you should really watch how often she gets hotdogs. they're not good for toddlers because of the nitrates.

i guess make a list of what she does eat and rotate that so she gets a variety every night?

i don't really give in if finn is being picky. if i know he doesn't like something (like if he makes a gross face and spits it out) i'll fix him something else, otherwise he always gets what we're having. if i know he likes it and he's just being finicky, that's all he gets. he can either eat or not eat, and chances are if he's hungry he'll eventually eat it. if he really doesn't eat at dinner i might give him a graham cracker before bed so he doesn't wake up hungry in the night. i refuse to give in to his picky ways and feed him jelly sandwiches every night. he needs to know that this is dinner and he doesn't get special meals.

have you tried taking what your eating for dinner (at least the meat part) and cutting it or shreading it into something that looks fun and just let her eat it with her fingers?

im not sure why she wont eat it obviously so that is just some random thought

but i know it worked with a little kid i use to look after, she just wanted to eat with her fingers so if she couldnt she wouldnt eat

~alicia~

I try to do hotdogs every other day. She use to like raviolis, but doesn't anymore.
I need to just put my foot down. I know what she likes and what she doesn't. I haven't been cooking much lately though. She hates her highchair also. She'll sit in it for about 3-5 minutes and eat a few bites, then demands to get out. I'll put her tray on the floor and she'll sit for a while and eat. Sometimes she goes play and I'll follow her around putting the food in her mouth. I know, I'm creating a monster.
I need to get her a chair to strap to the seat. She'd like that better b/c she'll feel like a big girl. We need something else anyway with two of them pretty soon.

I hear you LOUD and clear. Isn't it so frustrating having a picky kid. Nathan was like that. I treid so many different options. Every kid is so different. At first, he loved having his car at the table. I would take away his car until he tried a bite of the food he refused. If he refused, I just held onto the car until he complied. I gave him the car to play with after each bite, at first. Then I would make it every two bites. He would play with it for a few minutes until it was time to eat again and I would then take his car away until he ate more. He finally started to try different foods. If he didn't look like he was going to throw up (he didn't develop the art of manipulation until later), I continued to give that food to him. I increased the number of bites he was to take.

I DID strap Nate in a seat when he was younger.

Is there something that she likes to play with. I am wondering if a similar process would work for her, at least to get her to try different foods. For each meal, I still fed Nathan the foods he liked but had smaller portions so he would try something else, too.

It's amazing. Nathan really isn't a picky eater like he once was. I do believe that method worked for him. Of course, we no longer do the car/food exchange but now we do the "OH...eat your vegs so we can see your muscles grow." He will eat purposely for that.

Good luck. Hang in there. I really thought my naturally skinny boy was going to shrivel up to nothingness. He is still a skinny lil 'man but at least he is eating well now.

I offer her what I cook, but 9 times out of 10 she doesn't want it.
I need to try to put her on a chair strapped to our chair. I need to buy one soon.
I want to get the book deceptively delicious. She loves nuggets. I never know if she's throwing a fit to get out, that she doesn't want to eat what I give her, or if she's full.
She HATES the highchair. I can take her out and she'll immediately say, "more" and start eating if she's on my lap, sitting on the floor, or playing in the living room.
She'll tell me more if she likes it and all done when she's finished, but sometimes she'll tell me she's done then want more when I take her own. It drives me nuts.

That book sounds great! I have never heard of it. I want to get it to.

You sound like you have a challenge on your hands but hey...she has developed the skill of multitasking pretty early.

We had one of the seats you can strap on to a chair and it worked out well. Nate never did like high chairs.

You should try giving her turkey dogs instead of hot dogs. In my opinion they taste very similar, but they are a bit healthier for you. They look exactly the same so she probably won't know the difference when they are given to her. Also, if she likes corn and peas and sometimes macaroni, try mixing them together. The boy I nanny for LOVES it when he has macaroni and cheese with peas and corn mixed in. The macaroni with the shells is great for that because sometimes the corn/peas will get stuck in the shell.

pretend to cry when she wont eat what you want her to.
not like sobbing crying,
it has to be really cheesy crying like "waaaaa"
haha
sounds silly but it works with just about every little kid i've fed.
good luck!

I totally agree with penguins. I mix carrots and peas into Oni's macaroni EVERY time I feed it to her!

Have you tried giving her a spoon and/or fork? I rememeber Oni would throw a FIT, and it was all because she wanted to eat LIKE us. I guess she started REALIZING that her hands were getting messy. And it bothered her. She TOTALLY stopped eatting raviolli's until I introduced her to the fork!

Maybe you could also thicken up some yogurt with cereal and let her eat it on her own. I do that with Oni if she doesn't want to eat what I offer (which isn't often...she's a heifferrrr!!)

Is she picky with all meals, or just supper?

Sarah

She's picky with all meals. Today for lunch she did really good. We had vegetable soup that my mom's friend made and she loved it! I picked all the veggies out: carrots, green beans, peans, and corn. I also pulled out some of the meat. She scarfed it down without complaining. I was so happy b/c she stayed in her chair.
Supper all I could get her to eat was 3 tiny pieces of sausage, 2 pieces of bread, a piece of ham, and a spoon of pudding that she almost spit out. She hates pudding, yogurt, and ice cream.
We were at a x-mas party and running around was more important than eating.

I have trouble with what Rowan will eat too. I make banana bread, and different kinds of muffins and those she will go for.


I would however never allow her to eat a hot dog (even if we did eat meat). That would be a good habbit to get out of, it's really not good at all.