My Picky Eater

The end of day 1 lunch--demolished and largely uneaten

I'm a natural mama trying to make healthy food choices for me and my family by eating more raw foods, lots of vegetables, cutting gluten, cutting sugar and limiting dairy for me and the hubby. However, what's a natural mama to do with a picky eater?! This has been my dilemma since day one with this boy. We had a hard time getting going with breastfeeding, transitioning to baby food, and now, he barely eats any table food. He's TWO now, so this had to stop. Many kids his age are eating most of the stuff their parents and siblings are eating, but not my son! Until now...

The Problem
Much of the time he gets completely different food from what we're eating, until we decide again that it's time for him to try some more table food. We put some table food in front of him at dinner, hoping he'll eat it, and then when he doesn't, we feel bad and give him what he likes so he doesn't go to bed hungry. For breakfast he gets oatmeal and a yam/mango pouch, and sometimes bacon. For lunch he gets, peanut butter, crackers, a food pouch, and string cheese. He usually had a snack in the morning and afternoon. Basically, he ate about 10 or so different foods and wouldn't try new things.

He seems to be tactile defensive, which basically means he's sensitive to textures. We have noticed this from an early age, actually. He also, until recently, tended to jam all the food in front of him into his mouth, so we couldn't put all his food in front of him at once.

The Solution
Thanks to YourKidsTable.com, I've found some ideas to help us transform our picky eater! Here they are:

• Don't force feed. I have to admit that when we were desperate we tried this.
• Space eating times 2.5-3 hours apart. I have eliminated one of my son's snacks and shifted breakfast and lunch slightly to accommodate this schedule.
• Provide a food your child likes with a new one or one he doesn't like. In the past we had only offered new foods at one time and then caved to the stuff he likes.
• Don't cave and give the child what he likes. This is hard, especially at dinnertime. Tonight, our son ate only 1 item during dinner, but I didn't want him to get the impression he could whine or wait for something else. After we finished eating, he took a bath and had a couple snacks while reading bedtime stories. I don't know if this is a great idea, but he does sleep for 12 hours and had very little to eat. We'll have to see how this works out.
• Let your kid play with his food for a few minutes after eating what he wants to eat. Our son loves playing with the food! I think it's really helping him get over his fears about it.

The writer of Your Kid's Table also encourages sensory play. She said she notices negative changes in her son's eating habits when he isn't getting sensory playtime, so hopefully this helps. Here's a couple snapshots of today's sensory play with used coffee grounds, ground beans, and whole beans. Check out our Instagram for more!

The coffee sensory bin with scoops and containers of many sizes

My son playing quietly with the coffee sensory bin

Isn't he cute?! He played in this bin for 45 minutes!! He did a really good job keeping it in the tub, too.

The Results
Today, my son ate avocado for the first time after playing with it for several minutes! I nearly cried! He liked it, actually, and continued to eat it. He chose not to eat it for dinner, but he ate it for his snack. 


I want to hear from you! Were or are you a picky eater? Do you have a child who's a picky eater? Have you encountered picky eaters? Leave a comment below!