Where can i find recipies for feeding my 18 month old son who is a picky eater? We want to try everything.?

Question

My 18 month old son is a very picky eater who doesnt like to eat anything. He weighs close to 20 pounds, my wife and i are really concerned with his weight. Feeding him is such a stressful job, and i really pity my wife. On the bright side, he is a very active kid and development wise he is doing fine. My wife is unable to squeeze in 5 feeds a day and he eats very little or nothing at times. Right now he is on pediasure and we doesnt like whole milk a lot. I am sure there are lot of other parents who might be facing a similar situation. I am trying to reach out to such parents who are having a similar experience like us, please share anything that you found could help us improve our childs weight problem. Thanks in advance

Answer 1

My son would eat anything in a tortilla. We used to add all sorts of things to quesidillas, and in a pinch would just wrap the veggie up in a cold tortilla and hand it to him.
Try using olive oils and butter when you make his food. These are high in calories and the olive oil has a high content of monounsaturated fatty acids (the good kind) and its high content of antioxidative substances.
You can also puree frozen fruits (and some fresh too!) in with some milk and a little protien powder and you have an excellent subsitute for those pediasure drinks. My boys love apples, oranges, blueberries, balckberries, strawberries, raspberries, banana, pineapple, and peaches in their smoothies. You also might want to try coconut milk.
Offer a nibble tray. Toddlers like to graze their way through a variety of foods, so why not offer them a customized smorgasbord? Offer toddlers a nibble tray. Use an ice-cube tray, a muffin tin, or a compartmentalized dish, and put bite-size portions of colorful and nutritious foods in each section. Call these finger foods playful names that a two-year-old can appreciate, such as: apple moons (thinly sliced), avocado boats (a quarter of an avocado), banana wheels, broccoli trees, (steamed broccoli florets), carrot swords (cooked and thinly sliced), cheese building blocks, egg canoes (hard- boiled egg wedges), little O's (o-shaped cereal)
Dip it. Young children think that immersing foods in a tasty dip is pure fun (and delightfully messy). Some possibilities to dip into:
cottage cheese or tofu dip, cream cheese, fruit juice-sweetened preserves, guacamole, peanut butter, thinly spread, pureed fruits or vegetables,yogurt, plain or sweetened with juice concentrate
Spread it. Toddlers like spreading, or more accurately, smearing. Show them how to use a table knife to spread cheese, peanut butter, and fruit concentrate onto crackers, toast, or rice cakes.
Top it. Toddlers are into toppings. Putting nutritious, familiar favorites on top of new and less-desirable foods is a way to broaden the finicky toddler's menu. Favorite toppings are yogurt, cream cheese, melted cheese, guacamole, tomato sauce, applesauce, and peanut butter.
Cut it up. How much a child will eat often depends on how you cut it. Cut sandwiches, pancakes, waffles, and pizza into various shapes using cookie cutters.
Package it. Appearance is important. For something new and different, why not use your child's own toy plates for dishing out a snack? Our kids enjoy the unexpected and fanciful when it comes to serving dishes – anything from plastic measuring cups to ice-cream cones.
Become a veggie vendor. Vegetables require some creative marketing, as they seem to be the most contested food in households with young children. How much vegetables do toddlers need? Although kids should be offered three to five servings of veggies a day, for children under five, each serving need be only a tablespoon for each year of age. In other words, a two- year-old should ideally consume two tablespoons of vegetables three to five times a day. So if you aren't the proud parent of a veggie lover, try the following tricks:
Plant a garden with your child. Let her help care for the plants, harvest the ripe vegetables, and wash and prepare them. She will probably be much more interested in eating what she has helped to grow.
Slip grated or diced vegetables into favorite foods. Try adding them to rice, cottage cheese, cream cheese, guacamole, or even macaroni and cheese. Zucchini pancakes are a big hit at our house, as are carrot muffins. Camouflage vegetables with a favorite sauce. Use vegetables as finger foods and dip them in a favorite sauce or dip. Using a small cookie cutter, cut the vegetables into interesting shapes. Steam your greens. They are much more flavorful and usually sweeter than when raw.
Make veggie art . Create colorful faces with olive- slice eyes, tomato ears, mushroom noses, bell-pepper mustaches, and any other playful features you can think of. Out children love to put olives on the tip of each finger. "Olive fingers" would then nibble this nutritious and nutrient-dense food off her fingertips. Zucchini pancakes make a terrific face to which you can add pea eyes, a carrot nose, and cheese hair. Concoct creative camouflages. There are all kinds of possible variations on the old standby "cheese in the trees" (cheese melted on steamed broccoli florets). Or, you can all enjoy the pleasure of veggies topped with peanut- butter sauce, a specialty of Asian cuisines.
Respect tiny tummies. Keep food servings small. Wondering how much to offer? Here's a rule of thumb – or, rather, of hand. A young child's stomach is approximately the size of his fist. So dole out small portions at first and refill the plate when your child asks for more. This less-is-more meal plan is not only more successful with picky eaters, it also has the added benefit of stabilizing blood-sugar levels, which in turn minimizes mood swings. As most parents know, a hungry kid is generally not a happy kid. Use what we call "the bite rule" to encourage the reluctant eater: "Take one bite, two bites…" (how ever far you think you can push it without force-feeding). The bite rule at least gets your child to taste a new food, while giving him some control over the feeding. As much as you possibly can, let your child – and his appetite – set the pace for meals. But if you want your child to eat dinner at the same time you do, try to time his snack-meals so that they are at least two hours before dinner.
Use sit-still strategies. One reason why toddlers don't like to sit still at the family table is that their feet dangle. Try sitting on a stool while eating. You naturally begin to squirm and want to get up and move around. Children are likely to sit and eat longer at a child-size table and chair where their feet touch the ground.
Turn meals upside down. The distinctions between breakfast, lunch, and dinner have little meaning to a child. If your youngster insists on eating pizza in the morning or fruit and cereal in the evening, go with it – better than her not eating at all. This is not to say that you should become a short-order cook, filling lots of special requests, but why not let your toddler set the menu sometimes? Other family members will probably enjoy the novelty of waffles and hash browns for dinner.
Let them cook. Children are more likely to eat their own creations, so, when appropriate, let your child help prepare the food. Use cookie cutters to create edible designs out of foods like cheese, bread, thin meat slices, or cooked lasagna noodles. Give your assistant such jobs as tearing and washing lettuce, scrubbing potatoes, or stirring batter. Put pancake batter in a squeeze bottle and let your child supervise as you squeeze the batter onto the hot griddle in fun shapes, such as hearts, numbers, letters, or even spell the child's name.
Make every calorie count. Offer your child foods that pack lots of nutrition into small doses. This is particularly important for toddlers who are often as active as rabbits, but who seem to eat like mice. Nutrient-dense foods that most children are willing to eat include: Avocados, Pasta, Broccoli, Peanut butter, Brown rice and other grains, Potatoes, Cheese, Poultry, Eggs, Squash,
Fish, Sweet potatoes, Kidney beans,Tofu, and Yogurt.

Answer 2

This past Xmas my husband and I ended up taking care of my picky 18 month old niece for a few days. Some tricks that worked for getting more nutrition and calories in her were to mix Carnation instant breakfast (chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla) into her milk. I also fed her refried beans and rice with crushed up Os fingerfoods. I was even able to sneak in some tomatoes. With macaroni and cheese I would suggest slipping in some peas.

Answer 3

my son is also 18 months-but he does drink milk, however he hates noodles or anything that has a squishy texture-i met with a nutrionist and she suggested to try putting foods he doesn't like in with foods he does. Example: Gage loves yogurt, so when I give him yogurt-maybe put some cut up pieces of grapes in there. She said he might push them back out but to keep trying it and with different things and eventually he'll start to try things. Also-If i let him feed himself with a spoon-he'll eat it rather than me feed him-it's alot messier, but he'll opt to try more things if he can do it himself.

Answer 4

All fruits are fruit and vegetables. A "vegetable" is a plant, any part of which is employed for food.

Answer 5

In the superstore, fruits are usually chosen far too soon. Some are rocks, many are wrong. Some of the fresh vegetables are right (zucchini, onions, garlic, lettuce, greens, and a few others) so I'd have to go with vegetables.