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Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
Please share what good food your preschooler WILL eat...
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Anonymous
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I'm getting so tired of my dwindling list of options for healthy balanced food choices.
Here's what my DS3.5 will eat: Protein foods: PB&J Peanut butter on toast Boiled eggs Scrambled eggs (sometimes) American cheese slices Ramen noodles (I drop two eggs in the water like an egg drop soup effect so it has protein) Mac & Cheese Yogurt Pudding cups (a stretch, I know...) Milk Instant breakfast drinks with milk Veggies/ Fruits Bananas Grapes 1 apple wedge applesauce fruit cups in jello Mandarin oranges Carrots (on a good day) Raisins Grains: Oatmeal Any dry cereal Goldfish I hate making dinner, because he never likes it. It's to the point I just make what the two little ones like, and me and DS13 just eat something else far less creative than what I'd like to be eating. In his defense, he will take one bite of whatever I'm serving (like I ask him to) before saying he doesn't like it. Casseroles, beef, pork, shrimp, chicken - - all OUT. I want him to eat better, but it's so hard fighting him all the time. I'm coming to the kitchen ready for battle every mealtime. Any ideas? What are you getting your picky eaters to eat? |
Anonymous
| I have a picky eater whose menu looks very similar to your list. Have you tried cheese raviolis? Also, sweet potatoe fries? Just slice up sweet potatoes and bake them in olive oil. That's one of the few vegetables that my 3 yr old will eat. |
Anonymous
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I second the sweet potato fries.
Here's what I do. I serve (usually) four healthy items. They pick from that. Something like deli turkey wraps, baked sweet potato, steamed broccoli, and apples. No fight. He eats or he doesn't. Dips help. For a while, it was roasted chicken that he got to dip in catsup. Ugh. Involve them in making something. They are more likely to eat their own creations. Chicken casserole works well for my son. Basic: chicken (white meat), any frozen veggie, cream of mushroom, and cheese. I double the amount of veggies in the recipe. Guacamole, especially the low fat stuff from Whole Foods (made with some blended peas to cut the fat), is a hit. Hummus and pita bread or veggies. Serving breakfast foods for dinner. Lifestream makes a yummy organic, whole grain/flax seed waffle that's great with some PB on it. |
Anonymous
Oh I wish he would eat any of that. He will go hungry if he doesn't like what he's got. He's thin enough that I can't afford to let him skip meals. I tried it and it didn't work. He lost about 2 lbs before I finally caved. I offer what he is known to eat, and keep offering new and fun things. He takes a bite but 49 times out of 50, he turns up his nose at it. Part of his dislike is texture. If you look at what he won't eat, it's mostly things that require a lot of molar chewing and gnawing. And though he enjoys helping make food, that's where it ends with him. Making it. I seriously was thrilled[u] to think of boiled eggs and have him EAT them!!! Just one night per week, I'd like to have one meal that everyone eats together, that they ALL like. |
Anonymous
| it helped ALOT for me to have my son cook with me. he'll eat almost anything he cooks. i started with sweet stuff like baked apples or fruit crisps and then moved on to veggies and stuff. he actually ate salad the other day... |
Anonymous
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My son also likes cheese quesadillas (sometimes he'll let me add chicken). Plus, we'll eat mac and cheese as a main course and add ham and peas to it .
I know it's not a main course, but if you're looking for an extra veggie, my son loves celery w/ peanut butter. Plus he also loves pudding, but I buy the powder and mix it myself with milk...he gets more milk that way. Good luck. I know it's tough. |
Anonymous
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OP here. I forgot he will eat frozen peas in a butter cream sauce (snort, yeah who wouldn't?!?)
Another tip I use that might help someone else - - he'll eat anything on a toothpick. A totem pole of green peas, bananas on a toothpick, etc. He'll also get sucked in by the occasional "Fireman Noodles" or "Pirate Chicken" which is total b.s. that I've made up - - but he goes for it hook line and sinker some days. My oldest DS's most gullible food was eating "Dogfish" since he loved dogs so much. It was salmon or catfish or flounder, but we always told the waiter to bring us "dogfish" with a sly point on the menu of what we really wanted.... |
Anonymous
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My two toddlers will both eat anything sauteed in a bit of olive oil and garlic: fresh spinach, swiss chard, bok choy, even broccoli. To keep it lighter and use less oil, I add a bit of low-sodium chicken stock and braise towards the end. Then a squirt of lemon at the end, and a tiny bit of salt and pepper.
Also, I make kids mac-and-cheese from the box, but I substitute yogurt for the milk and butter. And I add peas and other green veggies, and sometimes a sprinkling of fresh parm. cheese. Also, sweet potato fries - just sliced very thin and cooked in the oven with a tiny bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper. My kids love fish too - not sure why. They like it much better than chicken or steak. |
Anonymous
| My son also loves anything on a stick - so, I make him chicken satay a lot. He also loves edamame (finding them in the shell), steamed cauliflower mixed with scrambled eggs and cheese, unsalted almonds, olives, and unsweetened applesauce. |
Anonymous
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Here's our list:
Fish sticks Chicken sticks (Ian's makes and organic version) Meatballs Black beans Ground turkey w/mild taco spices Apples Pears Peaches Oranges Bananas Slice of whole wheat raisin bread w/cream cheese (newly discovered!) Saffron (ie yellow) rice w/black beans and a can of cream of brocoli soup White rice Potato Sweet potato V8 Fusion juice (it has veg juice in it and I figure it's a bit of this is okay) Milk Ice cream (kind of healthy - right?) Yogurt Actually looking at this list it doesn't seem too bad other than lack of greens. But it took us about a year of hit or miss to get here! I'm of the school of thought that I should feed something healthy that he will eat. When he's school age (he's just 2 now) I think I will feel it's more important for him to eat what we eat and try to battle then. PS. the whole involving him in cooking has not worked for us yet. He loved helping me prep the Thanksigiving turkey and kept running into the kitchen while it was in the oven to check on it so I had high hopes. But, he spit out of the bite I managed to get into his mouth out w/fake gagging. Good luck - as a former picky eater with fat cats (I would secretly feed them my dinner under the table - even veggies) I did eventually grew out of it and am quite healthy now! |
Anonymous
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Oops -and I meant to add - and I might get flamed for this - we feed DS while he is watching TV. That is really the only way we have been able to get him to eat well. I know it's a habit we are going to have to break but we also have 5 month old twins and I work FT so I pick and choose my battles....
My younger sister was tiny for her age and my parents ended up doing the TV during dinner thing with her too - all seems to have worked out now and she was able to go through a TV-less dinner around age 5-6. I'd hope to make the transition sooner - around the time the babies start eating dinner. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| Interesting to see so much mention of trying to get toddlers to eat low fat... I feel like I'm constantly trying to forcefeed MORE fat to mine, not as much my 3-year-old son but definitely my almost-2 year old daughter. (Particularly good fats, like avocado...) What's the rationale for low fat dining for little kids? |
Anonymous
| We had a picky eater too until we read our DD Green Eggs and Ham. Now we just say you need to try it just like Sam I am. Her new favorite food is lamb chops. Who would've figured!!!!!!!!!!! She also loves avocado and cucumber sushi. |
Anonymous
| OP, it sounds like you are actually doing everything right. you are offering healthy foods and foods that he likes at every meal. that is exactly what you should be doing!! if he turns his nose up at a food, it's ok. just keep offering it. i think i read that a kid has to be offered an unfamiliar food something like 20 times before he'll accept it. don't let dinner time be a battle! i believe in ellyn slatter's philosophy: your job is to offer the food; the kid's job is to accept it. if you want to serve a casserole, go ahead and serve it to him, along with a side of something you know he'll eat (bread? cheese? yogurt?). he won't starve, and you'll be leading by example. i have an underweight toddler, so i understand your anxiety. but you are on the right track! |