Preventing Picky Eaters (was Re: Lana's baby)

[Guest guest]

Some things we did that I think helped prevent him from being a picky

eater:

1. He wasn't interested in eating until about 8 1/2 months. By then,

he had enough teeth to skip the whole baby food stage. I planned to

make my own but never needed to. Within two weeks of starting solids,

he was eating steak and turkey (cut into pieces about half the size of

a raisin). He probably just swallowed them whole.

2. We never changed the seasoning of anything just because he would be

eating it. He ate what we ate, whether at home, at a restaurant, or at

someone's house. Although we are just assuming, our thought is that in

India and other countries, babies and toddlers eat spicy food. Is this

true? Is it an American thing to assume that babies and toddlers will

only eat sweet or bland foods?

[Guest guest]

Congratulations!!

Your son sounds wonderful. =) The kids I hear about or see personally

literally won't eat anything but mashed potatoes, made from the

dehydrated flakes, for months and months on end. Or a small amount of

foods. My husband's ex girlfriend had a son that at 3 would only eat

chicken nuggets, mac & cheese out of a box and those awful Trix

" yogurts " . That and soda.

That poor kid! =(

My brother is like this to a degree even now at 25. We grew up on a

pretty disgusting processed diet and he got the worst of it as they

didn't even attempt to get him to eat any vegetables and had the

disposable income to feed his cereal, chips and soda habits from a young

age. He pretty much won't eat anything new or different. I tried to

get him to eat some excellent grass-fed roast we made and he said it

tasted " gamey " . It didn't, not at all but it had more flavor than your

typical grocery store beef. I think most of it is in his head but I

worry about him. Our mom is type 2 diabetic and we're all over weight

but he seems unconcerned about his diet. His breakfast is captain

crunch cereal (no milk), a bag of doritos, 3 cans of Dr. Pepper and a

couple of cookies or whatever cheap sweets my mom has around that she

shouldn't.

These trash foods are seriously addictive and I am hoping that we never

have to battle with our son to eat healthy since he's not allowed to eat

those types of foods. It's another major reason for homeschooling for

us as I don't want exposed to them! To me they are like drugs!

I had introduced some limited wheat to his diet but he is going gluten

free with mommy here next week. Won't be hard for him as he doesn't eat

it much. =)

Dawn

penciloid wrote:

>

> <<Have you heard of kids around 2 - 5 or so refusing to eat anything

> but a few foods?? I won't tolerate that kind of behavior so if it

> happens it will be a battle but I wonder if it will even be an issue

> as the children I know who did that were raised on sodas, mac & cheese

> out of a box, mashed potatoes out of a box and fast food chicken

> nuggets!>>

>

> My son is almost three. Gluten trouble runs in the family, so he's

> still gluten free. We severely limited sweets until he was two, but

> even now, they are rare.

>

> I've never met a less picky eater. He's the one that will drink

> straight soured raw milk that would otherwise be tossed. I can't think

> of a single thing he doesn't like. Of course, there are some days that

> he doesn't want certain things, but I'd say that's normal.

>

> Here are some of the foods that " normal " people are shocked he likes:

> black olives, pepperoni, Mexican food, Indian food, hot sauce, etc. He

> begs for " some frozen, " meaning frozen veggies. He especially loves

> frozen pepper strips!

>

> Oh wait, he hasn't liked sour cream the last two weeks. That's the

> only thing I can think of. He even likes cod liver oil.

>

> #2 is due in April, so we'll find out in another year if we just got

> lucky with him or if his diet has prevented him from being a fussy eater.

>

[Guest guest]

The best way to prevent picky eaters is to breastfeed, and wait for

solids until ready as already mentioned, and start on real food, not

bland baby purees. Breastfed babies are introduced to a variety of

tastes in the mother's breastmilk from day one (studies show garlic

increases suckling)- surely Indian breastmilk has a hint of curry. Thus

are babies taught about taste from birth. I have only tasted my

breastmilk, but it tastes good, and commercial formulas taste terrible.

As mentioned before, homemade formulas taste a bit sour and better

compared to commercial, and vary a bit if you are getting boutique dairy

with occaisional fermented hay and different flora eaten.

Also be aware of linguistic development with toddlers. They will often

say > I don't like > when they mean > I don't want right now > . Some

kids continue this until age 4! So the parents think they don't like X

when they just didn't want it a couple times because they're not hungry

or absorbed in play and don't understand the verbal phrase difference.

Also, they will go in and out of phases when feeding them can help. Mine

were self-feeders as babies (started solids at 8 and 9 months), but

sometimes a 2.5 year old who doesn't sit down for long will eat spoonfuls

given on the run. Many children also have phases as older toddlers when

they will eat anything off your plate not theirs, or eat only while in

someone's lap, etc. It is my impression that the fries and nuggets set

are not much aware of these facets of child development.

Desh

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