Picky eating kids can drive a sane mommy crazy. though it pains me to admit: after having three children, I’ve learned that I can not really control what a child will and won’t eat. but I do have influence over the options that are available, and so I focus on that. At the end of this post, I will share my battle-tested methods for taking care of picky eating children.
Arrière plan:
Before I try to boss you around, I want to share my picky eating credentials. Kid 1 was a pretty good eater and we were very neurotic, dedicated first-time parents (not that there’s anything wrong with that), hell-bent on getting him to eat every bite blob of food on his spoon. He ate a very healthy balance of fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins. as of age ten, he won’t eat cooked fruit (apple pie – WTW?!) or plain cheese pizza, preferring vegetables on his pizza to the point of pouting at parties where only cheese is available. He’s a little bit picky but mostly a excellent eater of lots of foods. and yes, we are those food a**holes who serve kale salads to our kids on the regular. kid 1 eats them with relish and wants to make sure we are appropriately massaging each leaf. (Not actual relish made of pickles.)
Kid 2 was also a pretty good eater from the start. rather than force the “clean your plate” mentality of our own childhoods, we had progressed as parents to encourage a “Try-It Bite” for every new food, and then left it up to him as to whether he would eat more. He was a frequent eater of frozen waffles and plain yogurt but also ingested a healthy combination of other foods. If anything, he opened up our eyes about a broader range of possibilities for nutritious foods. He prefers plain pizza to veggie, but he always eats the broccoli we offer on the side.
Kid 3 has been a picky eater from the womb. He was a voracious nurser that required formula supplementation nearly immediately. I must have known that we couldn’t rest on our good experience. He developed a penchant for dairy and carbs (plain cheese quesadillas and cheese pizza are his best foods) such that I couldn’t even get him to eat fruit without disguising it as a cracker (thanks to Trader Joe’s freeze dried strawberries, he now eats the real thing). The “Try-It Bite” has devolved into the “No-Thank-You Lick”. It took us 3-5 times of using ice cream before he would even put it to his lips. I’ve caught myself doing a delighted dance when he ate his first dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget, because he had never agreed to try chicken before!
Because our picky kid was our third kid, I had no choice but to accept this as a thing about HIM rather than a thing about ME. I am positive if my first child had been the one to turn up his nose at a grape or carrot, I would have blamed myself.
Having experienced two kids who will eat anything and one who will not, I have some mantras and reminders I give myself and my spouse to help us stay sane.
Tips for parents of selective eaters:
Remove all pressure around eating. I practice acting like I don’t care if the meal or dish is finished because I know my child will not go hungry. (See banana idea below.) say — and believe — “You don’t have to eat it.” You wouldn’t force me to eat a cilantro leaf, so don’t force your toddler.
Offer one safe food with every new food. We make sure that there’s a familiar dish on the table. Our dinner times typically include a seemingly random banana or waffle option for this reason. The kid might not try the new thing, but he won’t starve.
Only allow food at specified meal and snack times. Truth be told, I’m delighted enough if my kids fill up on healthy snacks. An apple ideal before dinner? Poursuivre. but hell to the No, you may not eat a snack after the dinner if you just ignored it. The kitchen is closed and you will make it until morning.No candy and treats for children who don’t eat their real food. Pour de vrai. I am hardcore this way.
Encourage good manners. With some meals — like the white bean chili I plan to serve tonight — I know that only my spouse and I will actually eat it willingly. It is my job to prepare healthy meals (every flipping day) and it is their job to be polite about it. They can sit without making faces and say “No thank you”, or “Just a little please.”
Be curious, not furious. If they do taste an icky food, I encourage my sons to become little scientists and check out further. I want them to think about why they didn’t like it — would cheese sauce make it better or worse? Is there a cilantro problem here? would you eat red sauce on the side next time? — and not be jerks.
Find creative ways to serve fruits and vegetables:Â Pinterest can be your pal and enemy when serving sandwiches that look like spiders or hummus-guacamole crocodiles but a little inventiveness can go a long way. two of my kids love roasted broccoli; Whitney served frozen peaches instead of popsicles with terrific success; little crispyLes pois lyophilisés discutent formidable avec mon tout-petit de la ventre qui aime les cracker; Certains enfants adorent tremper alors donnez-leur des carottes avec du houmous; Un smoothie vert peut être un houle de Hulk; Mettez du melon ou du fromage sur un cure-dent; Essayez de faire passer les bananes en dessert avec une machine à régler les fruits Yonanas. Voici beaucoup plus d’idées pour un tout-petit.
Essayez différentes températures. En plus d’expérimenter sur la forme (Astuce 6), j’ai appris que tous les enfants ne voulaient pas de nourriture chaude ou froide. J’ai un enfant qui mange des pois surgelés surgelés et un autre qui les préfère cuits. très facile. Whitney a été choquée d’apprendre que ses gamins aimaient Tortellini Cold (yay, quelque chose de nouveau dans la boîte à lunch). Mon bébé pense que les smoothies froids sont trop froids, donc je limite les objets réfrigérés et j’utilise une banane à température ambiante quand je le partage avec lui.
Pensez à une vue d’ensemble le jour, la semaine et le stade de la vie. Les aliments équilibrés nutritionnels n’ont pas besoin d’être utilisés à chaque repas. Est-ce que cela équilibre sur le transport plus long? Votre médecin est-il concerné? Le mien ne l’est pas, donc nous optons pour cela.
Les impliquer. Votre enfant pourrait être beaucoup plus prêt à essayer un nouvel aliment qu’il cultive dans le jardin, choisit dans le supermarché ou aide à se préparer. Ou non. Mon enfant a littéralement chanté à l’idée d’essayer de nouveaux aliments tout en choisissant les tomates cerises de notre arrière-cour et ne le goûterait pas. passant à autre chose.
Faites une liste de ce qu’un enfant mangera. Au lieu de vous concentrer sur le négatif, énumérez les aliments oui. Je suis toujours choqué lorsque les parents appellent leurs enfants pointilleux, puis secouez une liste d’aliments qui baissent sans problème. Ce matin, j’ai entendu «Oui, elle mange du riz, des haricots, des baies, des nouilles, des poires, mais pas de la viande.» J’étais très heureux qu’ils aient un mangeur de haricots.
Faites savoir aux enfants que les papilles changent avec le temps. Il n’aime peut-être pas la pizza aux champignons aujourd’hui, mais quand il sera plus âgé – Hourra – il le fera. Et dites-le avec un sourire. J’aime susciter cette possibilité comme un autre badge d’être un grand enfant, donc c’est quelque chose que mon petit peut aspirer. Qui sait si ça marche. Demandez-moi dans dix ans!
Conclusion:
Comme le dit Ellyn Satter, les parents contrôlent ce qui est servi et les contrôles de l’enfant s’il le mange. The moral of the story for our family is to continue to offer healthy foods that the kids like mixed in with new foods that I like. I also have a back-up food that they can politely prepare for themselves (hummus and pita with fruit).
ps never depend on a person telling you how to fix picky eating if they do not have one. If a two-year old is harvesting vegetables from her garden and eating them, she is NOT picky and her parents shouldn’t be bossing me around!