The OFFICIAL Moms of Picky Eaters Support Thread and Food Log

Okay, here we go! Thought it might be good to do a little intro even though I'm sure we've all come across one another before!

I'm Farah. DS is Tristan, he's 15 months. He's been fairly picky since the beginning. Since starting solids, we've really battled with constipation and I'm not entirely sure, but I do have a feeling that has contributed to his lack of appetite. We've kind of got it under control now with the omission of bananas - hasn't been constipated for about 2 months now! But itwas a bit of a shame cutting them out as he actually enjoyed eating them.

As for what he ate today...I should say, feel free to participate in this bit only if you want to. When we have a particularly sh!tty day, I don't even want to admit to myself what I've fed him, let alone an entire website! But I read somewhere that it might be helpful to write down what they've eaten throughout a day or even over the course of a week as it helps put it in perspective. Ie, it's not as bad as you think when you look at the whole picture. So here goes...

6oz milk when he woke

Breakfast - a piece of seeded batch/wholegrain toast with butter and honey, a slice of apple, diluted orange juice

Lunch - rice cake topped with nutella, three pieces of cheese, Innocent peach and passion fruit smoothie, water.

6oz milk before nap.

Afternoon snack - pretty much an entire apple!

Dinner - a few bites of salmon and potato fish cake (about 3/4 of a mini one!), I think he LICKED a carrot stick breadsticks in roasted red pepper hummus, plus a few heaping spoonfuls of hummus (he'll eat it off the spoon), yogurt.

8oz formula at bedtime

Your turn!

Re: The OFFICIAL Moms of Picky Eaters Support Thread and Food Log

okay - Em is 17 just over 17 months and had some SERIOUS eating issues at first. I also stressed badly (every meal ended with me in tears) so i'm sure she got some of it from my 'vibes'. We spoke to her Ped about it and he said to relax, if she eats ONE good meal a day & picks at the rest, we're on a bonus plan. That single sentence made me feel so much better about it!

we also don't force her into a high chair/booster anymore. she's an 'on the go' kid who never, ever, ever stops moving....so strapping her into a seat was also an issue. we feed her from the table we eat at and she comes as she wants food.

today, she had some apple slices not long after she woke up (she's never hungry enough for a full meal when she gets up - i can't even begin to tell you how much food we've thrown away for that reason, so now we go with a healthy snack instead).

she has a water sippy cup out and available all day - so she drinks from that as she wants.

for 'lunch' she had gerber raviolis, as i knew she was hungry, but not starving (she had been snacking on the apples and a granola bar).

she had a almost 9 ounce bottle of milk when she went down for her nap awhile ago.

right now - she's eating some fruit and enjoying her water.

once dave gets home (at 9) - we're having fillet mignon (we only recently discovered she loves that) and mac & cheese for dinner. she will have 1/2 the fillet and a smallish bowl of mac & cheese (this is the plan - we'll see if it happens).

at bedtime - she'll have a 9 ounce bottle (or two) of milk.

if she could eat fruit 24 hours a day - she would. that is the ONLY staple....okay, well, that & the ravioli's....she could exist on those forever!

i'm looking very forward to this thread! thank you for starting it Farah!

eta: our bedtime bottle stuff...

Message edited 11/9/2010 5:47:07 PM.

Re: The OFFICIAL Moms of Picky Eaters Support Thread and Food Log

OK well Shane is 25 months and has been SUPER healthy for 2+ yrs. He weighs 32 lbs and with the exception of a bout with Coxsackie last summer he's never been sick.

BUT the food omg there are days I didn't know whether to scream or cry I give him EVERYTHING to try but most of the time he won't even taste new stuff; in fact he's occasionally HORRIFIED with some new entree I present and picks up the plate, hands it to me, and turns his head as if to say "The very sight of this unknown thing offends my eyes."

So it's not that he doesn't "LIKE" something - he won't even TRY it!!!!!!!!! Case in point, tonight I made my "KICKASSEROLE" - cheddar cheese, potatoes, and diced ham - it is like, seriously, my fave dish. What's not to like??? No dice, wouldn't even try it.

Today's menu was 4 mini pancakes, with blueberries (nuked) and 8oz milk. Morning snack was half of a peach and graham crackers. 8oz milk before naptime.

Lunch wasn't much, a yogurt and a banana and a handful of goldfish

He drinks water spiked with a splash of juice throughout the day...

Dinner - after he rejected my cheesy potato dish I defaulted to chicken nuggets, some sliced grape tomatoes, mixed veggies. 8oz milk.

Dessert today was WHIPPED CREAM (maybe 3 teaspoons?? I use the lowfat no-sugar added one) but I'll be doing this a few times a week at the suggestion of his speech teacher - she wants to get his lips/mouth/tongue "moving" more so she suggested I do this with any "yummy" foods - I have to spoon it onto his lips, just below the nose and the corners of his mouth, to get that tongue going. It's actually a ton of fun and he keeps trying to grab the spoon.

Re: The OFFICIAL Moms of Picky Eaters Support Thread and Food Log

I'm not sure if you know what I'm going through with Jack, but if I shared my food log that I keep everyday it will make you feel better about what your DS is eating. Some days are better than others, but today was not unusual:

BF in morning and at night
7 ounces of pediasure through out the day.

Breakfast: 4 blueberries dipped in heavy cream
Lunch: 1/8 hot dog
Dinner: 2 bites of chicken, one bite of green bean, 3 bites of cranberry sauce

Snacked on: 2 bites of cereal bar & a few bites of potato chips

I tried a million other things with no success. It is SO stressful!

Message edited 11/9/2010 10:13:35 PM.

Re: The OFFICIAL Moms of Picky Eaters Support Thread and Food Log

Cool, I'm glad we're here!

Today wasn't great as far as food was concerned.

6oz milk at wake up

Breakfast - a bit of cheerios and milk, piece of whole grain toast, water

mid-morning - box of raisins

lunch - about 3/4 of a mini meatball, tried some leftover chicken which he didn't want to know, and ended up eating about 1/4 of an apple with peanut butter and a good amount of cheese, plus yogurt.

6oz milk before nap

mid-afternoon - more raisins! (we were on the go)

dinner - About half a scrambled egg, half a piece of toast, I made him some mushrooms that he didn't want to even look at, Ella's Kitchen veggie pouch and a tangerine (that he mostly just sucks on). Wouldn't eat any yogurt.

Bedtime - 8oz formula

so I have a question for everyone - how do you handle the grandparents and/or pushy relatives when ti comes to your DC and food? My MIL is constantly trying to get stuff in him. I don't want to tell her no all the time because I don't want anyone to think I'm perpetuating his picky eating by not letting him have all sorts of foods. And if by some miracle, he actually eats what she's giving him, well, then all the better for him! But on the other hand, I pretty much know what he will and wont' eat and I really just having her go to the trouble of making something for him and then having to waste it. She makes me feel a bit embarrassed when he won't eat, like it's my fault! Plus, she's so pushy when she's feeding him and I absolutely hate anyone force feeding him. I don't want to create any anxiety around meal times and it's just not pleasant to have food shoved in your face! So anyone have any good tips on how to deal with the pushiness?

Message edited 11/10/2010 5:06:33 PM.

Re: The OFFICIAL Moms of Picky Eaters Support Thread and Food Log

Genevieve is going to be 5 this month. She was a good eater at first - she loved calamari, seafood, steak, anything we ate. As she gets older, it gets worse and worse. She now cant have anything green (spices, celery in tuna fish, etc.) or have any of her foods touch each other. She will eat steak or pork, not so much anything else. Her usual foods are bologna & cheese sandwiches (this is ALL she will eat for lunch at school, unless she buys a bagel), tuna fish, grilled cheese, mac n cheese.

Billy is three and has always been trouble. He suffered from reflux has a baby but was never medicated since he was a happy spitter and somehow managed to keep gaining weight (he projectiled EVERY SINGLE FEEDING so I'm not sure how he didnt LOSE weight). As he gets older, he still vomits a few times a week. The doctor said it is a gag reflux, which at times, it is. If he doesnt like a new food or texture, he throws up. He cant just spit it out. BUT, I think there is still some reflux issues going on because it happens at random times, like if he drinks too fast. This, I'm sure, has definitely contributed to his bad eating habits. I do not push new foods with him, because if he pukes, he wont eat anything else until the next meal. He sticks to basics - mac n cheese, grilled cheese, PB&J, chicken nuggets, etc.

Neither child will eat a vegetable no matter what I do. I'm going to pick up that Deceptively Delicious book (or whatever it's called) but I think Genevieve might be too smart for that.

It is very stressful because I constantly feel like they dont eat enough. The dr. says they will be fine - this is normal, but thought by 5 this phase should be over! Some nights, I'm lucky if I can get them to eat toast with butter We keep a stock of Campbells kids soups - its one of our go-to foods. Not healthy at all, but they will eat it, especially the kids ones with the character noodles. I have to pick the carrots out of Genevieve's though. I think of all the salt content in the stuff they eat and have to tell myself its better than them eating NOTHING.

Message edited 11/10/2010 5:20:59 PM.

Re: The OFFICIAL Moms of Picky Eaters Support Thread and Food Log

I'm going to add my DS (age 3.5), my DD is a GREAT eater, LOL, NOT DS.

Breakfast he eats:
Cheerios
Rice Krispies
Pancakes
Waffles
French Toast

Lunch:
Yogurt
Cereal Bar
Cheese Sandwich
Banana, Mandarin Oranges, or Apple Slices

Dinner:
Grilled Cheese
Chicken Nuggets

We are working on veggies with what his therapists call "BLT...Bite Lick Taste".

Last Night, he gave corn a "kiss". Maybe tonight, he'll Taste it.

Since E.I. we have been doing baby steps at introducing new foods.

He was the 1 year old that more food was on the floor than in his mouth.
It was frusturating then and still is now.

He's not starving. I just wish he'd eat more variety.

He snacks on:
Pretzels
Goldfish
Graham Crackers
Granola Bars
We'll get there! One Day!

Message edited 11/10/2010 5:24:52 PM.

Re: The OFFICIAL Moms of Picky Eaters Support Thread and Food Log

I'll play, but I can't be arsed to post too much because its so tedious!

You all know me, and Noah. He is going to be 5 in January. He has been a terrible eater from exiting the womb. He wasn't interested in breast feeding, formula made him puke and I sat with a pump on my ninnies for 8 months. He didn't do babyfood, he really barely ate anything for a long time...

Now that he is older he will eat more, at the moment he has told me that he wants the same thing for dinner every single night. Pasta with peas and cheese, so we do that. He also eats Fish Fingers, Beans, Pasta from a tin, Cheese, he tells me he eats potatoes, but I have never seen him eat one. He loves spring rolls if we go for Chinese food, he is a random eater, and a one time only eater.

He is at school now and he was having the lunches there, but he was telling me he was eating either pasta or a potato everyday, so we stopped that and I am doing lunch for him now, he seems to be eating sandwiches and stuff...

I check everyday to make sure he isn't dead, and if he is still alive everyday, I pat myself on the back and think that I must be doing something right!!!