When did your great eater turn picky?

[Anonymous]

If DS is almost 4 and eating pretty much everything, is he likely to remain a non picky eater?

DH is a picky eater and it drives me crazy. I would love to regularly cook one meal for the whole family to enjoy together, but it’s hard. I’m secretly proud of DS eating so well - today I tucked him in and he called me back because he wanted to talk more about foods we could pack to go on a picnic (apparently, grapefruit and bacon). In the past few days or so he’s had shiitake mushrooms, sweet potato, asparagus, pickled radish, beets, kimchi, zucchini, carrot, tuna, sunflower sprouts, avocado... all things that DH will not touch. How do I keep this going?

[Anonymous]

OP I don't think you have to *do* anything to keep this going.

It's probably more about what you don't do.

Don't push stuff on him, let him go through a picky phase or two etc.

I love Ellyn Satter's philosophy if you're looking for some actual info on this.

[Anonymous]

Literally the day after his 2nd birthday - one day he loved and requested a variety of cuisines, the next day he could only eat chicken nuggets and 3 other dishes. He’s 9 now and somewhat better, but nowhere near the palate he had at 18 months. His younger sister has always been willing to try anything without complaints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I don't think you have to *do* anything to keep this going.

It's probably more about what you don't do.

Don't push stuff on him, let him go through a picky phase or two etc.

I love Ellyn Satter's philosophy if you're looking for some actual info on this.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Never. They've always eaten whatever we're eating, and that still hasn't changed. They eat a wide variety of things from different ethnicities since we're a very culturally mixed household. I don't see them ever becoming picky eaters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Literally the day after his 2nd birthday - one day he loved and requested a variety of cuisines, the next day he could only eat chicken nuggets and 3 other dishes. He’s 9 now and somewhat better, but nowhere near the palate he had at 18 months. His younger sister has always been willing to try anything without complaints.

Both my kids changed around 2. One is more adventurous now, but it took until about age 6. The other will be picky forever!

[Anonymous]

My kids go through picky waves. We simply keep doing as we've always done, and the waves pass. It's no big.

[Anonymous]

Most kids go through a phase of pickiER eating starting around 18-24 months. If you manage it Ellyn Satter-style, most will pass through within a year and end up at their natural set point-- somewhere in the fat part of the bell curve from moderately picky to pretty adventurous. If you "give in" (feed "kid food" and/or make it a powers struggle) then they will probably end up pickiER than they'd otherwise be. Lots of disclaimers and outliers in that, but I think that's basically true.

I think if your kid is 4 and still pretty adventurous, then that's mostly going to be their natural baseline. I don't see a lot of adventurous eaters become picky after age 2 or 3.

[Anonymous]

*power, not powers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most kids go through a phase of pickiER eating starting around 18-24 months. If you manage it Ellyn Satter-style, most will pass through within a year and end up at their natural set point-- somewhere in the fat part of the bell curve from moderately picky to pretty adventurous. If you "give in" (feed "kid food" and/or make it a power struggle) then they will probably end up pickiER than they'd otherwise be. Lots of disclaimers and outliers in that, but I think that's basically true.

I think if your kid is 4 and still pretty adventurous, then that's mostly going to be their natural baseline. I don't see a lot of adventurous eaters become picky after age 2 or 3.

BTW I asked this myself on DCUM when my kid was somewhere between 3-4, and in any event, my kid (7) is still moderately adventurous by American standards. Which is to say, kind of like a mildly picky adult. She doesn't like absolutely everything, and sometimes (not mostly) will choose to eat just one or two, usually carby parts of a meal, but you can take her everywhere and she will always eat something, even when all meal components are totally unfamiliar.