I've read countless blog posts and heard just as many stories from fellow toddler moms complaining about their picky eaters. I truly considered myself lucky to have a child who, with few exceptions, would eat whatever we were eating for dinner each night. Meal times were never a battle in our house.
And then, two weeks ago, a switch flipped. Camden decided that eating? Is really not high on his agenda anymore. He rejects his old tried and true favorites, and refuses to try anything new. Last night, I seriously made him 3 dinners before he'd put anything in his mouth. The first was a cheese quesadilla (okay, full disclosure: I didn't make it; it was from Moe's. But still-- a cheese quesadilla seems like a pretty kid friendly food, yes?). He put one bite in his mouth and promptly let it slide right off his tongue and back onto his plate. Then I heated up leftover pizza, mac & cheese, and some peas. All former favorites of Camden's. He pushed his plate away, saying "all done", without even trying a bite. Finally, he settled on my third attempt at a meal: a scrambled egg (which he devoured-- the kid was hungry. That certainly wasn't the issue).
Snacks are totally fine-- he's still very interested in granola bars, Goldfish, yogurt, and any kind of snacky foods. Meal times are starting to exhaust me, though. And yes- I do realize that many pediatricians would say that I need to offer him only what we're eating and if he refuses that? Too bad. Honestly, though, that's just not something I feel comfortable with. Maybe if I had a kid with some extra meat on his bones I would consider that an option, but Camden's a skinny minny and I wouldn't feel right about putting him to bed without dinner. Also, I feel like he's a little young to be that tough with him. My sister mentioned that my 4 and-a-half year old nephew has been refusing meals lately too, and she's put her foot down and told him that he's eating what the rest of the family is eating. And I totally think that's the right decision-- for a child that age. For a 2 year old though? I just don't think so.
I'm not really worried about this because I know that, like everything else in the world of a toddler, it's just a phase. (I received a timely email from Babycenter stating that it might seem like my 2 year old is existing on crackers and air right now. Yes, Babycenter, some days it does seem that way.) But, I am completely open to hearing about food your toddler loves (please share!) or stories of how you combatted your child's picky eating.
When you're sending me menu ideas (pretty please), please note some of the things that Camden is currently refusing:
Pizza.
Grilled cheese.
Spaghetti.
Lasagna.
Mac & cheese.
Broccoli.
Peas.
Quesadillas.
Avocado.
(For the record, Chick-Fil-A nuggets were a huge hit tonight. Too bad we can't make those a daily part of our diet.)
6 comments:
I've never gone through food struggles that badly with Noah, but he has gone through some picky phases. And he stopped liking any kind of vegetable when he was about 12 months old, whereas before 12 months he liked them just fine.
I kept offering him vegetables for like 5 or 6 months, and then I just stopped. I still put vegetables on our plates, but I didn't put any on his plate.
Believe it or not, after about 2 months of not being offered vegetables, Noah started asking for them off of our plate. One day he ate ALL the vegetables off of my plate. It's like he forgot he doesn't like vegetables because I stopped giving them to him. And because he doesn't "get to have them" like Mom and Dad, it makes him want them more.
I have found with MANY crappy stages Noah goes through, if I ignore it and don't push it, it goes away. For example, 2 or 3 months ago Noah would cling to my legs and SCREAM everytime I tried to make dinner (actually, when I tried to make any meal, really). He would get SO upset he would throw up. It was torture. So I stopped making dinner unless Justin was home to play with him (which meant that like 4 out of 5 weeknights, I didn't make dinner).
I just realized tonight as I was making dinner (and Noah was just playing in the kitchen with me and walking around my legs) that he hadn't been having tantrums while I was cooking in quite awhile. I just stopped cooking while I was home alone with him (I would make quick things, like toast), and after awhile he forgot that he hated it when I cooked.
If Noah was going through that phase, I think what I might do is stop trying. Just give him something he will eat, like a granola bar. Just something boring, not a lot of options on his plate. And you and Matt sit down to eat your yummy dinner, and Camden just gets a boring granola bar (or a handful or crackers or something). Maybe after awhile Camden will forget to be so picky and will want to eat the same things you and Matt are eating, because these things are no longer actually being offered to him.
It's a thought. I'm not saying this will work for Camden's picky eating right now, but I think that is what I would try with Noah.
(Another Noah anecdote: he was in love with clementines when they first came out this winter season, and he wanted to eat like 10 a day. After a couple of months we pretty much couldn't pay him to eat a clementine, and we'd get a whiny "Noooo!" if we asked. So I stopped offering them to him for a couple of weeks, and now he's asking for clementines again.)
Food is a daily disaster for us. We have tried a lot to get Laura to eat... It's exhausting! The best luck we've had is by offering 3 or 4 options per meal on a loop, before prepaing anything. She can choose, but by circling the options thru, we can trick her into one of our four.
Then the prep. Then a hidden period of cooling it, since she won't eat anything she knew was once hot. Then of course, I can't cut anything up until she requests it, because god forbid her food doesn't look like it's natural state.
Did I mention only ONE type of food on her plate at a time? Just peas. Or just chicken. No combos of hot dog AND cheese! That would be a disaster!
Then about four bites in, we are all done.
We definitely went through food wars with graham - although never that bad. He wouldn't eat cheese for months and months. So he would pick the cheese off his pizza.
Now he LOVES olives, so if something has olives, he'll generally eat it.
He will always always eat fruit, so if all else fails, I just give him a banana. Generally if he doesn't eat dinner, I don't make him something else, I'll just give him a banana with a slice of bread. I figure that is enough to get him through the night, but not really rewarding his bad behavior.
When Graham was on a veggie strike, I started putting brown sugar on his carrots -- I figured some sugar on his veggies was better than no veggies at all.
You are right though, just like everything it is just a phase. :)
With Alana, since she is 5, she has to eat what we are eating. No other options. But with Ava I never force her to eat anything, because we all know you can't force a 2 year old to do anything. Its not possible.
She eats most of what we eat anyway, but if we try something new she is very resitant to it. I never offer her an alternative though, she can eat her dinner or get down from the table. Those are the choices, but I'm mostly lucky because she will always eat the chicken or protein (we mostly eat chicken) out of her food, so she eats something. She doesn't go hungry, but she's sure to eat snacks so I'm sure she isn't starving anyways.
The one hard thing with her is that if there is a vegetable even on her plate that she doesn't like, she won't eat anything off of the plate. Usually David ends up taking the 2 pieces of broccoli off her plate so she will eat the other stuff. If the vegetables are mixed in though she eats them, like broccoli and cheese soup.
Eventually I guess if they get hungry they will try new things, but some kids are just picky. And I do know people who just don't like to try new foods. I have a 25 year old brother who has never once put milk in his cereal, but I hope he is an exception to the rule. Not everyone is that stubborn about trying new things, even 2 year olds.
Elsa ate anything you put in front of her until about sixteen months, then she starting exerting choice. There are things she'll eat one day but not the next. The other night we had beef stew and she sat next to Daddy begging for bites until she got her own bowl. She snarfed it. The next day I gave her some for lunch and it was "yuck." Go figure.
I don't know how much help I can be since the things your boy is refusing are the only things I can count on my girl to eat! :D
Some days I just keep throwing bananas and grapes at her. Those days when she's being picky I figure I'll just give her the best stuff I can.
Currently our daughter eats chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and spaghetti with a few random things thrown in. She is always offered what we are eating and sometimes she'll eat it and like it (and forget she likes it the next time we make it) and other times she won't go near it. We've always struggled in this department. Hope you get your good eater back soon!
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