Trying new foods

I can not for the life of me get my 2 to try anything new. Not one bite which is all I ask. I made them simple yummy burgers tonight (trying to get some red meat in them) Archer's was plain with ketchup and Phoebe's had some cheese on it. They refused. I told them they could have dessert if they tried one bite. No go. So now we are in melt down mode for dessert and they didn't really eat their dinner. It's hard to stick to this, but I am sick and tired of them only eating Tyson Chicken nuggets.

Any help, suggestions or support is greatly appreciated. They are both crying right now. And I want a BIG glass of wine.

 

We have a similar problem with our eldest. Now we put a little of everything on her plate but make sure there is something she will eat and tell her that she has to taste it but if she doesn't like it she doesn't have to eat it. She now chants that back to us - but it has helped reduce the dinner time fights. I think once she felt that she wasn't going to be made to eat something she didn't want the anxiety decreased. Now sometimes she'll ask to try something - she usually won't eat it but at least she'll try!
Good luck - it's very frustrating.

PS we also give her a flinstones multivite to help cover the bases

 

Oh Sharon! Your oldest is 3 years 4 months old?? I don't think I can take this for a year or 2. ugh. I will try giving a selection. It's also frustrating as I am wasting so much food. argh.

 

We just put it on their plate & try not to mention it. They usually don't even try it the first few times, but once they see us eating it, eventually they will try. I hate waste so I short change dh on his plate & he he whatever is left on the girls' plates .

 

I just put it on their plates and see what happens. Mine are so fickle I never know from day to day what they will eat. Bea ate just plain tofu cubes the other day. I would have never guessed that! I usually give them a meat or some kind of protein, a veggie, and a starch like potatoes or pasta. They will usually eat at least one of those. Mine have also gotten into dipping their food in sauces, so maybe try that. I hate wasting food too. They still won't eat much "real food", as in grilled chicken, fish, green veggies. It is frustrating, but I find if I don't make a big deal out of it, then at least I can enjoy my dinner.

 

It was recently suggested on my MOT forum to try Dr Praeger's potato pancakes (broccoli pancakes and spinach pancakes) so I bought some. My kids are not picky at this age, but they love these... From what the packaging says -- Dr Praeger uses interesting ingredients that makes these high in fiber. Oh well - he makes veggie burgers as well .. don't know if these might be of interest to your kiddos.


One question for you... Did they eat well when they were younger?

My boys are 11 mos and they eat these casseroles that I make with veggies and meat and pasta or rice, but I'm eager to try and circumvent food issues down the road. My kids stopped eating baby food 2 months ago. I want to keep them on the current trajectory. How can I do it?

Teri D

 

My oldest was a picky eater. He was the typical chicken nuggets/mac and cheese/hot dogs kid, although he always ate a lot of fruit, which helped. We found he liked raw veggies better than cooked (still does) and catered to that preference. The twins, however, will eat just about anything and always have. I don't think we did anything different with them than with our oldest -- they just have different tastes.

Right now, we don't do anything special for anyone. We all eat the same thing. As long as the kids give a new food a sincere try, if they don't like it, I'll let them just eat more of something else on the table.

I know most of you are dealing with younger children, but as ours have gotten older, we've found it helps to let them choose new recipes from cookbooks and then help make those meals. Also, TV cooking shows have been a big inspiration for them. We watch "Taste of America" on the Travel Channel, in which a guy travels the country and samples regional cuisine specialties. Now, when we travel, we make a point to eat the local specialty while we're there, and they're always game to try it, because that's what the guy on TV does. My kids even ate Limburger cheese in WI because the show's host had been to the same restaurant and eaten it on TV!

Having a vegetable garden helps, too. When they can plant seeds and watch everything grow, they're more apt to want to try it.

 

Whenever I try something new with my girls, I don't give it to them. I put it all on my plate, and then they see me eating something different and start begging for a bite. This has worked like a charm for me. Sometimes they love it, and pretty much finish off my plate, and sometimes they don't like it, and thats ok too. Usually after they've eaten it off my plate, they'll eat it next time if I put it on their plate.

I started doing this because if I put something new on their plate they right away turned up their noses at it, but lord knows I can't eat ANYTHING without them wanting it too.

 

If I ever want my girls to try something new or eat anything specific for some reason I have a no fail (for me) technique--it might work for you or might not!

I serve myself a bowl/plate of it and sit down on the sofa to enjoy it. I'm immediately surrounded my curious little girls who "want some too." This always works for me, even when they just refused the same thing on their plate at the table an hour ago!

 

Have you read the book "Child of Mine: Feeding Your Child with Love and Good Sense" by Ellyn Satter? My twins are only 19 months, so I can't swear the technique works on older toddlers, but it has been pretty good for us so far. PPs have said some similar things, but FWIW, here's what she says:

- Never make food a battle. Never require them to take "just one bite," never say they can only have dessert if they taste something new, etc. Decide what the family is having for dinner, make sure there is at least one thing they will usually eat (it can be something really basic like bread, cheese, applesauce, etc.), and then let them decide. If they eat nothing but applesauce, so be it.

- Don't be emotionally invested in what they eat; they will pick up on it, and it just sets the stage for rebellion. So don't praise them for eating certain foods, don't say "Mommy made that just for you and now you're not eating it," etc. (In fact she says never to cook food that's just for the kids -- because it will upset you when they don't eat it. If you feed them what the rest of the family is eating, you won't worry as much if you give them a little and they ignore it.)

- Don't say anything when you give them something new -- just put it on their tray as if it were the same old thing.

- Over time, most children will eat a wide enough variety of foods that they are getting proper nutrition. (I can't swear to this part!) And you can always back it up with vitamins if it makes you worry less.

- Family meals are really important, because children learn by example. We aren't good at this, but when we do all eat the same thing at the same time, it definitely helps. And sometimes I will take a bite off of Amy or Sarah's tray (even when I'm not having dinner) and it prompts them to take another bite just to find out why Mommy likes it.

- It can take a child up to 30 encounters with a new food to get comfortable enough to swallow it. Even if all they do is poke at it with a finger or put a piece in the mouth and then spit it out, that shows that they are investigating it. If you try to hurry this process, it will backfire.

OK, sorry for writing so much, but I found it really helpful, and I type fast... Hope someone else finds it useful.

 

I just wanted to ditto a couple of the prior posters. My girls will try anything on my plate but will sometimes refuse the same thing on their plate, so I try new things on my plate first. And I also love "Child of Mine." It is a great book for feeding advice. The biggest advice that I got from the book was the division of responsibility. It is the parent's responsibility to determine what and when the child will eat, i.e. put healthy food on the table at meal and snacktimes. It is the child's responsibilty to determine whether and how much he or she will eat.

 

We tell them one bite...no exception. Tears or not...and yes some days were tears. They know it now that there older...one taste. Unless it was something really different...most things they liked.

Try the ''smell it" approach. Sometimes that works too. Might not look good but a sniff might make them interested.

 

Ladies- THANK YOU! Especially the book recommendation, Alden, and the put food on my plate that a few of said worked. I will order the book and regroup. I certainly do not want to make food an issue. Eating the same thing is a bit of a pickle as my son has a Class 5 (severe anaphylactic) Dairy allergy. And he is allergic to eggs and peas. So I think my fear of his allergy made me stick with "safe" food and now I am in a bind.

I will use your techniques to hopefully, safely, broaden their horizons! I am off to Amazon for the book.

Again - thank you for the replies and support.

-Dana