Help with picky eating

[Anonymous]

My son has always been a picky eater. It used to go in cycles of favorite things. At newly 4, I feel like he is dropping foods without adding new ones. What type of therapist / dietitian do we see to determine if it’s a problem he’ll grow out of or something that will benefit from therapy? He’s maintaining his growth curve. He eats a variety of textures so I don’t think it’s sensory.

[Anonymous]

You see a feeding therapist for this and it's usually SLPs who do this job. There is a feeding clinic at Children's downtown.

[Anonymous]

Start by rewarding one small bite of new foods, either with a desired food or a check mark that leads to a bigger reward (Kazdin method). Be sure that some of the first foods you introduce are likely to be acceptable to him (fruits or mild veggies, maybe with dip). It's not that hard if you make it fun and don't nag him, just offer and small reward for success. Repeat the same tolerated food several times and then add a very small amount to his regular plate. This is about control, not about food preferences.

[Anonymous]

Does he help you cook, including menu planning?

That has made a world of difference with my picky eater. Takes twice as long and makes a mess, but has been worth it.

[Anonymous]

First, I recommend reading the book Helping Your Child with Extreme Picky Eating.
Our pediatrician recommended us to see a gastroenterologist and then a feeding specialist (who was a speech pathologist) as our child was not maintaining weight. We did 4 sessions of feeding therapy before finding it was no longer useful.

The main thing is to not make meals stressful for the child.
For every meal we have a food item he doesn’t like. There are different levels of what he needs to do with the food. The first level is having the food on his plate. Then touch and/or smelling the food, then licking the food, then taking an actual bite. It can take several meals before he takes a bit. His reward is tht he can have whatever he wants for dessert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does he help you cook, including menu planning?

That has made a world of difference with my picky eater. Takes twice as long and makes a mess, but has been worth it.

He will cook, but often doesn’t want the result. Even choc chip cookies - by the time they come out of the oven he’s moved on to something else. We have a KidStir subscription, he has an apron and knives, we have a learning tower for the counter. I take him to the store and let him pick out 1-2 things every trip to try and I don’t set any limits. Well, I don’t let him pick 2 flavors of ice cream but I don’t limit him to just fruits and veg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Start by rewarding one small bite of new foods, either with a desired food or a check mark that leads to a bigger reward (Kazdin method). Be sure that some of the first foods you introduce are likely to be acceptable to him (fruits or mild veggies, maybe with dip). It's not that hard if you make it fun and don't nag him, just offer and small reward for success. Repeat the same tolerated food several times and then add a very small amount to his regular plate. This is about control, not about food preferences.

We have tried this and we have not found his “currency” - screen time, legos, Small daily toys, saving up for a big toy, choc chips, etc. He eats ranch dressing at preschool, but not at home. We’ve mainly focused on doing a modified version of Elliyn Satter where everyone is allowed to eat as much as they want of the foods on the table - but no other foods. I always include foods he likes.

I think next up we will try serving food family style. Once I knew wat to search for here I saw a post that said letting him serve himself from communal plates might help where each family member takes the foods they want.

I’m mostly not sure where we cross the line from normal preschooler to needing help. He is growing. I’m able to sneak some veggies into muffins and smoothies, but he has literally never eaten a vegetable otherwise since infant purees. We tried to get him to eat a pea or a kernel of corn once and it was a 45 minutes ordeal of crying because he wanted the “prize” so much but literally could not bring himself to do it. It’s like it pains him and the anguish breaks my heart. My younger son is not a great eater, but is more typical toddler picky. He will put almost any new food in his mouth and often tries 1-2 bites before rejecting a new food. The older one won’t even touch or smell new foods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You see a feeding therapist for this and it's usually SLPs who do this job. There is a feeding clinic at Children's downtown.

Thanks - I didn’t know where to start. We might need a consult to find out if he’s on the limited end of normal or actually needs help.

[Anonymous]

What does he currently eat?

[Anonymous]

One of my 3 dc is an extremely picky eater but not special needs per se. He is 9 and has not eaten a vegetable past infancy. He does take gummy multivitamins. He recently began eating sliced apples and strawberries after most of his life only eating a specific brand of fruit pouch as his only fruit.

He is perfectly healthy, growing and very athletic and tested into AAP. He just has an insanely sensitive palate. He sits at the nut free table b/c other people's food often makes him literally gag.

Over the years I have researched OTs, feeding programs, tried all kinds of approaches. The feeding programs really seem to have limited or mixed success and involve a lot of time, energy, effort and tears to get a child to take one bite of one food.

If you can get him to take a multivitamin and he gets enough calcium, I would just keep doing what you are doing at home.

[Anonymous]

As the parent of a 12 year old “picky eater”, I honestly think you need to let this go. Serve meals where you know there will be 1-2 choices that he’ll eat. Have a rule that if he doesn’t want what’s being served, then he can have cereal or or pb&j or something else that he can participate in putting together, but once dinner is over the kitchen is closed. Then let him eat whatever he wants or doesn’t want. Give him a multi-vitamin. And then forget about it. He’s growing. He’ll be fine. At some point he’ll eat vegetables, though perhaps not until he’s 40. You really have no control over his palate, though, so just let it go.

[Anonymous]

Is it just vegetables that he’s not eating? Does he eat any fruit? Fruit are a good source of vitamins for picky eaters. However the major deficiency is iron. You can get a blood draw to see if he’s anemic.

What is he putting the ranch dressing on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my 3 dc is an extremely picky eater but not special needs per se. He is 9 and has not eaten a vegetable past infancy. He does take gummy multivitamins. He recently began eating sliced apples and strawberries after most of his life only eating a specific brand of fruit pouch as his only fruit.

He is perfectly healthy, growing and very athletic and tested into AAP. He just has an insanely sensitive palate. He sits at the nut free table b/c other people's food often makes him literally gag.

Over the years I have researched OTs, feeding programs, tried all kinds of approaches. The feeding programs really seem to have limited or mixed success and involve a lot of time, energy, effort and tears to get a child to take one bite of one food.

If you can get him to take a multivitamin and he gets enough calcium, I would just keep doing what you are doing at home.

It’s not all about nutrients. one issue becomes the social aspect of eating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my 3 dc is an extremely picky eater but not special needs per se. He is 9 and has not eaten a vegetable past infancy. He does take gummy multivitamins. He recently began eating sliced apples and strawberries after most of his life only eating a specific brand of fruit pouch as his only fruit.

He is perfectly healthy, growing and very athletic and tested into AAP. He just has an insanely sensitive palate. He sits at the nut free table b/c other people's food often makes him literally gag.

Over the years I have researched OTs, feeding programs, tried all kinds of approaches. The feeding programs really seem to have limited or mixed success and involve a lot of time, energy, effort and tears to get a child to take one bite of one food.

If you can get him to take a multivitamin and he gets enough calcium, I would just keep doing what you are doing at home.

It’s not all about nutrients. one issue becomes the social aspect of eating.

Well, the other consideration is to keep eating a pleasurable activity and not turn it into a power struggle, which is what the feeding clinics sometimes turn into.

[Anonymous]

He sounds normal to me. I wouldn’t worry yet.