Help with a really picky eater!

I really need help.

Connor all of a sudden is refusing to eat most of the foods we're offering him. He'll never say no to yogurt and I've been making him fruit smoothies with banana, yogurt, and frozen berries. He'll also eat toast with butter but that's about it.

He has to feed himself everything, we can't give him a spoon or else he'll just clamp his mouth shut. And if we do get it in his mouth he'll spit it out right away.

My biggest worry is that he's already small as it is, 17.5 at 13 months so we really need to figure something out. Does anyone have any food ideas to try? The pedi suggests higher fat too.

I'm going out today to buy some breakfast sausage to see if he likes that, some yogurt smoothies but I'm lost as to what else to try.

Suggestions?

 

My son is autistic and he has some food aversions to the point he only eats a few foods. Our ped suggested that we give him Carnation Instant Breakfast once a day. I make it with whole milk, instead of the skim the box recommends. He's gained 10lbs in 3 months.

 

I have some picky eaters too, but not quite that picky. Does your pedi have any ideas for you?

Have you tried eggs? Put some cheese and a bit of onion powder in them for flavor. But if they don't like the flavor, do plain. Can you put yogurt on top of waffles? Something like that? Sorry, not much help. I hope you have some success!

 

Michael has always been a picky eater. He now lives on oatmeal (must be maple flavored, and I have to feed it to him), raisins, bread or toast and sometimes mac and cheese. He used to eat ravioli and pizza, but now he is doing less of that too. He would rather just drink milk all of the time.

I don't know what to say except keep trying new foods. I read somewhere that if they are exposed to foods 5-6 times, they might pick up on a new food.

Bridget

 

I would try making the smoothies and get as much fruit into it as possible. Will he eat spaghetti sauce? You can sneak some pureed vegetables into that too (even a jar of baby food mixed in helps to add vitamins). Another thought is spaghettios although it would be messy if he was feeding himself. Plain cheese ravioli might be neater. French toast made with eggs and whole milk might work. He could dip it in apple sauce or yogurt. How about some full fat cheese or ham slices?

That's all that I can think of for now. I'll keep thinking. I hope that you find something that works.

 

Have you tried avocados with him yet? They're high in good fats. Maybe try to put some in his smoothie.
My pedi also recommended Carnation Instant Breakfast for my oldest son.
I'll keep thinking...

 

For grains ... try putting Nutella on it. I know it's sugary, but I had trouble getting my girls to eat any grains and that has worked wonders for one.

Also, I take yogurt and add juice to it for yogurt drinks.

I also try and use snack times to implement foods they need as I feel they are often more willing to try new things then. Crackers with cream cheese is usually a hit.

I like the Carnation idea since one of my girls is hardly drinking any milk.

 

Thanks you so much for all of the suggestions.

We gave them the carnation instant breakfast and they both loved it. Is that much sugar going to be bad for them if I split a pack between them once a day?

I learned my lesson though, give them the bottle after they try to eat breakfast!!!


I don't agree with a lot of things my pedi has suggested to us so I haven't spoken to her about it yet. I just go with my gut because they are my kids and I know what's best for them. (How can the pedi who sees them once every 3 months? She lumps them together with every other child she sees). I'm in the process of looking for a new one...

Connor does like pancakes with a little syrup on them... and sometimes he'll eat the reduced sugar instant oatmeal but I'm worried that it's too much sugar??

I love the idea of avacados in the smoothies, they don't like it plain but I'm going to try that.

We're actually having a HUGE problem with veggies and I don't know how to fit them in. Right now he's not eating sauce or baby jarred food or any cooked veggie. Any suggestions for that???

 

DS doesn't like many vegetables, either. Awhile back someone here posted this website: http://www.wholesometoddlerfood.com/. I haven't tried too many things yet but the sweet potato fries when served with ketchup were a big hit (listed under Fast Food). I see there are some pancake recipes that have veggies at this site that might be worth a try. My DS likes pancakes, too. Actually, DS will try quite a few things if he has a dip (like yogurt or maple syrup) to go with it. We're a little older than you but things that my picky DS will always eat are applesauce, yogurt, peanut butter, fruit/cereal bars, any cracker, most noodles, chinese spring rolls (hey, it's got vegetables!), and french fries with ketchup.

 

Have you talked to your pedi about maybe using pedisure? If my little twin doesn't eat a meal well she gets a bottle of pedisure(she loves the orange flavor).

Are you still trying to control their eating?(ex. trying to feed them everything, only spoon feeding) He may just want to be more independant.

My girls self feed most foods with a spoon and I would try letting yours do the same. Mine like oatmeal and cream of wheat if they can feed themselves. On the too much sugar issue you can buy it plain and add sugar and flavorings to taste or use fruit juice to sweeten it instead of sugar.

Grains:
*Have you tried to gradually add cereal/oatmeal to the yogurt to make it more filling and get him used to that texture?
*Mine love noodles and these are safe and clean for him to self feed (I add extra butter or oil to the recipes for extra fat)


Fat:
*How about toast with cream cheese?
*Or you could add the cream cheese to his smoothie


Veggies & Fruit:
*Dip the veggie or fruit in plain yogurt
*you could use V8(regular or fusion but fusion is a bit more fruity. I love the pomagrant one) in his smoothies to add veggieness(for an adult a cup of V8 fusion counts as a fruit and 2 veggies)

Protien:
* Mine love grated cheese when I grate it straight on their plate
* Protien powder(add to smoothies)

Dairy:
* I don't think this is a problem but as a treat I mix milk with the girls yogurt. Mine really don't drink that much milk anymore but they eat alot of dairy

A list of all the things he does eat would help me a bit more. Have you considered doing a food diary for him to see exactly what he does eat a day? How much milk is he drinking a day?

 

When the gilrs were younger, we went to see a nutritionist because they were not gaining weight. One thing that she told me was to give foods that were high in fat, and to put butter on everything. I juast couldn't believe that she was making those recommendations! I'm glad to see that you're concerned with their sugar intake. As much as I wanted the girls to gain weight, I also wanted to establish healthy eating habits. It might have been ok then to put butter on everything, but eventually their weight will catch up and then they will be overweight because they've to like foods prepared a certain way. I totally disagreed with her and did not take her advice. When I did do was try to introduce a new foods when they were really hungry. I also made sure I tried the new food about every other day for a while before introducing other things. I limited juice to one serving a day, as when they are toddlers they will be hooked and drinking 4-5 glasses a day! I cooked vegetables into other foods they like (very finely diced carrots into meatloaf made with lots of ketchup, carrot juice on smoothies, cut up cucumbers and peppers mixed with pickels and a little pickel juice (the vinegar hids the flavor of the other vegetables, and eventually you can take away the pickels by adding less and less).My girls LOVE peas that are frozen and served frozen- it is like a treat to them. I also give them frozen blueberries still frozen, and thye love that, too.

The ohter thing to try is to make foods that he can feed himself. I think all kids go through that phase of resisiting being fed. So, make finder foods diced up so that he can feed himself.

Here is my list of foods for you to consider:
Diced fruit- apples, pears, cut up grapes, watermelon, cantaloup, raisins and other dried fruit, bananas, blueberries, rasberries, strawberries, kiwi, manderine orances. SOme kids like to dip the fruit in yogurt- messy, but nutritious.

Vegetables- spinich or cucumbers in cider vinegar (some kids REALLY love foods that are spicy...or as my girls say, food that have some "Zing" to them!), corn on the cob, diced grape tomatoes, potatoes, steamed brocoli or cauliflower, steamed green beans

Breakfast: waffles, pancaked, french toast, muffins (made with whole wheat flour and fresh blueberries), egg and cheese omlets with finely diced vegetables, chicken breakfast sausage, dry cereal, fresh fruit, smoothies, yogurt, applesauce

Lunch/dinner: peanut butter sandwich, ham/turkey/cheese sandwich, tuna, chicken salad, soup, meatloaf, burgers, hamsteak, mashed potatoes, rice, grilled marinated chicken dices, grilled cheese, pasta, pizza, meatballs, eggplant, breaded chicken, salad with a tangy dressing, ravaoli, homefried potatoes with ketchup

Treats/snacks: homemade milkshake (you can even add fruit), pretzles, crackers, string cheese, fruit juice popsicles, oatmeal cookies (make them with half the sugar.). Ok, so that's allI can think of for now. I hope this helps! Good luck!

 

Thanks again to everyone.

We did the avacado in their smoothies and they both loved it so that's definately a keeper!!

One of Connors big issues is that he wants to feed himself, but at the same time if he doesn't like it he'll just throw the food on the floor. We've tried cream cheese and PB on toast or in sandwhichs but they play with the topping. If it's a sandwich the actually will pry it apart and get it all over themselves.

TwinxesMom, here is the food Connor will usually always eat:

Toast with butter or PB (100% whole wheat only)
Yogurt
Meatballs
smoothies (berry mix,yogurt, milk, avacado)
applesauce

Hit and miss foods:

Oatmeal(reduced sugar apple & cinnamon)
fish sticks (but we just started offering this this week)
Chicken Nuggets
french fries (mostly drops them on the floor)
scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese

As you can see it's very limited.

I'm trying some of these suggestions though.

I'm actually going to do a seperate post on how to get them to eat with utensils!!

 

Mine throw things on the floor too they eventually grow out of it anf they just don't understand yet not to. Seems like he kind of has a food aversion and mostly likes liquidy foods, might be something to ask the pedi about. On the oatmeal issue you might try plan and add all fruit jelly as the sweetener(1tbs is a fruit for an adult). It's sweet but on overly sweet and he might like it better than the reduced sugar. Do you mix the oatmeal with milk or water? On the fish stick option have you tired cutting his food into sticks? He might be able to handle this better.

 

my two favorite ways to get veggies in them are meatballs (you can grate up veggies - or even apple - and add it to the meat which keeps it really moist and mine don't notice it at all) and quick breads (zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, carrot pinapple bread, etc.). with the quick breads, i usually substitute 1/3 the flour with whole wheat flour, reduce the sugar by 1/3 and use half brown half white sugar and substitute 1/2 the oil with applesauce. so pretty healthy, which makes me feel better about putting cream cheese on it, which makes my two love it even more

 

My ds has major oral sensory issues, he hardly eats anything...today he had some popcorn, a piece of cheese and 2 small bites of chicken that I had to beg him to eat, oh and he had some chips. We do pediasure, and have been for quite awhile now. Its expensive but you can find it on ebay for cheaper. Unfortuntly my ds will like someone for a day and wont eat it again for a month. The pediasure is a meal replacement, so he gets what he needs from it and has finally put on some wieght

 

I didn't really think about it but I have real texture issues myself. I guess if you have a sensory issue like that you learn to eat around it(mine isn't too bad)

My texture issue foods(mostly fruits and veggies):
Apples(love apple juice)
Pears
Watermelon
Bananas
Tomatoes(also have allergy)
Cantaloupe
Honeydew
Real mashed potatoes(I can't stand the texture but love instant potatoes)
Apricot
Blueberries(I like them in muffins)
Peach