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[quote=Anonymous]14:56 here, with a few additional thoughts.

Nutritionists come in all flavors, no pun intended, and not all of them have actual training as dietitians do, nor do they have specialized uderstanding when it comes to kids. If you're looking to talk to someone who gets pediatrics and this is becoming a serious issue for your daughter and your family, you might try Daisy Miller in Maryland, who's great. Children's has a pediatric feeding disorders clinic, but that may be more than you need. http://drdaisy.com/

One other insight into selective eaters once they are out of the toddler stage (and odds are any adult you ask who was picky as a kid has a story like this): most do not expand the foods they like to eat at home with their parents. They eventually try new thinks at school, or sleepovers, camp, a friend's house, a birthday party, or somewhere where peer influence outweighs their resistance to the new food. As a culture, we place a huge value now on kids eating a wide variety of foods, especially adventurous ones (my little Ava LOVES salmon, kale and quinoa! Oh, she wouldn't eat anything but Korean barbecue for her birthday!). We use it as a badge of honor for good parenting. But kids are genetically programmed not to like bitter/sour flavors, because that was a survival technique. Yes, in cultures where the food is bitter and sour, some get over that fast. But some don't, and picky eating is NOT a first world phenomenon. It happens all over, including in the developing world, even when kids are starving.

So in other words, with seriously picky kids like yours, you may have to accept that she *won't* try new stuff for a while. You might try sitting down with her and make a list of the things you both agree constitute a reasonably healythy list of acceptable choices, and then ensuring those are part of her meals. For picky eaters, selectivity is often inextricable from anxiety--for my kid, the more anxious she gets, the less she eats. It may be just the opposite for yours. So perhaps, if she knows she's going to have something she likes available at every meal, without comment, and without excessive pleading to try new things, she may relax and be more open minded. Maybe with you, or maybe with friends, but regardless, it may help her to try new things at some point soon. With my daughter, NOT asking her, offering, suggesting, or talking about how much we enjoy other things has been a game changer. Meals are much more relaxed, and she's actually eating more. Worth thinking about, anyway. [/quote]

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