Children and food

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2

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  • PammieSuzyQ
    PammieSuzyQ Posts: 100 Member
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    I agree, whole milk and full fat dairy for growing children!!!!!
  • crosbylee
    crosbylee Posts: 3,455 Member
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    She pretty much gets anything she will eat at this point. Thanks for the thoughts. She is in remission and hopefully finishing treatment soon.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    crosbylee wrote: »
    She pretty much gets anything she will eat at this point. Thanks for the thoughts. She is in remission and hopefully finishing treatment soon.

    Thoughts and best wishes with your daughter!
  • lemonlionheart
    lemonlionheart Posts: 580 Member
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    I've worked many years in childcare and babysitting, and have also worked with children who are fussy eaters due to sensory issues or other factors. Some tips:

    - It can take some kids 12-20 tries of a new food to get used to it. Keep putting it on their plate, they may need to get used to the appearance, colour, smell, texture of the food before getting used to the taste.
    - Introduce one new food at a time along with two familiar foods.
    - Eat together as a family to model eating for your kids.
    - keep it low pressure. If it turns into a fight they'll associate those foods with negativity.
    - you can use some behaviour management techniques here. Reward good behaviour (lots of praise, a treat if they finish all or an agreed amount of dinner) rather than punishing bad behaviour.
    - Cultivate a healthy attitude towards food putside of mealtimes. Take your kids grocery shopping and have them help you pick out veggies for dinner. Pick some easy meals like homemade pizzas they can help you cook. Get a bunch of grocery store catalogues and cooking magazines and make collages of different healthy foods. Comment on they healthy foods eaten by characters in tv or picture books.
    - Don't force them to eat everything on the plate as it is important for kids to learn the difference between hunger and just wanting to eat a certain food. Sometimes the kids I look after will say they're not hungry but then ask for a treat - I say that if they're not hungry then they don't need a treat, if still hungry they can eat some more dinner then have a treat :)
  • phoenixbaby2014
    phoenixbaby2014 Posts: 23
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    Thank you great advice
  • phoenixbaby2014
    phoenixbaby2014 Posts: 23
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    Codilee87 wrote: »
    Let them cook with you, if they help make it they are more inclined to eat it. Tell them actual facts about the healthy foods they are eating and how it can benefit them (more than just "you'll grow big and strong") When I told my 4 yr old that eating asparagus can make his pee green he suddenly couldn't get enough of it lol

    Lol too funny
  • phoenixbaby2014
    phoenixbaby2014 Posts: 23
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Perhaps give them a choice. Have some of veggie A or some of veggie B. If they feel they have some control, it can help. And when it comes to new foods - encourage them to try it, but perhaps don't overwhelm them with too many new foods at once.

    Good idea
  • jessiefrancine
    jessiefrancine Posts: 271 Member
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    This site has lots of good info about this topic. Essentially, it's the parents' responsibility to say when and what food is served. It is the child's responsibility to decide how much of that food they will choose to eat. Lots of good tips on here for dealing with picky eaters, too. For example, they suggest serving something like bread with every meal so that if the child chooses not to eat what has been prepared they still have something neutral to eat so they aren't starving. It helps avoid the drama until they get used to your new, healthier lifestyle.

    http://ellynsatterinstitute.org/dor/divisionofresponsibilityinfeeding.php
    http://ellynsatterinstitute.org/htf/howtofeed.php
  • katherine_startrek_fan
    katherine_startrek_fan Posts: 425 Member
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    I rarely serve veggies as a side, rather mixing it into the main dish. For example, diced veggies in burgers, meatloaf, tacos, or chili.

    There are also recipies where you cook the veggies, then puree them into a 'sauce' like mole or 'beefing up' ground hamburger and serving as stuffed baked potatoes.

    Grilled veggies in fajitas or stir fryed like in Thai/Chinese dishes typically go over well.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    i dont do food battles. period. my teens eat whatever they can find (literally!), my younger one refuses to eat beef in ANY form. okay. you dont like it. no biggie. eat something else those nights. he also doesn't care for most veggies, but will devour copious amounts of fresh fruit. i eat asparagus, he eats an apple. whatever.

    he is very slowly adding more foods as he gets older. I'm good with that.

    life is too short to spend it fighting. as long as they are eating a decently balanced diet, that's all that matters.

    just my two cents ;)
  • rtrels
    rtrels Posts: 13
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    You can make veggies pretty interesting for everyone if you have a look around for recipes. If you struggle just grate the crap out of it and hide them in everything not veggie looking (spag, lasagna, fritters, hash...) Cook bigger batches of things they do like on the nights you cook those things and freeze it for nights when you want something they don't like so your not doing two meals...its reheat and done.
  • rtrels
    rtrels Posts: 13
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    crosbylee wrote: »
    I have been cooking more lately, but I have a very picky eater. Most of it is due to her taste for food being messed up by her chemo medciations. I am hoping that once we are done with all the chemo, around June of this year, that her taste buds will be more adventurous and she will try more. I do encourage her to try at least one bite of new foods, but sometimes things I think she will love, she turns her nose up. She basically lives off cereal, cheese, peanut butter and biscuits.

    My son had ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) diagnosed just before his second birthday. He ate nuggets and chicken soup for three years. He is now 10. Cancer free and eats everything and plenty of it. Light at the end of the tunnel :)
    I wish you and your family All the best, much happiness and good health for the future!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    We always had a rule, where they would at least try it, (fortunately my kids eat everything). I think small changes are best.
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    GiveMeCoffee wrote: »
    Have you made these changes quickly?

    Just like we need to make small changes, kids need that as well. Introducing them to new things is great but don't overwhelm them and definitely give options.

    This.
  • 4bettermenow
    4bettermenow Posts: 166 Member
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    mkakids wrote: »
    I give my kids a portion on the smaller size of reasonable for their age. If they finish everything given, they can have a piece of fruit or pbj. They dont have to eat it if they dont want to.....but if they choose not too, they dont get anything else.

    This...we do this and it works well for our 9 & 7 year old. I also second the learn how they like their veggies cooked. My oldest hates cooked carrots but will,happily eat a handful of raw baby carrots. And if I know from experience it is something they will turn down, they do need to try it, but can move on if they hate it. I've beee pleasantly surprised at some of the things they like. Like, they don't want homemade Mac and cheese, but they will wolf down my husbands blue cheese burgers with grilled pineapple. Go figure. Lol
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
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    The other thing I did when my kids were younger was to always keep fresh cut up veggies within easy reach for them, my youngest was a picker and she loved it. Since she didn't have to ask or told she had to eat them, it made it easier than a battle at dinner.
  • crosbylee
    crosbylee Posts: 3,455 Member
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    rtrels wrote: »
    crosbylee wrote: »
    I have been cooking more lately, but I have a very picky eater. Most of it is due to her taste for food being messed up by her chemo medciations. I am hoping that once we are done with all the chemo, around June of this year, that her taste buds will be more adventurous and she will try more. I do encourage her to try at least one bite of new foods, but sometimes things I think she will love, she turns her nose up. She basically lives off cereal, cheese, peanut butter and biscuits.

    My son had ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) diagnosed just before his second birthday. He ate nuggets and chicken soup for three years. He is now 10. Cancer free and eats everything and plenty of it. Light at the end of the tunnel :)
    I wish you and your family All the best, much happiness and good health for the future!

    Thanks for the support. My daughter has ALL also. She was 2 1/2 when we were diagnosed. She is sailing through other than the not eating much. Good to know there is hope for a more varied diet ahead!
  • Amanda4change
    Amanda4change Posts: 620 Member
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    I usually end up making two if not three different meals every night. One for me (usually using parts from the others, like taco night for the family is taco salad night for me) and one or two for the kids depending on what I make that night. I have one kid who is a vegetarian (not wholly by choice meat makes her vomit), two of my 3 kids have milk protein allergies, while one of those and the other kid are lactose intolerant. I also have one child (she's 14) who on a dare from her friends drank 8 ounces of mexican hot sauce which burned a hole in her stomach (she had to have the ulcer surgically closed) who is severely limited on what she can eat without her stomach lining becoming inflamed. Ironically the easiest of all my kids to feed is my 4 year old, who if he can help cook will eat anything with the exception of fish (he also can't have dairy).

    My suggestion is get them to help cook, they will be more likely to try the foods. Secondly don't make food a battle. Its there they can eat it or not, but they should at least try it. Ive found over the years with my kids to pick my battles, food just isn't something that I am going to fight them over.
  • Pandapotato
    Pandapotato Posts: 68 Member
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    I expect my 7 yr old to eat a balanced meal, but I quite frequently hand her a plate that is different than what my husband and I are eating. I grew up in a family of 5 and was the only picky eater...and I was often hungry. We had school lunches and I often ate nothing. They forced us to take milk cartons and mine went into the garbage can every day. It sucked. So I take her tastes into account. She doesn't like spaghetti sauce so I make the noodles and the meat and put some on her plate before mixing in the sauce. Or I'll do chicken stir fry + brown rice and put it together on her plate, but pick out mushrooms and asparagus so she's just getting the carrots and broccoli
    + .
    We do a lot of steamer vegetables (the bags you buy frozen and microwave for 5 minutes) and I'm sure to buy the mixes she likes, or if I do the California mix, pick out the cauliflower for my plate.

    Doesn't bother me any, is barely any work, and we're only a family of three so she's 1/3 of that and I can take that into consideration. But if I had 2 or 3 kids or more who each wanted separate meals, that'd be different!

    Uh, that's probably not helpful to you, OP-- my suggestion as far as veggies is to do the frozen steamer mixes and find ones your kids like! Or if one kid is pickier about the cooked veggies, just have some raw stuff like carrots to toss on his plate.
  • phoenixbaby2014
    phoenixbaby2014 Posts: 23
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    Thanx for all the replies they generally eat good healthy food but I was widening the variety of veg we eat. Eldest is fine he will eat all the veg in the house lol amount of times I wanted to make a salad and find out there's nothing to make it with. Annoying but I won't complain. The other three are terribly picky but what I have started doing is puting healthy snacks on the coffee table like veg they regularly complain about in they have been eating them since Friday mind you.
    One tried then the rest followed.
    Result

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