Picky eating kids can drive a sane mommy crazy. though it pains me to admit: after having three children, I’ve learned that I can not really control what a child will and won’t eat. but I do have influence over the options that are available, and so I focus on that. At the end of this post, I will share my battle-tested methods for taking care of picky eating children.
Bakgrund:
Before I try to boss you around, I want to share my picky eating credentials. Kid 1 was a pretty good eater and we were very neurotic, dedicated first-time parents (not that there’s anything wrong with that), hell-bent on getting him to eat every bite blob of food on his spoon. He ate a very healthy balance of fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins. as of age ten, he won’t eat cooked fruit (apple pie – WTW?!) or plain cheese pizza, preferring vegetables on his pizza to the point of pouting at parties where only cheese is available. He’s a little bit picky but mostly a excellent eater of lots of foods. and yes, we are those food a**holes who serve kale salads to our kids on the regular. kid 1 eats them with relish and wants to make sure we are appropriately massaging each leaf. (Not actual relish made of pickles.)
Kid 2 was also a pretty good eater from the start. rather than force the “clean your plate” mentality of our own childhoods, we had progressed as parents to encourage a “Try-It Bite” for every new food, and then left it up to him as to whether he would eat more. He was a frequent eater of frozen waffles and plain yogurt but also ingested a healthy combination of other foods. If anything, he opened up our eyes about a broader range of possibilities for nutritious foods. He prefers plain pizza to veggie, but he always eats the broccoli we offer on the side.
Kid 3 has been a picky eater from the womb. He was a voracious nurser that required formula supplementation nearly immediately. I must have known that we couldn’t rest on our good experience. He developed a penchant for dairy and carbs (plain cheese quesadillas and cheese pizza are his best foods) such that I couldn’t even get him to eat fruit without disguising it as a cracker (thanks to Trader Joe’s freeze dried strawberries, he now eats the real thing). The “Try-It Bite” has devolved into the “No-Thank-You Lick”. It took us 3-5 times of using ice cream before he would even put it to his lips. I’ve caught myself doing a delighted dance when he ate his first dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget, because he had never agreed to try chicken before!
Because our picky kid was our third kid, I had no choice but to accept this as a thing about HIM rather than a thing about ME. I am positive if my first child had been the one to turn up his nose at a grape or carrot, I would have blamed myself.
Having experienced two kids who will eat anything and one who will not, I have some mantras and reminders I give myself and my spouse to help us stay sane.
Tips for parents of selective eaters:
Remove all pressure around eating. I practice acting like I don’t care if the meal or dish is finished because I know my child will not go hungry. (See banana idea below.) say — and believe — “You don’t have to eat it.” You wouldn’t force me to eat a cilantro leaf, so don’t force your toddler.
Offer one safe food with every new food. We make sure that there’s a familiar dish on the table. Our dinner times typically include a seemingly random banana or waffle option for this reason. The kid might not try the new thing, but he won’t starve.
Only allow food at specified meal and snack times. Truth be told, I’m delighted enough if my kids fill up on healthy snacks. An apple ideal before dinner? Varsågod. but hell to the No, you may not eat a snack after the dinner if you just ignored it. The kitchen is closed and you will make it until morning.No candy and treats for children who don’t eat their real food. På riktigt. I am hardcore this way.
Encourage good manners. With some meals — like the white bean chili I plan to serve tonight — I know that only my spouse and I will actually eat it willingly. It is my job to prepare healthy meals (every flipping day) and it is their job to be polite about it. They can sit without making faces and say “No thank you”, or “Just a little please.”
Be curious, not furious. If they do taste an icky food, I encourage my sons to become little scientists and check out further. I want them to think about why they didn’t like it — would cheese sauce make it better or worse? Is there a cilantro problem here? would you eat red sauce on the side next time? — and not be jerks.
Find creative ways to serve fruits and vegetables:Â Pinterest can be your pal and enemy when serving sandwiches that look like spiders or hummus-guacamole crocodiles but a little inventiveness can go a long way. two of my kids love roasted broccoli; Whitney served frozen peaches instead of popsicles with terrific success; little crispyfrystorkade ärtor diskuterar fantastiskt med min cracker-älskande-veggie-hatar småbarn; Vissa barn älskar bara att doppa så ge dem morötter med hummus; En grön smoothie kan vara en Hulk -skakning; Lägg melon eller ost på en tandpetare; Försök att skicka bananer som efterrätt med en Yonanas Fruit Treat Machine. Här är många fler idéer för ett picky barn.
Prova olika temperaturer. Tillsammans med att experimentera med formaspekt (tips 6) lärde jag mig att inte varje barn vill ha varm eller kall mat. Jag har ett barn som äter frysta ärtor frysta och en annan som föredrar dem kokta. lätt som en plätt. Whitney blev chockad över att få veta att hennes barn gillade Tortellini Cold (Yay, något nytt i lunchlådan). Min baby tycker att kalla smoothies är för kalla så jag begränsar de kylda föremålen och använder en rumstemperatur banan när jag delar med honom.
Tänk en stor bild på dagen, veckan och scenen i livet. Näringsmässigt balanserade livsmedel behöver inte användas vid varje måltid. Balanserar det under längre tid? Är din läkare orolig? Mitt är det inte, så vi väljer bara det.
Få dem involverade. Ditt barn kan vara mycket mer redo att prova en ny mat som han odlar i trädgården, väljer från stormarknaden eller hjälper till att förbereda. Eller inte. Mitt barn sjöng bokstavligen om att prova nya livsmedel medan jag plockade körsbärstomaterna från vår trädgård och skulle inte smaka en. gå vidare.
Gör en lista över vad ett barn kommer att äta. I stället för att fokusera på det negativa, listar du Yes Foods. Jag är alltid chockad när föräldrar kallar sina barn picky och sedan skriker bort en lista över livsmedel som går ner utan problem. I morse hörde jag “Ja, hon äter ris, bönor, bär, nudlar, päron, men inte kött.” Jag var mycket nöjd med att de har en bönaätare.
Låt kiddos veta att smaklökar förändras över tid. Han kanske inte gillar svamppizza idag men när han är äldre – hurra – kommer han att göra det. och säg det med ett leende. Jag gillar att dingla den möjligheten som ett annat märke av att vara ett stort barn så det är något som min lilla kan sträva efter. Vem vet om det fungerar. Fråga mig om tio år!
Slutsats:
Som Ellyn Satter säger, föräldrar kontrollerar vad som serveras och barnets kontroller om han äter det. Moralen i historien för vår familj är att fortsätta erbjuda hälsosamma livsmedel som barnen gillar blandade med nya livsmedel som jag gillar. Jag har också en back-up mat som de artigt kan förbereda sig för sig själva (hummus och pitabröd med frukt).
ps never depend on a person telling you how to fix picky eating if they do not have one. If a two-year old is harvesting vegetables from her garden and eating them, she is NOT picky and her parents shouldn’t be bossing me around!