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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Agree with PP. 
what foods does she eat willingly? 
I don’t think you give in to junk food and give up on all fruits/veggies but there is a happy medium. 
So like if I was serving a casserole that I wasn’t sure my kid would eat, I might also do bread, and fruit, available to everyone. So at least my kid will have bread and fruit and not go hungry. [/quote]

Op - yes she likes fruit and pasta. Pretty much no protein other than chicken nuggets (gross) and bacon. Sometimes rice. Other than that she likes snacks. I try and limit those as much as possible. She just is getting such horrible nutrition I am worried! No vegetables at all! I try and make her eat them and she gags. [/quote]

If she eats multiple colors of fruit, stop worrying about vegetables. This was the advice our developmental ped gave us. Some starches, some fruits and one protein is actually just fine. Let it go. Take the advice from others about trusting your kid.[/quote]

+1, our pediatrician did recommend a vitamin with iron because of the absence of meat in her diet but she eats plenty of dairy and legumes so not a big deal.

Regarding vegetables, one thing that helped me let this go was actually paying attention to how much vegetables the non-picky eating kids I know eat. Guess what, it's not a lot for most of them. Sure there are some outliers who will happily eat a serving of green beans or broccoli, but most kids are eating very small servings of vegetables. I also talked to a nutritionist who explained in detail how taste buds develop and how normal it is for kids to reject vegetables because bitter is such a strong and negative taste for young kids, even when you do things to counteract the bitterness in your preparation. It's really NOT uncommon for kids to reject most vegetables because of the bitter flavor. It's like coffee -- you have to be older to acquire a taste for it because when you are younger your taste buds are overwhelmed by the bitterness.

We have had some luck getting our picky eater to eat peas and corn. Peas are great because they also have protein in them. I prepare both with plenty of butter and also some salt which brings out the sweetness. I also serve them frozen in the summer -- playing around with temperature and texture can help a lot with picky eaters. In order to expand the number of fruits she eats, we get dried and frozen fruit as well -- she'll eat dried cherries, mandarin oranges, and mangos but not fresh, and she likes frozen blueberries but not fresh. We do fresh apples, strawberries, and bananas. She eats several servings of fruit every day. It's pretty nutritious.[/quote]

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