Pittsburgh Nesties
Meghan&Rich
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Picky eater help!
Mason has always been a picky eater, and lately it seems to be getting worse - mainly at dinner time. Unless it is chicken fingers and french fries (which it rarely is), he will not eat a bite of dinner. He will attempt to take a bite of his food, gag as soon as it gets to his mouth, and fall out of his chair onto the floor in complete Academy Award winning fashion.
Any tips on getting through this phase? Any healthy/mostly healthy recipes that your picky eater will actually eat?
Re: Picky eater help!
Do you know how he eats for the rest of his meals? Dd often doesn't eat much for dinner but usually eats better for breakfast and lunch. Like last night she elate applesauce for dinner.
dd's weight has always been fine and she eats well for most meals so I don't worry when she doesn't eat much. I absolutely refuse to make it a battle. My parents always did and it did not make me a good eater so it just made us misereable and had no benefit.
I try to get dd to try something with at least 1 bite. I always offer a fruit or yogurt with dinner and she always eats that. But I know there are some dinners and sides she hates so I don't make her try that every single time we have it. If its been awhile ill encourage it. But dd won't eat most veggies. It is what it is. I've asked the pedi about it and she is fine with it as long as she eats fruit which she does. I never ate veggies and still don't really eat much. Nothing my parents did ever changed that. All it did was cause a lot of stress! I will not do that with my dd.
Oh, the drama! Thanks for commiserating. We do opt to not turn it into a battle, but it still feels like one, haha!
We did the one bite of each last night, and when he got to the vegetable portion, he ended up on the floor, and then announced he was going to bed and headed to his room. When he came back downstairs, he said he was hungry, so I offered him his plate again - another collapse to the floor. I said if he didn't want his dinner, then he could have a banana. After ignoring me and pretending to be sleeping on the floor for about 10 minutes he said "How about some Cheerios? Syrup? Come on, it's just not fair!"
Cori is a very picky eater as well. I try to keep in mind something the pediatrician said - if a child is eating 2 of 3 meals, they are okay. And most times, dinner is the meal where they won't eat, much to their parents' dismay. And children hit their "pickiest" stage between 3 - 6.
It can be rough, even when you try to "let it go". I am still a short order cook at this point - giving Cori what she will eat for dinner (since she really don't have much say in breakfast or lunch because of daycare). We've tried the one bite rule and it didn't work for us. What did work better was to say that Princess so & so likes X (like "Mulan likes rice, remember!?")
Good luck!
My three sons!
I have TWO picky eaters. Actually, three if you count DH.
Breakfast and lunch aren't terrible b/c they will eat cereal and fruit for breakfast and generally they'll eat the same lunches consistently. Wes will do nuggets or mac n cheese, and Lanna has a slightly broader repertoire.
I always make at least one thing with dinner that they've eaten in the past. Usually it's a starch (often plain noodles or white rice). Then I put a bit of the other stuff on their plates and tell them they don't have to eat it. Sometimes they'll try it and like it, other times it just sits. They can also have bread -- white or cinnamon -- plain or toasted. But those are their options. If they don't like them, they don't eat.
I will allow them to have one bowl of plain cereal w/ no sugar before bed if they eat some of their dinners and are still hungry. But not if they refuse to eat any dinner at all. In that case, they go to bed hungry. Wes still nurses at night, so I guess technically he doesn't go to bed w/ a completely empty tummy, but I can't imagine he's getting much at this point!
I truly hope this turns around someday.
Sorry, this made me laugh. The things that come out of their mouths at this stage! We definitely go through stages where Jude is more interested or less interested in food. If I can get him to go to the grocery store with me (not always easy) and pick out some things, or show him different varieties of foods in the store, or let him look through a cookbook, or get him to help me in the kitchen, he's more apt to be interested in the food and try it. BUT these things are time consuming, often only happen on weekends, and are likely more challenging when you have more than one kid. And with new toys and cartoons vying for his attention, sometimes I can't get him on the food wagon at all.
Heather seems to be getting more willing to try one bite of something...so there is hope.
1 - I serve fruit with dinner every night. It is more healthy for DH and I to eat while waiting for the kids to finish eating and at the very least, my kids eat a few bites of fruit every night.
2 - I serve sweet potato fries 1-2 times a week. The only veggie that both kids will usually eat.
3 - When I have time, I hide veggies in pizza sauce, pasta sauce, quesadillas and meatballs. I put spinach in fruit smoothies and the kids drink those well.
4 - H doesn't each much meat, but she will eat scrambled eggs, so breakfast for dinner is in the regular rotation.
5 - I just keep trying things. Neither of them usually likes soup, but I made a sweet potato soup with apples a few weeks ago and they both ate measurable amounts! And asked to have it again!
It drives MIL CRAZY when the kids don't eat something that she has seen them eat before and she regularly caters to what she thinks they want. I generally try to fill them with fruit at her house for lunch since the closest she gets to serving fruit for dinner is jello. She also sometimes acts like fruit is dessert...which drives me nuts...
picky eater here also.... DD pretty much eats a revolving menu of chicken nuggets, hot dogs (gasp I know), fish sticks, cheese quesdilla with either cukes or canned green beans (gasp again). We have no issues with fruits or carbs. Shocker. I've tried it all too. When we went to disney she got into smoothies and I have tried to figure out how to put some veggies in there. Or I get those applesauce on the go things that have a mix of some other veggies also in-- they have ones with mater and other disney characters that she doesn't mind chugging down.
Joys of motherhood. DH always says we have to work on her eating, but I say pick your battles.
My oldest has trouble with dinner. She eats a good breakfast and a good lunch so I don't really worry much about dinner. I'm pretty tough. Dinner is dinner and I don't do special orders. I do try to include at least one thing I know she will eat. On a night she doesn't eat anything, I will keep her plate until she goes to bed. If she says she's hungry I will offer her leftovers. She has never taken up my offer. My thinking is, if she isn't hungry enough to eat what was left on her plate, she must not really be that hungry.
I used to say that my DS was going to turn into a chicken nugget because that is all he would eat. Fortunately for me, he has always liked fruit and broccoli (go fiture). I gave up quickly but made sure he had fruit with his chicken nuggets. As he got older, he began liking pizza, spaghetti, grilled chicken, and salad. Once he got into Boy Scouts, he had to cook and started to like other foods as well. I kept encouraging him to at least try something once. Getting him to try new food in a restaurant was usually my best shot. He would take a small bite, tell me he hated it and then quietly order it the next time we went to that restaurant. Maybe if you let your picky eater "help" prepare dinner, there might be more willingness to try something new?
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