Picky Preschooler

xoxMandyxox · November 2011

My daughter is going on 4 years old. When she was younger, she had a wheat allergy, so she wasn't exposed to all that much when it came to varieties of food (you'd be surprised at how many things have wheat/gluten in them!). Now that she's older, she's grown out of the allergy for the most part (she has to have A LOT of wheat throughout the day to even get her face red [eczema]). And she's in preschool now, so, along with that, we thought we'd try to get her to try new foods.

The school makes her put everything on her plate, even if she doesn't eat it (which she never does). At home, we have a "no thank you bite", which almost never works. I got her to drink about 1/4 C (at best) of Chicita's (spelling?) crushed fruit squeezy packs, which she didn't like. And that was a HUGE success. Yeah, that was a huge success. That's just sad.

So, being excited over that, I got her a Gerber Preschooler meal of something similar that they offered her at school for lunch today. For the past hour and a half, she's been having damn near mental breakdowns over trying it. I told her that if she has just the one bite, and still doesn't like it, I'll give her a special milk (Pediasure) and sweet potato french fries.

Don't get me wrong. She does eat. Just the same 10 things, and I want her to branch out some. I've tried the whole "let her pick out the food" bite; She doesn't pick anything because it's all "yucky" or "will make me sick" :mad: I tried the "Serve Yourself" bit, which they also do at school, and still no luck.

I can't hide foods in other foods. I tried that. She noticed a difference right away. Granted, shoving a bit of broccoli inside of a chicken nugget might not be all that subtle, but still :laugh: We've tried having her make her own dinner with us (we did personal pizza's one night; her sister was too little to make her own, so I did and made a face with peppers and mushrooms; Harley did the same for hers, but when it came out of the oven, she refused to eat it even after we picked everything off :mad: )

Here's what she eats:

Chicken Nuggets (occasionally; she doesn't eat them as often as she used to)
Plain Cheese Pizza
French Fries
Sweet Potato Fries
Breakfast Cereal (sometimes)
Bananas (sometimes; she likes to peel the skin)
Apples
Yogurt (Trix, or "bunny", yogurt, which I'm pretty sure isn't as healthy as it could be)
Grilled Cheese
Moe's Five Layer Dip (I know, right?)
Chips
Cookies

She drinks everything a normal kid will. Milk, water, juice (fruitables and apple juice until she gets more fruits and veggies from other sources). We get her Pediasure, Ovaltine, Who Nu? cookies. The "healthiest" versions of unhealthy food.

I'm at my wit's end right now. If I cave and give her what she wants, she knows she doesn't have to try new foods because I'll just cave eventually every time. But, if I don't cave, will she ever eat? She's so stubborn on just about everything that I honestly think she'd starve before trying new foods! XD

Any advice? Anyone had/have to deal with extreme picky eaters? Any remedies or tricks I haven't tried yet?

momof3and3 · November 2011

Honestly? I would back off...it has become a power issue. I would offer her the food that she likes and eats, with one new food on her plate and let it be. Don't even mention that there is a new food, don't ask her to try it, just ignore the whole thing. Let her eat what she wants at meal times and offer her a snack or 2 thru the day. I would cut out all juice, ovaltine, pedisure, etc...yes it has nutrtion, but they are all very filling, which will make her not want to eat. Have her take a multivitamin, the gummie ones are good, and have her take that everyday to keep up with the vitamins and minerals that she needs.

The more you make an issue of this, the worse it is going to be. She will eventually outgrow it and start expanding her food choices as she gets older.

At her age, she will eat when she is hungry and will stop eating when she is full, it is a very simple concept that we forget to do as adults. Also she only needs a small amount of food at each meal, the size of her fist. This doesn't apppear to be a lot of food to us, but it is for her little body.

Good luck with it! The hardest part is to ignore it all

Fairysoul · November 2011

I know it sucks but just start offering her what you eat, nothing else, no more special meals, tell her to try one bite of each thing or she cannot leave the table. I HAD to do this with my daugher, and it works and it was the only thing that did, and eventually she'll be hungry enough to eat it.
'
You see she knows that if she refuses what she doesn't want, she is still getting the food she does and by removing it she will have no choice and if she is hungry she will try it. This might sound harsh but I have done it all and this is all that worked, and granted I was worried when she didn't eat much for a few days, even beacuse she is way too small to begin with, I just stuck through it.
Good luck!

xoxMandyxox · November 2011

With the Pediasure, I usually break it up. Half when she gets home, half after dinner. Maybe one glass of milk with the Ovaltine throughout the day, and a juice box during the day, too.

I do try to give her small portions of everything. I think it's half of an adult portion (which are laughably small on their own :laugh:)

Thanks for the tips! I'll try the new food with the food she likes tomorrow night at dinner. And I hope it goes well

Thanks again!

significance · November 2011

This isn't something I know anything about, so I'm just throwing out ideas here. Perhaps you could start by withdrawing some of that unhealthy stuff and offering healthier versions of the things she does eat. Mashed potato (without butter or salt) instead of french fries. Steamed sweet potato instead of sweet potato fries. Grilled skinless chicken instead of chicken nuggets. Healthy breakfast cereals without sugar in them. Plain yoghurt sweetened only with fruit. Pretty much everything on the current list is hyperstimulating fat+salt+carb food, so not much else is going to live up to her expectations if she has a choice and they are offered side by side. But if you can ease her into it with things that aren't *too* different from what she eats now (just healthier), the leap from there to more varied foods will be smaller.

caramkoala · November 2011

^^What Momof3and3 said. That is very good advice.

Kids won't starve themselves to death. When she's hungry, she'll eat. Believe me. Sometimes mine makes me worry, and then she eats.

mamamc03 · November 2011

Here's my thing and what I do to alleviate that problem. Tell her you are done playing this game and you will fix one dinner. Offer it to her. If she doesn't eat it, so be it. You have offered her food and she refused. It's not child abuse, it is parenting.
Yes include her favorites when you make them for your family, but don't make her something different. This is the key time to teach them about nutrition AND respect.

best wishes!!

xoxMandyxox · November 2011

Thanks, everyone

I love all the tips and will have to try all of them over the next few weeks :laugh:

LuckyLeprechaun · November 2011

You must decide how long you want to fight this battle with her. She isn't in charge of buying any of the foods you described. You are the boss. Make healthy foods available to her. ONLY. Then wait. This will take patience, to the extreme.

At each mealtime, make her a reasonable plate, and drop all discussion of whether or not she: likes it, plans to eat it, wants something else, etc. Offer it to her and (this is important) remain calm no matter what her reaction is. If she has not eaten it by the time everyone else has finished eating, meal time is over. Throw away that food and do it again at the next meal time. I do not believe in forcing them to eat, nor do I believe in "you didn't eat it last night now its breakfast" theory. She should have the right to decide not to eat. However, she will not choose that forever!

She will not starve herself. She will not be harmed, even if she refuses to eat several meals in a row.

Magically, she will begin to eat the food you offer. BUT NOT IF YOU CAVE IN. If you cave, you're proving to her that she can wait you out, a BAD practice to get into the habit of. If she knows there is a way to win, she will try. So your job is to teach her there is NO way she is gonna win this one.

Quit with the junk food, and quit with the pediasure.

Your daughter's health is worth this battle.

suewill12 · November 2011

This is kinda different from everyone else's response... have you ever had your child evaluated by an occupational therapist? I am an occupational therapist and I work specifically with kids with special needs however some of my students are typical kids that I do feeding therapy with. Sometimes the "picky eaters" have a sensory processing disorder. This means that when a child uses there senses, food in particular (taste, texture, smell) their nervous system interprets it differently almost as painful or noxious. Some kids are sensitive to temperature, taste and/or texture which can cause them to refuse food and at times try the food but their bodies reject the sensation so much that they gag. With some of my picky kids i'll have them "lick" a no thank you food or taste or alternate between a preferred food and non-preferred food. "If you would like (insert preferred food) then you need to take a bite of (non-preferred food). I've had kids to the extreme that they only eat things like pepperoni or salsa or only brown foods. Our bodies work in strange ways. Let me know if you want any more info! :-)

Picky Preschooler

Replies

Categories