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Parents of difficult eaters

I do think there are exceptions as in mrsmom's case. If he is picky and isn't gaining enough weight then he does need to eat what he wants. If there is an allergy then that would also play a roll. The age is tough, 2 and 4 isn't easy to eat. Playing at the table needs to stop and smaller portions should be given. I learned that when we would have spills. As far as manipulating, I have the queens. We also had the exception with my oldest after she left the hospital in January. She had lost so much weight when she was admitted at 48 lbs. For three weeks she got to eat whatever she wanted and we made all of her favorites.
 
sorry didnt read all, read most, but I am going thru this as well. We are a "here is your plate, if you don't eat it that is fine, but you will see it again until finished" kinda house. I cook 1 meal for dinner and that is it. If it is all eaten then they get a treat (fruit snack, candy, etc.). My 3 yr old DD takes FOREVER to eat and then gets tired and says doesn't want to finish. We say fine and then no treat. We stick to it! She may ask for it again before bed and we will give it to her, but we won't heat it up. It was heated once. She will make her choice. I just had a scenario with her this week. He didn't eat all dinner, fine we put it away. She asked for it b4 bed, ate 1 bite, and refused rest. She saw it for breakfast, ate a bite then was done. She saw it for snack, ate a bite. Then finally at lunch she ate it all. Then proceeded to eat a bunch of what was offered for lunch and ate a huge dinner too.

You know your kids better than anyone. You probably have a good sense for when they are testing you or if they simply do NOT like a food. The scenario I was talking about was all food she had had before and likes. I would not force my child to eat all of something they were just trying for the 1st time. I usually request they eat a bite to at least try and they typically comply (and find out they like it too!!). Anyway in my case I could tell it was a power play on her part and she was testing boundaries.

sorry would love to write and read more but gotta get back to work!!
 
oh, and we get out a timer too at times for the slowsies. If the bell goes off and not done, no treat. or if we are going to let them do X, we say the event is starting in Y minutes, when the bell goes off, X will start. you can join us when you are finished with food if the bell has gone off and you are not done.
 
Momof2girls said:
I do think there are exceptions as in mrsmom's case. If he is picky and isn't gaining enough weight then he does need to eat what he wants. If there is an allergy then that would also play a roll. The age is tough, 2 and 4 isn't easy to eat. Playing at the table needs to stop and smaller portions should be given. I learned that when we would have spills. As far as manipulating, I have the queens. We also had the exception with my oldest after she left the hospital in January. She had lost so much weight when she was admitted at 48 lbs. For three weeks she got to eat whatever she wanted and we made all of her favorites.
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Plus more and more kids are found to have sensory issues which creates aversions to certain foods.

I decided the war at mealtime is not worth it. My youngest picky one gets Ovaltine in his milk to add some nutrients and my oldest picky one takes vitamins and is a good fruit eater, just won't eat veg. but he's very tall and a good weight so he must be getting enough. :9:

My youngest son's ped told me I need to get an extra 100 cal. a day at least or more in him because he should've grown another inch since she last saw him. She said he can have ice cream everyday if that's what he likes.
 
I agree with all the above. Stand your ground. Dessert bribes worked really well for me. Make them try new things...if they don't like it, fine, but at least try (this applies to things besides food too). However, when DD was 2 or 3 all she would eat were Jewish hot dogs. Man...she had the worst garlic breath. Doctor said don't worry about it...she is healthy and will not allow herself to starve. Both kids are very good eaters now. They want to eat every 10 minutes....teenagers, ugh!
 
If you are making stuff that they will eat and they are just choosing not to eat it....(you know what they like)...... then the kids are just yanking your chain.

I did that same thing with my kids...if they did not finnish what was on their plate, they would get it later when they told me they were hungry. They did not like it old and cold. LOL. I also always set a treat on the table and told them that they could have it when they finished their plate. No clean plate, no treat. Worked like a charm.

I gave them reasonable portions/with a reasonable time frame to eat it. Nothing overwhelming...so it was easy for them to get the treat.

My DD will try anything..... does not turn her nose up at new food. Now a days she just likes to make me think that she is not eating at all. Always some type of chain yanking going on in my life.

DS is just good....DD CHAIN YANKER!!!!! LOL
 
I'm with andystowing on this one.

I know, I know....no kids here. But mom made one meal. She knew what us kids would eat. If we didn't eat what was on the table, we didn't eat.

.....and I turned out ok!!!!
gay.gif
:snort:
 
Just be grateful that your husband isnt in the way. When DD was little she refused to eat alomost everything. DH accomodated her by making other meals insisting that she "might starve" now she is 8. She refuses any vegetable except corn. She will hardly eat anything. And it is not worth the arguments with DH becuase we alternate meal times with the kids due to jobs, and she knows she can get her way with daddy. Only hope I have is that DS used to be the same way, and now he is 15 and eats EVERYTHING! When we had her in preschool, she would not even eat lunch ... refused everything but bread ... we were constantly called into parent meetings over it. So embarrasing. My DH (not quite so D at those moments) was like .... "she doesnt like it, what are we gonna do force the kid to eat?"
 
I was raised that I had to sit at the table until it was gone, and that could be all night. And I was picky and stubborn as ****, so I really would sit there all night, so I didn't have to eat....wait for it...























hamburger helper :giggles:

I still don't eat it! Only DH will!
 
I only have 1 so it is probably easier to do in my situation but I give DD2 a choice of dinners. I find that if she has a "say" in the dinner food she is more likley to eat it. Im not saying let her choose anything but if I have the menu ready for the week Ill give her 2 options off the weeks menu. Then she is super excited she choose dinner. Just an idean although this may increase your other issue of fighting if they dont both choose the same :lol:
 
ROLF!!! You didnt like the Helper?

Mine was beets and split pea soup and liver ... serioulsy my parents made us eat LIVER .... Just watching my mom cook it was enough to gross me out.
 
Thanks for the thread mrsred, I am at this point with DD2 and DD1, DS14 can not eat if he wants, but he is not making another meal and I really don't care if he doesn't eat, he is old enough to know when he is hungry and know he will eat what I cook.

The DDs are so different. DD1 will eat just about anything, DD2, LOVES fruit and cheese. Everything else depends. I cam put cheese over something and she will ussually eat it. She goes to bed without eating much dinner many many nights and she continues to grow so I guess she is fine :lol: Lunch and snacks are the issues though...thanks for the advice everyone!

Fuzzysox said:
I'm a super picky eater and my mom said all I would eat was one egg and a banana a day and I survived!

I don't have any advice for you. I guess if they are hungry enough he will come around and eat the pasta.
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When it is the week when DD2 likes eggs, this is about what she eats in a day too. DD1 second word was "nana" (banana).
 
Oh and I HATE bean and peas I will eat Green Beans though (my favorite veggie, actually)

EVERY New Year's day my mother would make me eat at least one spoon of black eyed peas and I would throw-up EVERY New Year's :lol:

I am still a picky eater, DH says he would never want to go to another country with me again because I will not try anything new. But I don't want my girls to be like that.
 
I would refuse to eat Hamburger Helper too! Nasty!!
I think I am a cross between the short order cook and the one meal for everyone.
For breakfast and lunch they can pick between a couple choices. Cereal or waffle - sandwich or whatever leftovers we have.
Dinner - I make one dinner and everyone is expected to eat it. If they don't eat they don't get any more food for the rest of the night.
However - DS11 is my exception. He is a picky little **** and when he doesn't eat his blood sugar drops and he gets MEAN. Plus he is very underweight. So the majority of meals I make are things he will eat. If I have a taste for something he doesn't like I will make it on a night he won't be home. Also, if he doesn't want something I will make him eat it anyway. If he doesn't throw a fit I will give him a get out of dinner free pass that he can use another night.
 
We never had a boxed or packaged meal in our house...........Mom makes everything from scratch and like mrsred I had to sit and eat until it was done even if it took all night. I loved it when we got a dog so I could sneak her the stuff I didn't like. ;)
 
mrsmom said:
We never had a boxed or packaged meal in our house...........Mom makes everything from scratch and like mrsred I had to sit and eat until it was done even if it took all night. I loved it when we got a dog so I could sneak her the stuff I didn't like. ;)
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I posted a while ago about us starting to eat dinner together at the dining room table. Our dog loves that we eat dinner together more than I do :lol:
 
Reading through my posts and it sounds like my kids are angels....they are NOT!!
They still groan at certain foods....example....everytime we have asparagus ds moans and whines and everytime we have anything with pesto dd does it.
I have always insisted on a fruit or veggie at meals. Most days they have fruit at bfast and lunch and veg at dinner.
They also get desert every night if they eat well....I started this when they were really young. It is a good motivator too. Never anything huge...cookie, piece of candy or little a icecream.
 
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