Help!!! Can you help us with our very picky 3 1/2 year old son?

Question

Hi there!

Good Evening too you all! Hope that you all are having a great holiday weekend!

We have a 3 1/2 year old son, named Jason. Who is the most pickest eater around. He eats nothing but, yogert, breakfast bars & mac and cheese. He has gone through phases where he ate things like fish sticks, Chicken nuggets. But, then stopped all together. We have tried everything we know how to do to get him to eat. NO LUCK!!!! Now his teeth are beinging to suffer. That is getting fixed but, we want to kick this thing in the butt before bad things happen. He has been to the Dr. He says he is a healthy boy. Jason will be 4 in Aug. He is 40 1/2 " tall and weighs 44 pounds. He is always running around. It is very rare for him to sit at all.
Any ideas on how we can get him to eat meat, fruit and veggies. I just don't know how to get him to eat these things. You can't force it.

Ideas or suggestions???
Thanks!!!

Answer 1

Give him V8 Fusion to drink. Also, let him pick out some foods at the grocery store that he would like to eat, and let him help you prepare dinner. If you make it fun for him, he will probably give more foods a try.

Answer 2

Mix a jar of orange baby food in the mac n cheese, carrots or squash. He will never know, mash some tofu in it too, not too much it will change the texture and he will be on to you! But it will give him the protien. You can also make it with soy milk instead of regular milk. Go to the health food store and get your breakfast bars, make sure they have lots of fiber, made with REAL fruit and don't have fructose, glucose and all that crud in them. Look for Whole wheat, nothing with enriched flour. Yogurt is good, it is dairy. Add some wheat germ, rolled oats or granola to it for some more of a punch, add some extra fruit to it.

If you can get him to eat spaghetti, you can add lots of stuff to the sauce, just use a puree of what ever veggie you want and add it to the sauce, you really can not tell. Chopped spinach looks like herbs in the sauce too. You can also use squash cut very thin as your noodles in lazagne. You can even use a spaghetti squash for the spaghetti. He will have fun helping you dig out the 'noodles'.

I would also start a dinner time rule. Once the food is on the plate, you have a certain amount of time to eat, say 30 minutes. Once the time is up, dinner is over and your plate is removed from the table. The next meal will be served at (what ever time) and you will have 30 minutes to eat then as well. Once you start to add better foods to his plate that is what he gets to eat, he gets to chose if he stays hungry or not. He will not starve himself.

Good luck

Answer 3

1. Set a good example by eating the foods you wish for him also to be eating - also eat meals together.
2. Reduce or get rid of the foods you wish for him not to eat - dont' go buying mac and cheese unless it's a treat, breakfast bars have lots of sugar which are bad for his growing teeth!
3. Yoghurt is good -- make sure it's a fruit one though, otherwise give him the 'other yoghurt' as a treat now and then.
4. Get him involved in the shopping and cooking - a little bit here a little bit there
5. Let him cut up vegetables and fruit -- cut fruit into interesting shapes.
6. Don't eat elaborate food, just basic meat and three veg type stuff. Pasta is great, you can get some interesting shapes. There are lots of ways to cook potatoes and other vegetables to make it all tasty.
7. Grate up vegetables so that they're relatively disguised until he gets used to eating them.

When you know he can and will eat other foods but flat out refuses try this:

Refuse to eat meal.
No problem - remove his plate, make him sit at the table until you are all finished your meal (or whatever you do.. I do not excuse my family until we have all finished eating)
Tell him he will have this meal for breakfast unless he eats it all now.
Serve it for breakfast.
Refuse to eat meal - no problem remove his plate, excuse him and do not feed him anything else until he makes a concerted effort with the last meal.
Serve the meal again for dinner - and if it's not passed its 'use by' serve it again for breakfast.

I had to teach my children that they don't live in a restaurant where they can pick and choose, it's expensive to throw uneaten meals out and be unless they want to be cooking for everyone, be greatful they have a meal lol

Answer 4

Try mixing some fruit in with the yogurt and a bit of honey.
It's good that he's eating yogurt at least. Mix in some cereal in the yogurt, maybe fruity Cheerios or some sort of cereal low in sugar, that is fun and interesting.

Try mixing green peas (fresh) in with his mac and cheese, just a little at first. Fresh peas are sweet and again - look kind of cool among the mac and cheese. YOu can throw frozen green peas in just before you pour out the water from the pasta (provided you are using the boiling variety of mac and cheese). Pretend the peas are treasure and see if he can eat all the peas hidden in the pasta.

It might very well be that the food you have given him in the past just doesn't taste good to him. I think the main reason kids are picky eaters is the food they get tastes bad to them. As adults we can overlook the taste on alot of things, but kids can be really sensitive.

Try fresh fruits and fresh steamed veggies - things that are colorful and interesting looking. I would consult a nutritionist for tips on this.

Good luck!

Answer 5

i suggest including him picking items at the grocery (avoid inner aisles as they are not that healthy anyways,because all food groups surround the middle aisles of grocery stores anyways) plus, include him in meal planning and supper time, or if ur preparinbg the food, arrange veggies in a fun interactive matter (broccoli can be like little trees, slice of orange for the sun...whatever etc etc... or a happy face with veggies on a pizza. over all if u eat healthy, he will take up after the parents. also no dessert\snack after if the meal has not been completed etc. he is trying to keep the control here because he sees he had control when it comes to food, but u are the parent, and u have the control. maybe explain to him that his body is like a car and it needs good nutrients to fuel it up and give examples of items from the basic food groups. put a food group chart on fridge, make a meal plan schedule....anything is worth a try!basically make it fun and check some books\internet sites for more great tips and kid friendly recipes
good luck!
i found this website for u and it has ten really great tips that could help you,i recommend u check it out!

Answer 6

I would let him eat what we eat without giving him any alternatives. Stop buying all the food he normally eats for two weeks. Give him a very small portion of the new foods and don't offer anything else. if he doesn´t want to eat put it to the side but only after everyone is finished eating can he get up from the table. He´ll eat sooner or later. He has had to much control. Remember your the adult! You know whats best! He doesn´t need a choice he´s to little. Perhaps it has become a way of gaining attention for your son. If he does or doesn´t eat don´t make a big deal out of it. Eating is normal. Ignore him (well make it look like you don´t care one way or the other). You can also tell him it will make him strong like his father of tall like his sister. Bugs bunny loves carrots for example. One of my daughters wanted long hair so I told her if she ate salad everyday her hair would grow long. She ended up complaining if we didn´t have salad! lÖl

Answer 7

No you can't force him to eat, but he's at the age where he should be eating what the rest of the family is. Offer the regular meal, and if he won't eat it, he leaves it. No snacks after. He waits til the next meal. Again, offer the food, if he won't eat it, no snack later. He'll eat when he is hungry, and you had better quit with the prepackaged stuff and feed him wholesome, homecooked meals, lots of fruit and veg, whole grains.
We had to do this with our son, and it worked. Again, he didn't "starve" as we went through it, but you have to be consistent for a few days, and don't cave in!

Answer 8

The family needs to eat together. Feed him what you eat. Make it suitable for him, if you need to, and spice yours up separtately. My 2-year-old eats at the table with us and he is picky but he knows that if he wants snacks (crackers, animal cookies, or the occasional gummie treat), he has to eat his dinner. If he won't eat it, save it for later and do not give snacks in between. Children will not starve themselves, even thought it looks like they might. It will not be a fun process, but he will learn. If you stick to it and don't buckle, he will figure it our very quickly. The things that he likes to eat now can be his rewards for eating ALL of his dinner and sitting like a nice boy at the table with the family. Don't serve the mac & cheese as a side dish or he won't eat the main dish. The idea is to eliminate his choices during dinner.

Yogurt is a healthy reward!

Answer 9

Sounds like you're coming up with tons of excuses to NOT make him eat what you really want him to eat.
Exactly, who is the parent............... the son or you.............
You put healthy food in front of him, if he doesn't eat it, cover the plate, place plate in the frig, next meal, remove the plate, remove the cover and put it in front of him again. You repeat this process EVERY meal until he finally eats it. DO NOT GIVE HIM ANYTHING ELSE TO EAT!!! He will eat when he gets hungry! In between meals, only give him small amounts of water - NO SNACKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have to step up to the plate and be the parent - do NOT give into him just because he pushes the plate away and asks for yogurt. YOU are the parent - NOT him!!!
I know this process works because my son had to do this with all three of his girls. Now, they are 8 and twins at 10, eat everything.

Answer 10

First of all - at least he's eating. The things he's eating are good so you don't have a problem. You need to start by only offering him 2 choices - i.e. for breakfast, he can have oatmeal or a waffle - and he has to choose one of the options. Make a chart for your wall - buy some stickers - when he's finished his meal, then he gets a sticker (kids that age love stickers).

Answer 11

Looks like you have a tough one on your hand. I know this is going to sound harsh, but fix him a plate, If he does not eat it then its tough love. Tell him that is his dinner and if he wants anything else he at least has to try it. Once you get him to take several bites. Then give him what he wants. Start with the simple things such As cereal, hot dogs, casseroles with veggies. My deal for my 3 year old is to take 3 bites cause she is three. I have gotten her to eat alot of good things. I saw this on DR Phil once.