what are your tactics for picky eaters?

[davebfl]

So my son will be turning 2 next month and he was a pretty good eater then suddenly became extremely picky. And more recently, the limited number of food he would like to eat became more limited because he suddenly doesn't like a few dishes anymore.

One tactic I've tried is after heating up the food squatting to get to his level and taking a few bites of the food and saying how delicious it was, also giving some food to my wife. This has worked maybe 3 times where it got my son interested in trying the food but most of the time he'll back up and start crying.

I think he's starting to only want food that's sweet, like breakfast food (oatmeal, pancakes, etc) which has made dinner extremely frustrating. My wife and I are running out of ideas.

The weird thing about my son is that he's very picky but he enjoys Japanese curry, Thai curry, bulgogi w/ rice. He won't eat: chicken nuggets, spaghetti, Mac n cheese, quesadillas lol

 

[perfpearl]

@davebfl I’ve come across a TikTok creator who is a feeding specialist and works with picky eaters. I think she is amazing, and wish I had known about these methods when my now 15yo was younger! https://www.tiktok.com/@hangry_helper?_t=8UpdXB8qWQU&_r=1

 

[posthlewait3]

@davebfl I don’t have any answers to help out with picky-ness but the one thing I can tell you is, once in awhile, serve them the foods they’ve decided they don’t like. Taste buds change. The same dish your little one doesn’t like right now might be their favorite in a year or two. Reintroduce a food every few months and see if your son changes his mind.

 

[destroyed]

@davebfl I made the meal with all four and put it on the table/high chair tray. Done with my part! They either complied or didn't...until old enough to cook their own, clean and put dishes in the dishwasher, and Windex the kitchen.

 

[anne56]

@davebfl Why not feed him the healthy things he does like?

Keep trying different things as he may well go back to them but this is a phase all kids go though and most grow out of.

You can spend a lot of time, money and frustration desperately trying to get him to eat what you are having or you can accept he's a toddler and feed him a healthy but somewhat limited diet until he gets curious again.

I'm aware a lot of people don't agree with me on this one though.

 

[pheasant]

@davebfl Pretend it’s yours and you don’t want to share. Not just a few bites. This is how I got my kids to love sweet potatoes.

Or have someone else help. My son wouldn’t eat mushrooms until we were having dinner at a friend’s house. He had made a dish with several different kinds of mushrooms. He engaged my son in a detailed conversation about with kind of mushroom he liked most, and why. My son was so flattered to have a grown up so truly curious about his deep thoughts on the subject that he tried every kind of mushroom. Now, of course, he would only eat one kind of mushroom (“my favorite”) for years, but it was great. Obviously, he was a little more than 2, but you get the idea.

 

[thebadchristian]

@davebfl Google Ellen Satter ‘division of responsibility’. It’s a really clear way to follow meals times for fussy eaters. Bad silly you’re responsible for serving a range of healthy food at least some of which you know your child will eat, and your child is responsible for whether they eat it / how much they eat.
It’s very normal for kids to become fussy as toddlers, most outgrow it eventually.

 

[katrina2017]

@davebfl Don’t let your child control what they eat. They eat what is served to them or they don’t eat at all.