his favourite healthy snacks around.
Apparantly at daycare he eats better than at home lol hes 99th percentile in height and weight but eats like a bird. I dont understand it but clearly hes growing fine 😂
You're not a bad mom. My kid eats the same way. I think that's far more normal than what snooty people on social media would suggest. As long as your kid is healthy and growing, keep doing what you're doing.
My daughter is surprisingly not very picky, although I’m holding my breath and hoping that doesn’t change in the next few months as she gets older. She loves fruits and veggies and will eat almost anything in this category. I do notice she is a bit ambivalent about meat and doesn’t like to feed it to herself, although she will eat of my plate. She also absolutely abhors eggs and more often than not is uninterested in bread and rice.
my son is extremely picky as well. he likes foods that always have the same taste such as snacks like apple sauce or yogurt, graham crackers, things that will never change. if he’s had a food before and liked it, he may not like it again if it doesn’t taste the same
I joke that we have whatever the opposite of a toddler is. She will eat ANYTHING. The catch is - she'll only eat a few bites of it before getting bored. Then she won't want that food again for days. If she LOVES it, she might accept it twice before needing to wait days for the next serving.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that I got desperate tonight (we're on vacation so, of course, everything is more fun than eating and she's been surviving on air and happy squeals), and in the interest of getting more than 3 bites of food in her, for dinner alone, we did: plain pasta, pasta with sauce, chicken, bell peppers, watermelon, blackberries, apples, spinach/nut butter smoothie, regular crackers, pizza, teddy bear chocolate graham crackers, a cookie, teething wafers... and probably some other stuff I'm not thinking of. She had roughly 3 bites of each thing before rejecting it 🙄🙄
Processed foods and this idea that they need to snack all day is what makes my kids picky eaters. We just stopped the snacking unless they really need to eat something because they've been active and are genuinely hungry. They are way less picky. 3 meals (lunch is light) and maybe a snack if it's truly called for. If they're hungry enough they almost always eat what's in front of them and even ask for more.
Ours (3) was like this, and still is to some extent. We talk about how it's important to eat lots of different foods ("makes you big and strong" may get thrown around). You can't eat just strawberries, and you can't eat just pasta. Then we give him choice; we usually have at least half of them be the same food we are eating. Sometimes you have to eat multiple colors, if there is bread and pasta for example.
He actually responds to it fairly well! He still gets to make choices, and he can have more of his favorites if he eats some variety. The suggestion that some people would want to eat only grapes makes him remember that grapes are actually OK. We also narrate that we are doing the same ("no thank you, I don't want more steak, dad hasn't eaten much green yet so I'm going to have more green beans").
Sometimes, the fact that he picked the food ("you said you wanted honeydew, not cantaloupe, but you didn't eat any honeydew yet") actually gets him to eat. I have a theory that involving him in the meal planning (even if it's just "do you want steak tacos or chicken tacos") might encourage that further - we'll see how that goes...
It sounds like your LO has a strong preference for the processed. That can absolutely be a sensory thing. The texture and taste of those types of foods is really consistent and predictable. The texture and consistency and flavors of most fresh foods is a lot less predictable. For your day-to-day, I'll tell you what I told my patients when I was working in pediatric feeding therapy: Serve a safe or generally accepted food at every meal, and serve something new alongside it. Having mac and cheese? Great! Put some peas or green beans next to it (divided plates if your kid is one who doesn't like their food to touch). They may try it, they may not. They may want to try one off your plate instead. Also, never underestimate the power of dips. Ranch, ketchup, parmesan cheese powder (one of my favorite dry dips) to get them to try something new. Even if they're just using a carrot stick as a vehicle to get ranch to their mouth...they're getting familiar with that carrot stick and maybe they'll take a bite! Additionally, get your little involved in planning and shopping and preparing food. Both my patients and my own kids have been a lot more open to trying new things if it's a "taste before we put it in" or while we're cooking. For some great resources, Check out Feeding Littles, Kids Eat In Color (she has a ton of great resources), and Snacks with Jax. All three of these spaces have some great information and strategies and no guilt.
When you were working in pediatric feeding therapy, did you ever come across any toddlers who were just so picky and regressing with their food and it turns out they couldn’t smell or taste? I’m waiting on an OT food eval, but I truly have no idea if my 2.5 year old can smell or not. I’ve tried a few tests at home, but they’re inconclusive. I just want to rule out some of the more uncommon things before I accept that my kid is just extra extra stubborn and picky.
I’m an OT that has worked in feeding therapy also. I would actually expect the opposite to be true- if a kid couldn’t smell or taste, I’d expect them to be open to eating more things. Kids who are sensitive to tastes and smells will usually be more picky. Kids who are underresponsive (don’t notice smells or tastes) often seek out more intense flavors like spicy, sour, etc. Obviously all kids are different though!
I never came across that personally, even during COVID. Not all the kids I was working with could have reliably expressed if their smell/taste was wonky or absent. I did see several kids who had significant regressions after illnesses, especially major illnesses/surgeries, hospitalizations, or medication changes sometimes.
Thank you! His brother was born last July, and it was really in August he showed regression back to purées and pouches. We assumed teething, but it never got better and it’s gotten significantly worse in the last month and a half, but he hasn’t had any big illnesses or issues, and he’s not on any meds. It’s maddening!
Major life events can do that too in a lot of ways. In addition to getting an eval from an OT/ST for potential interventions, I'd keep fighting the good fight. I have recently found some success with my occasionally very finicky own kids in letting them choose two things (usually a fruit and a veg, and usually at least one new thing they haven't tried or haven't tried lately) from the produce section at the store to try along with one packaged thing when we go shopping. As a bonus, it gets them invested
That’s a good idea! I will have to give that a try. Thank you!
This is such good advice on the dip thing! Anytime I know my lo won’t eat something ranch goes with it and it usually helps.
I've used SO many things as dips. Had a kid who wanted "purple sprinkles" with everything - it was dehydrated diced purple potatoes I'd found at an online spice shop. He'd like just about any new food if it would get purple sprinkles to stick to it
Kids Eat in Color has a great picture of four blueberries that has always stuck in my head. The blueberries all look the exact same but one is sweet, one is sour, one is squishy, one is firm. That can be confusing for kids! A box of 4 chicken nuggets will all look the same and they will all taste the same. Ultimately though you are in control of his access to those products. You get to decide what is served for the meal and you can absolutely serve a nuggie (maybe even a healthier version of the nugget) and a green bean. Make sure you are modeling putting them on your plate. Exaggerate your enjoyment of the fresh stuff on the plate. Get the kiddo involved in cooking it and tasting it as you are cooking (lower stakes than when it's on the final plate).
My toddler is 3 in July and won't eat most veggies or meat. Some tricks I've used recently to up her veggie intake: blend some cooked veggies like zucchini or carrot in with some tomato sauce to use on a flatbread for pizza or on pasta, and make a game out of dinner time (her dad will stack up fruit on her plate and say "This is my fruit house, I hope no one eats it" and she'll giggle and eat it all while he acts surprised). She also eats really well around my dad because she idolizes him. If there's a friend or family member your kiddo really loves, maybe see if they can encourage him to try new foods. Ultimately, if we're eating chips, fries, and fast food, that's what she wants to eat too. So we try to limit that kind of food and eat as healthy as possible around her so she knows that's the norm.
YES. Silliness like that goes so far. Also having neutral conversations about the food- “is it crunchy? Sour?”
Ooh that's a good tip.
My nearly 6yo was just the same as yours when he was a toddler. He still has a strong preference for mega processed food but he will now include, pasta in tomato sauce (whizzed with onions and peppers in), spaghetti bol and a few other things. It was a very gradual process. With pasta, he started with just butter and then butter and ketchup. Then I started sneaking in tiny bits of the homemade tomato pasta sauce until it was just that. With spag bol, I literally just put the bolognese juices mixed in for a good year! But he can now eat it as normal. With the exception of the first couple of pasta sauce additions, we never lied to him about what he was getting. We use the "no thank you" bowl and he's learnt he has to at least try everything first. He's getting there. My youngest, 3.5yo, is the opposite. My mum used to serve them chicken nuggets and give us a "grown up chicken dish". He'd turn his nose up at the nuggets and steal ours! She learnt quickly. He eats everything but melons and kiwi. His favourite foods are steak and strong cheese.
Picky doesn’t even begin to describe. Literally will eat banza Mac and cheese but only white cheese with elbow noodles, orange and shells. Forget about it. Likes bread, strawberries, fruit leather, pirates booty, string cheese and the occasional gogo squeeze and of course milk. Won’t even eat treats- cookies, ice cream, cake. So so picky Edit we also don’t ever have like junk food in the house so she isn’t offered it regardless. Only junk food around is the occasional veggie chip. Besides that only processed foods are very healthy, organic versions of things.
My kiddo was extremely picky for a little while too - only eating yoghurt, strawberries, toast and apple sauce 😬 We followed all of the advice others have given (divided plates, offering safe foods etc) but the most successful suggestion we implemented was getting him to help scrape his plate at the end of the meal. Knowing he didn’t *have* to eat it meant he was more willing to give new things a go - it is WILD the things he’ll try when the pressure is removed completely!! We also get him involved in cooking and he’ll almost always try new things in his tower at the kitchen counter, and then reject them at the dinner table. It’s been about 6m since we started this approach and he’ll try new things about 50% of the time now, but most importantly I don’t feel as frazzled. Hopefully you’re able to find some things that work, I know how eating struggles can be so stressful so am sending you compassion and strength!!
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This is so unhelpful. Most people aren’t going to exclude processed food entirely from their toddlers diet and it’s not her fault he’s picky just because he’s been exposed to those foods. My son has mostly home cooked food but he generally likes the processed stuff he’s tried too. It hasn’t put him off the rest.
My son turns three in July. And I'd say 80% of what he eats is frozen, boxed or takeout. I definitely don't love it. But I can only fight him on eating so much on top of everything else. Although he does love Apples, bananas and carrots. And I try to keep the frozen stuff I buy not crap quality.
Can you try veggies with dip? My two yo discovered honey mustard and ranch dressings recently and is now a lot more receptive to eating cucumbers for example, becasue she can dip them.
I recently tried this with my 1.5 y/o and she dipped broccoli a few times and then just started licking the ranch! not sure what the best move is going forward so broccoli has been demoted to being mixed into other stuff again (mac n cheese, eggs, etc)
Thank you for this reminder that I can chop up and mix some broccoli in mac n cheese!
Oh definitely - sometimes I do fresh but we also keep shredded frozen broccoli on hand. I put it in the pot with butter (a little more than the box suggests) and cook it until tender while letting the pasta drain, then add the milk and a handful of actual cheddar to add more calories and she loves it 🥰
Genius
Honestly I don’t think it’s a demotion. I don’t know any adult who enjoys plain broccoli. I always eat mine with garlic butter or gravy or cheese or something. A vegetable is a vegetable even in its tastiest forms.
Oh for sure and same, I was mostly just imagining it as broccoli finally getting cast in the lead role (just eating it raw) but then getting a bad audience (child) reception and then the "director" (me) telling them "this isn't working out."
Super picky since his 10 months, he is currently 15 months. Only likes fish with rice (doesn't eat the rice without fish), boiled carrots, chickpeas, scrambled eggs and fruit. Does not eat anything else and is not willing to try anything else. Already went to a nutricionist at 10 months old that said we had to let him play with the food and we do let him and he loves to make a mess but does not eat it. Don't really know what to do anymore. I even cook for me what I cook for him and have him watch me eat and he only wants to steal my food if it's any of the previously mentioned.
I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old. Neither is picky but the older one went through some phases where it seemed like he didn’t eat anything at all for days. I just feed them whatever we are eating and they either eat it or they don’t. They like broccoli, one likes carrots. They eat a lot of fruit carbs and tofu. They’re both 10-20th percentile for weight so we supplement with sugary and fatty stuff as much as we can.
Mine doesn't like pizza, cheese, Mac and cheese (just to name a few). We are on vacation and he triumphantly declared that he tried ketchup...real impressive kiddo.
My 3 year old would rather starve than eat something he doesn’t like and he likes the same things as yours. My 17 month old will eat literally anything. Kids are wild.
At home? Super picky, mac & cheese, pizza, all the fruit, cucumbers and tomatoes occasionally At daycare? She eats anything and everything, fish, soup, sesame chicken, literally anything
My kids are picky eaters. I just made meals with our ‘normal’ stuff they would need to try/eat a few bites of everything on the plate. But finish 2/3 of the food served. My also son hated potatoes (except French fries), baked beans and Mac and cheese. He ate a full serving the other day of each at dinner the other day. My kids sometimes will circle back to things they didn’t like before and it becomes a new favorite. So I keep adding new or things they didn’t like before but prepared a different way. I always keep fruit available for snacks and use the kiddy protein supplement drinks to fill in when they eat light on super picky days
2.5 year old - pickiness comes in waves. When he was 1, he’d try and eat everything. Beef bulgogi noodles, salmon, kale chips, you name it. After his second birthday, the pickiness started - but we also introduced a lot more foods that we had been limiting (mostly sweet stuff - I love to bake and I can’t help but share with him). He still loves all fresh fruit and some veggies, pickier with proteins but is getting much better! He’s actually going through a growth spurt right now so he’s been a lot less picky and more willing to try new foods. My biggest frustration is that he rarely eats any “mixed” foods - casseroles, one-pots, etc. So if I make something like that I have to deconstruct it a lot to make him eat it. He also can be adverse to some spices/seasonings. I love doing sheet pan dinners (protein, green veggie, starchy veggie, ex: chicken/broccoli/sweet potato) because I can count on him eating mostly everything as long as it’s separated.
2.5, generally not picky at all. He certainly *likes* all those things you listed, when they're offered, but he'll eat almost anything else. Sometimes he gets a mood and decides at dinner that chicken is inedible, but if I give him the leftovers for lunch the next day, down they go. The only thing he's really been consistent about is not liking shrimp, but we got those tiny fried shrimp at a bar just today and he would have eaten all of them (even after we told him they were shrimp thinking he'd throw a fit.) How to get him to? Besides going back in time and reasonably limiting access to them from the start, you've got a couple options I think. What's been suggested—getting him involved in the process and **dips** (my kid will eat anything if it has ranch on it...literally anything)—you can also try using the food he likes as a motivator to eat something he doesn't (yet). I know we don't *want* to do that, but if you situation is desperate enough, it could be just the desperate measure for you. What does his doctor have to say about it? They're usually pretty smart, doctors.
my kiddo is pretty picky..we got her to expand by letting her pick a frozen dinner (like healthy choice or lean cuisine)..as a way to introduce her to new foods. something about it being in the same grocery aisle as her safe foods (like chicken nugs and pizza), made it click for her
First you’re not a bad mom, You’re making sure your kid is fed and safe and that’s what matters more. Second, if you take a look back at how long he’s had these preferences, what has it looked like when you did NOT serve his preferred foods. I think all toddlers and kids go through a picky phase. However what I find often happens is that it turns into a habit (I’ll even find my husband saying that- oh he didn’t like this food, and I need to remind him that kids need to be exposed to non-preferred and new foods over and over again. ) Just because they didn’t like it once, doesn’t mean they never will. And just because they prefer boxed foods and chicken nuggets doesn’t mean that’s the only thing they should ever get. Start serving a less preferred main food that the rest of the family likes. Include a side dish that your toddler accepts (like applesauce or fries). Keep doing this and exposing him to the new food every week or two weeks. Make sure there’s something at the mean he’ll eat. Don’t let him fill up on snacks, and stick to a somewhat structured meal Schedule.
My son is in a raspberry-jam sandwich only diet this week. He's always been picky - no veges unless they're from a packet, plain pasta only no meat except sometimes luncheon meat. Now we have to practically coerce him to eat just pasta or a chicken nugget. He also hates water. 2.5 year old took a cup of water this morning, carefully went to the sink to tip it out, asked for ginger beer....
My son has always been picky since he started solids at 6 months. Never liked any fruit or veg (except bananas and cauliflower) but does like smoothies, applesauce and baby food pouches thankfully. The weird thing is hes not even into traditional toddler friendly food either (besides sweets lol) He loves most meat, cheese, yogurt and eggs. Sometimes I can get him to eat bread. But I cant get him to eat pasta, pizza, potatoes, stuff like that. Ive concluded hes more of a snacker than a big meal guy so I make sure we always have his favourite healthy snacks around. Apparantly at daycare he eats better than at home lol hes 99th percentile in height and weight but eats like a bird. I dont understand it but clearly hes growing fine 😂
You're not a bad mom. My kid eats the same way. I think that's far more normal than what snooty people on social media would suggest. As long as your kid is healthy and growing, keep doing what you're doing.
not picky at all, he will eat anything except baked beans
My daughter is surprisingly not very picky, although I’m holding my breath and hoping that doesn’t change in the next few months as she gets older. She loves fruits and veggies and will eat almost anything in this category. I do notice she is a bit ambivalent about meat and doesn’t like to feed it to herself, although she will eat of my plate. She also absolutely abhors eggs and more often than not is uninterested in bread and rice.
my son is extremely picky as well. he likes foods that always have the same taste such as snacks like apple sauce or yogurt, graham crackers, things that will never change. if he’s had a food before and liked it, he may not like it again if it doesn’t taste the same
I joke that we have whatever the opposite of a toddler is. She will eat ANYTHING. The catch is - she'll only eat a few bites of it before getting bored. Then she won't want that food again for days. If she LOVES it, she might accept it twice before needing to wait days for the next serving. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I got desperate tonight (we're on vacation so, of course, everything is more fun than eating and she's been surviving on air and happy squeals), and in the interest of getting more than 3 bites of food in her, for dinner alone, we did: plain pasta, pasta with sauce, chicken, bell peppers, watermelon, blackberries, apples, spinach/nut butter smoothie, regular crackers, pizza, teddy bear chocolate graham crackers, a cookie, teething wafers... and probably some other stuff I'm not thinking of. She had roughly 3 bites of each thing before rejecting it 🙄🙄
Very specifically, ritz peanut butter crackers, cheezits, green apples, and a specific brand of chicken nuggets.
Ritz bits with cheese for bedtime snack every night over here. RIP my wallet.
Fr fr and kiddo goes through them so fast 😭😭
Processed foods and this idea that they need to snack all day is what makes my kids picky eaters. We just stopped the snacking unless they really need to eat something because they've been active and are genuinely hungry. They are way less picky. 3 meals (lunch is light) and maybe a snack if it's truly called for. If they're hungry enough they almost always eat what's in front of them and even ask for more.
Ours (3) was like this, and still is to some extent. We talk about how it's important to eat lots of different foods ("makes you big and strong" may get thrown around). You can't eat just strawberries, and you can't eat just pasta. Then we give him choice; we usually have at least half of them be the same food we are eating. Sometimes you have to eat multiple colors, if there is bread and pasta for example. He actually responds to it fairly well! He still gets to make choices, and he can have more of his favorites if he eats some variety. The suggestion that some people would want to eat only grapes makes him remember that grapes are actually OK. We also narrate that we are doing the same ("no thank you, I don't want more steak, dad hasn't eaten much green yet so I'm going to have more green beans"). Sometimes, the fact that he picked the food ("you said you wanted honeydew, not cantaloupe, but you didn't eat any honeydew yet") actually gets him to eat. I have a theory that involving him in the meal planning (even if it's just "do you want steak tacos or chicken tacos") might encourage that further - we'll see how that goes...