If he loves smoothies, make an apple pie peanut butter smoothie. 2 apples, 1 banana, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 cup whole milk greek yogurt, 1-2 spoonfuls of peanut butter or almond butter (is it a taste or texture issue?), a couple of pitted dates (optional), cinnamon, vanilla extract, and about 1/2 cup of almond milk or regular whole milk, chia seeds, plus a handful of spinach. It’s delicious and full of protein / whole dairy that’s way better than coconut water or water.

Leave out the peanut butter if he doesn’t like the taste. My kids love it - like, my preschooler absolutely hated vegetables but he weirdly always insists I add the spinach - the best investment I’ve ever made was my vitamix for that reason alone ha

I use the base of 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup almond milk with tons of varieties of fruit both fresh and frozen. If frozen, need to add more liquid.

Have a speech therapist who works with children around food evaluate and help him to manage the consistencies and sensory issues around food. He might not even have a "good swallow," (yes it's a thing). I woukd work on it now so that in a few years you still aren't dealing with these issues. Yes, he can reset his body weight by starving himself.

Why are you putting coconutwater in his smoothies instead if whole milk or Greek yogurt?

Toddler formula

Definitely get him involved in the kitchen. I have found that my two-year-old is more interested in what is being made if she has a part of it. Plus, it’s a great activity for fine motor skills, starting to learn about following directions etc.

He can stand on a kitchen chair and help you put milk, yogurt, and fruit in the blender for a smoothie, or crack eggs (hand over hand) for scrambled eggs, or mash banana for banana pancakes. Mine likes to make the blueberry muffin mixes where you just add milk or water too. She always wants to try what she makes (when other times she will refuse a new food without even giving it a sniff).

Overall, I would not be very concerned. My daughter is under the 10th percentiles for height and weight, but always has been, and grows just fine, just a little more slowly. She has a varied diet, but some days she eats a ton and other days not as much. Our pediatrician assured us that kids won’t starve themselves, and they shockingly need much less food than we think they do. As long as your son is eating something at each meal and getting fluids without losing weight, I would not worry. Keep offering a variety of food and get him excited about it (cooking together, giving hummus or guacamole to dip with etc) and I bet a few new foods will stick.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We give him milk with cereal for breakfast (unsweetened cheerios are his fave but we also do honey bunches of oats), but it's probably at most 1 c. He won't drink it straight. We've even tried making chocolate milk with cocoa powder and some honey but again, not interested.
The pediatrician suggested fortified oJ, and yes he will drink that but i don't like the high sugar content.
In the smoothies -- almond / coco milk or coco water

OP, this is a problem.

You say he's a picky eater and are concerned about his calorie intake and then you restrict oj (sugar!) and make smoothies with almond or coconut water instead of milk or yogurt.

Agree. If you're concerned about his weight but don't want to overload him with sugar, those smoothies should be made with unsweetened whole milk yogurt. Add banana and frozen berries. My picky eater lived on these.

That said, a kid who is 20th percentile in height is perfectly sized at 20th percentile for weight, which is why your pediatrician is not concerned. Children need to be severely malnourished before height is stunted, so regardless of how picky he is your son is not small because he doesn't eat enough. He's small because he's short. Will he stay short? Maybe, maybe not, but stuffing him with food will not make him taller. (By comparison, as a toddler my picky eater was 75th percentile in height and 10th percentile in weight. It was not great.)

Anonymous wrote:We give him milk with cereal for breakfast (unsweetened cheerios are his fave but we also do honey bunches of oats), but it's probably at most 1 c. He won't drink it straight. We've even tried making chocolate milk with cocoa powder and some honey but again, not interested.
The pediatrician suggested fortified oJ, and yes he will drink that but i don't like the high sugar content.
In the smoothies -- almond / coco milk or coco water

OP, this is a problem.

You say he's a picky eater and are concerned about his calorie intake and then you restrict oj (sugar!) and make smoothies with almond or coconut water instead of milk or yogurt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We give him milk with cereal for breakfast (unsweetened cheerios are his fave but we also do honey bunches of oats), but it's probably at most 1 c. He won't drink it straight. We've even tried making chocolate milk with cocoa powder and some honey but again, not interested.
The pediatrician suggested fortified oJ, and yes he will drink that but i don't like the high sugar content.
In the smoothies -- almond / coco milk or coco water

Thanks, OP.

Often picky kids end up drinking a lot of calories. It sounds like that is not the case here.

That being said, 2oth percentile for both height and weight is well into the normal range. I bet the classic strategy of offering lots of foods (even if previously declined), trying not to focus on choices, and getting him involved in food prepararation (finding recipes to try, picking out produce at the store, growing things for the table if possible) is probably the best strategy for him.

thanks, i hadn't thought of that. cuz of Covid i haven't taken him to the grocery store and i don't have him helping in the kitchen much either! i'll have to try that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had one of these, except he is more like 60%. He is eight years old and still eats only 6-7 foods, all a brown-yellow color. He once threw up after trying Mac and cheese. He takes a vitamin, and gets enough calcium/iron/fat, so I just leave it. We did a year of OT and saw no sustained improvement. His two brothers eat everything so I know it isn’t my cooking!

My advice: 1. Try OT if you want. 2. If ped isn’t worried, don’t worry. 3. Don’t compare to sister because you risk having him self-identify as a Picky Eater and he will only lean into it. Make it easy for him to decide he wants to try food - some kids are picky for life and some just have a picky phase.

What is OT? Thanks for the tips.. how do i make it easy for him to decide he wants to try food?

Relatedly, because of his pickiness i am still spoon feeding him to try to jam as much different food as possible into him. If i let him feed himself he'll have a couple bites of carbs and then run off. But i hate that i have to do that.

NP

Occupational Therapy

Anonymous wrote:We give him milk with cereal for breakfast (unsweetened cheerios are his fave but we also do honey bunches of oats), but it's probably at most 1 c. He won't drink it straight. We've even tried making chocolate milk with cocoa powder and some honey but again, not interested.
The pediatrician suggested fortified oJ, and yes he will drink that but i don't like the high sugar content.
In the smoothies -- almond / coco milk or coco water

Thanks, OP.

Often picky kids end up drinking a lot of calories. It sounds like that is not the case here.

That being said, 2oth percentile for both height and weight is well into the normal range. I bet the classic strategy of offering lots of foods (even if previously declined), trying not to focus on choices, and getting him involved in food prepararation (finding recipes to try, picking out produce at the store, growing things for the table if possible) is probably the best strategy for him.

Anonymous wrote:I had one of these, except he is more like 60%. He is eight years old and still eats only 6-7 foods, all a brown-yellow color. He once threw up after trying Mac and cheese. He takes a vitamin, and gets enough calcium/iron/fat, so I just leave it. We did a year of OT and saw no sustained improvement. His two brothers eat everything so I know it isn’t my cooking!

My advice: 1. Try OT if you want. 2. If ped isn’t worried, don’t worry. 3. Don’t compare to sister because you risk having him self-identify as a Picky Eater and he will only lean into it. Make it easy for him to decide he wants to try food - some kids are picky for life and some just have a picky phase.

What is OT? Thanks for the tips.. how do i make it easy for him to decide he wants to try food?

Relatedly, because of his pickiness i am still spoon feeding him to try to jam as much different food as possible into him. If i let him feed himself he'll have a couple bites of carbs and then run off. But i hate that i have to do that.

We give him milk with cereal for breakfast (unsweetened cheerios are his fave but we also do honey bunches of oats), but it's probably at most 1 c. He won't drink it straight. We've even tried making chocolate milk with cocoa powder and some honey but again, not interested.
The pediatrician suggested fortified oJ, and yes he will drink that but i don't like the high sugar content.
In the smoothies -- almond / coco milk or coco water

I had one of these, except he is more like 60%. He is eight years old and still eats only 6-7 foods, all a brown-yellow color. He once threw up after trying Mac and cheese. He takes a vitamin, and gets enough calcium/iron/fat, so I just leave it. We did a year of OT and saw no sustained improvement. His two brothers eat everything so I know it isn’t my cooking!

My advice: 1. Try OT if you want. 2. If ped isn’t worried, don’t worry. 3. Don’t compare to sister because you risk having him self-identify as a Picky Eater and he will only lean into it. Make it easy for him to decide he wants to try food - some kids are picky for life and some just have a picky phase.

What does he drink? Specifically, how much milk (and juice or other sugary drinks, even if you think they are healthy)?

What liquid goes in the smoothies?

He had some severe allergies as an infant but those most have gone away now with the exception of peanut. But he still has zero interest in the majority of foods, only wants to eat crackers and bread (no butter, no cheese, no nut butters, no jam), won't eat leafy greens of any kind... if forced or tricked will spit it out, won't touch fruits except apples bananas and occasionally oranges. We do smoothies and try to sneak a bit more fruit and greens in that way. But at dinner even dishes he likes he will have a couple bites and say he's done.

He's only 20 percentile for his age (height and weight) and i just wonder if it's related to this aversion to food. I don't want him to grow up to be tiny. Pediatrician isn't that worried and says just keep trying but i just wish he would get more interested in food. We're a foodie family and his older sister eats everything. So frustrated.