Lucas has NEVER EVER EVER been picky... until a month ago. Now he usually just picks at his food.... at dinner he will usually just eat his veggies and rice or noodles if we have it. He refuses to eat meat most times and I refuse to make 2 meals for him so I tell him he can either eat what I fix or eat nothing.... some nights he refuses to take ANY bites and goes to bed without anything (like the night I made sloppy joes, and without even trying it... and I don't think he's ever had them before, he tells me that boys don't eat Sloppy Joes)
rayms not in this age group but he used to eat ANYTHING. Now hell only eat, crackers, pretzels, pb and j and chicken nuggets and baby food. NOTHING ELSE. I refuse to buy babyfood for him and well Im going to start having to make him go hungry if he doesnt eat what we do.
I make three different meals too...so no help, I'll just commiserate w/you :). It's funny, b/c the "picki-ness" kinda skipped generations. Our oldest will eat anything and try anything, our 2nd will barely eat anything outside of peanut butter and chicken nuggets, our 3rd will, again, eat anything and try almost anything and our youngest makes me absolutely crazy b/c she started out eating everything put in front of her and now will eat....peanut butter, chicken nuggets, fries, ham cubes (sometimes), pizza and fish sticks. So...yep. We have picky eaters :).
Well, our pickiness isn't new, per se, but Anna was a baby/toddler who would eat ANYTHING. Seriously anything. But now? Not so much.
I try to fix at least one thing at meals that they enjoy (and dinner is the only one where it is a problem-we eat pretty kid friendly food at breakfast and lunch), but I don't really care if they eat or not. I will.not. make them something else for dinner. They either eat or they don't. When they get old enough, if they are that against what we are having, they can make something for themselves. In the meantime, I am not a short order cook!!! Not to mention I think that it contributes to continuing the picky habits later-I know it did for me. (my mom made me a seperate meal pratically every night-and it took YEARS to learn to like new things)
They used to be really bad about it-they would say they didn't like it based on looks, and then it would be a fight to get them to try it. So we started charts for them for meals (charts work really well for them) and one of the things on the chart was trying at least one bite of everything. We eventually phased out the charts, and they are better about eating things now. There are nights when they will only have one or two bites and say they are done, but they are a lot more open to trying things than they used to be...so it is a little bit of forward progress.
Good luck-it is tough!!! I hate listening to them say, "I don't like that!" before they have even tried a bite...
emily used to eat anything i put in front of her, but not anymore.
jake used to eat nothing and now he's getting better.
but they are both hit or miss at dinner time.
ditto to supa - breakfast and lunch are easy b/c i cater to what i know they like. dinner time is a crap shoot. some nights i'm shocked at what they eat, but usually i freakin hate dinner time. jake will NOT take bites of most vegetables unless matt is over top of him threatening. i don't like mealtimes going that way, so i try to present them with veggies that i know they will eat.
like laura, i will not make them separate meals. i just usally try to have SOMETHING with dinner that they will eat. i know that between breakfast, lunch and snacks they are eating plenty through the day, so i try not to stress too much about dinner.
emily used to eat anything i put in front of her, but not anymore.
jake used to eat nothing and now he's getting better.
but they are both hit or miss at dinner time.
ditto to supa - breakfast and lunch are easy b/c i cater to what i know they like. dinner time is a crap shoot. some nights i'm shocked at what they eat, but usually i freakin hate dinner time. jake will NOT take bites of most vegetables unless matt is over top of him threatening. i don't like mealtimes going that way, so i try to present them with veggies that i know they will eat.
like laura, i will not make them separate meals. i just usally try to have SOMETHING with dinner that they will eat. i know that between breakfast, lunch and snacks they are eating plenty through the day, so i try not to stress too much about dinner.
UGH-ITU. Our meals used to go the same way, and Bill would end up getting so pissed off at them that someone would wind up in time out or their room or crying. It.was.awful. And obviously not working.
Bill was against the chart idea at first, but like I said, that works well for them (this was last fall/winter though-we haven't used them in a long long time), so I insisted. I just wanted control to go back into their court-they could eat their food or not, but they could only get rewards if they did what they were supposed to do. I know they got stickers for a certain number of check marks, and I know they had to get all five to get candy or some other small treat after dinner. I know charts don't work for all kids, but it worked wonders for them. (relatively speaking, lmao)
Christopher would eat most ridiculous stuff (like lentil curry, tofu, beef stew) up until age 2 but then he became pickier and pickier. And now it's afwul. He'll only eat pasta (sometimes), buckwheat (sometimes), cereal, plain bread (if he's really hungry) and doritos. He used to like pb or nutella sandwich but no more. It's so hard to feed him... he still likes milk so I mix in baby cereal and give it to him in the mornings and evenings for nutrition... I have tired putting regular food in front of him so many times and not giving him anything else in hopes that he would eat that food but he just starves himself and whines and cries. I hope he grows out of it soon because it's really hard.
