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[quote=Anonymous]I was that picky child and had two picky kids, to varying degrees. The first thing to accept is that she really isn't doing this to be difficult. When I was a child those foods really did taste awful to me, I would gag too. Think of the most disgusting food you can imagine and how it would feel if someone forced you to eat that.

We followed the Satter "division of responsibility" for food. That is we chose what to serve and when, the kids decide if they will eat and how much. Every meal included at least one thing they would eat, generally fruit and/or bread. And then we didn't focus during the meal on who is eating what. No cajoling, no no-thank-you bites, etc. It was really hard for my husband who grew up with a "clean your plate" mom and likely as a result has very poor food regulation instincts and has been overweight his whole adult life. He wanted to do the "one bite" thing but that turned every meal into an argument about how much = "one bite". It made every meal a misery and my sympathy was 100% with my kids so I put a stop to it.

If the kids said they didn't want/didn't like something I'd just say that's ok. Your taste buds change as you grow up so eventually you may like it. That's what happened to me.

As you are already doing, you limit snacks to a defined time and the kitchen is closed outside of that time. And this has to apply to all the kids. The picky one isn't getting punished. It's healthier for all to not be grazing all day.

This is NOT a quick fix. It was years. It finally started getting better in middle school. But my kids are 20 & 21 and now eat pretty much anything. One hold out so far is 20 year old still can't eat beans (black beans, kidney beans, etc). She keeps trying because she wishes she could eat them but they still make her gag.

With this approach, even when it seemed at times that they lived on breakfast cereal (only at breakfast), a daily multivitamin, and air, they kept growing appropriately. Our ped actually said she'd never seen kids track so precisely on their growth curves. So, it is important to keep an eye on that and if they were to fall off the curve then you'd want to consult an eating specialist.

You can learn more about the Satter "eating competence" approach here https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/satter-eating-competence-model/[/quote]

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