Is your toddler resistant to trying new foods?

[gbailey]

DD is very resistant to trying out new food items. I don't push it on her but frankly, I am tired of cooking pasta for dinner and grilled cheese for lunch. She'll only eat oatmeal and fruit for breakfast which is fine because I think it's a good for you breakfast. I've tried making cinnamon french toast sticks, cheesy corn fritters and she looks at me like I'm giving her poison. DH is amused by this. Is this a phase they go through? I guess I should be happy she's not a sugar loving toddler but I'd love for her to try out some of the new foods I try to cook for her.

ETA: I'm not giving her something she has never had before but maybe in a different variation. She loves pasta but won't touch my lasagna. She loves brown nice but not if it's mixed with anything else except sunflower seeds.

[lyra1977]

Same here. DD would eat anything until about 10 months and then started getting picky for no apparent reason. Nowadays we just barely manage to keep her diet balanced because she will eat black beans and we put protein powder in her oatmeal (both for protein) and she will eat steamed fresh peas and puffets (http://www.peasofmind.com/products/greens.php). But most of her diet consists of the same 20 or so foods over and over again. We eat a variety of foods, with lots of different spices and ingredients, and we always offer her bites of ours and she will often sniff our forks or poke her tongue out for a taste in order to declare it "yucky!"

I keep telling myself that if we continue to model healthy eating habits and continue to offer her tastes she WILL eventually come around, even if it takes years.

[lunarlady]

My DD goes through phases. We had one a couple months ago where all she would eat was cereal for breakfast, mac and cheese for lunch, and plain pasta for dinner. I dispaired. But now she is back to eating all sorts of things, like cucumbers, avacados, fruits, etc. So I think it is just the willingness to try things. And we try to make a big deal about new (to her) foods by hyping them up.
Me: "Oh wow, these cucumbers are so yummy! Crunchy and delish!"
DH: "I love them! Cucumbers are great! We're so lucky that DD doesn't want any so we can have it all!" (This works almost every time)
DD: "I want cucumbers!"
Me: "I guess you can have one of mommy's cucumber slices, but only because I love you so much."

Okay, so we are manipulating her into trying new foods, but seriously, why not? Some things we know she doesn't like, such as spicy food, she insists on trying simply because we said she won't like it. Strong willed little mite that I've got.

[marispel]

Originally Posted by lyra1977

Same here. DD would eat anything until about 10 months and then started getting picky for no apparent reason. Nowadays we just barely manage to keep her diet balanced because she will eat black beans and we put protein powder in her oatmeal (both for protein) and she will eat steamed fresh peas and puffets (http://www.peasofmind.com/products/greens.php). But most of her diet consists of the same 20 or so foods over and over again. We eat a variety of foods, with lots of different spices and ingredients, and we always offer her bites of ours and she will often sniff our forks or poke her tongue out for a taste in order to declare it "yucky!"

I keep telling myself that if we continue to model healthy eating habits and continue to offer her tastes she WILL eventually come around, even if it takes years.

ditto this!! My DS ate everything until he started walking at 11 mo. Then he stopped trying new foods. Sadly I resorted to an occassioal shoving food in his mouth just to get him to taste it. He usually loved it once he tasted it,but I've since stopped doing this for obvious reasons. So, I keep offering and he keeps refusing....He is growing and so I try not to worry.

[rightkindofme]

If it's something I think she will like then I make her try one bite. She is not done till then. If I think it is questionable then I just leave it alone. But she's not all that picky overall so I think I'm not in a fair position. I work very very hard at not letting our diet have ruts so that she doesn't get into 'what she eats'. I think she could fall into that path pretty easily.

We also read a ton of books that talk about food. We have books that cover fruits/vegetables and different ethnic foods. It really helps that when we get ethnic foods we can say, "Mexican food like in !Hola, Jalapeno! (uhm, pretend I did the upside down exclamation point and accent).

[anricat]

Ugh. Mine is the same way! She just wants the same stuff all the time. And forget about veggies (except peas). I sneak spinach into her smoothies.

One thing did work for me at lunch, however (small victories - I'll take em). I made buckwheat for lunch today and DD would not touch it. She acted like I was trying to poison her. So I went and made a big show of putting some honey in it (I usually eat my buckwheat savory, but I pulled some out just for DD) and then stirred it up and then she would taste it (she loves honey). She only ate a couple of bites, but it was still a victory. I'm going to try putting something she likes (catsup, honey, etc.) into stuff and see if that will get her to try things.

[puddle]

It's frustrating, but I just try to remind myself that it's a survival instinct. Eating only what you already know is safe will keep you from eating something dangerous if you have to forage for your food. Instead of having limited eating aptitude, I just try to think of DD has having heightened survival aptitude.

Fortunately, DD FINALLY started drinking smoothies, so I can sneak a handful of spinach and stuff in there, which is the only way I can get it down so far. I just tell her I'm going to add green sparkles.

[LindsC]

DS goes through waves of being a picky eater. I don't cook special meals for him anymore though. I just serve him whatever we are eating and let him decide what he is going to eat off of his plate. I do try to encourage him to try at least one bite, but I never force him.

[lyra2007]

My DD will eat almost anything; at 25 months, we still haven't run into major problems. However, I have found that she will eat almost anything if she can dip it--in ranch, yogurt, ketchup, doesn't matter what. Falafel with ketchup may appall me, but she loves it!

[ellemenope]

Is your toddler resistant to trying new foods?


No.

My toddler is resistant to trying any food. Well, except cookies.

[EzzysMom]

She definitely wants mac and cheese for lunch every day, but I will make sure to give her one 'big' meal each day that I know she'll eat a lot of, and then tend to make the other meal more adventurous. She may eat a bunch, she may not, I'll sometimes bring out a backup of yogurt or cheese or fruit if she really won't touch it. She does decent variety of breakfast. I just need more ideas for the snack food that are easy, crackers are too easy to just pour and go as we're always out at snacktime.

[mbm]

If we have something new, I have to eat a bite first, like the Royal Taster. And sometimes DD still won't touch it.

On the plus side, she was never a kid who put random possibly-icky objects into her mouth.

[Geist]

My son is also rather picky. I don't recall him being so a year ago, but nowadays if he doesn't recognize something, he won't put it in his mouth, will refuse it or if he does try it will take the teensiest little bit before spitting it out. Sigh.
How long does this picky stage last? Even if his dad or I try it first, he won't eat it. Usually he just tries to feed me the food if I start eating it.

[twinky]

i think that's the first reaction but try to offer them again. I think they're just curious.
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[carriemama]

Yes, sigh, so picky! DD is 2 and would happily eat mac and cheese for every meal. SO hard to get her to try new things!

[LROM]

Strangely, my dd is different I guess. What she's open to and resistant to has everything to do with HOW I give it to her. Anything I put in a baby bowl/plate and give directly to her, she pretty much rejects right off (unless she recognizes something she loves on it, like cheese).

But if I cook it and make a plate for myself, then sit her down but start eating as if I'm not going to give her any, she almost always reaches out and grabs somethign off the plate.

She's still pretty quick to decide if she likes it or not and will not eat anything else on the plate if the first taste was "negative", but she'll usually try something if I present it this way.

Did anyone answer the "phase" question - is this picky stage somethign a lot of toddlers go through and it's a stage, or is it often just their little personalities taking shape for th elong run?

[boigrrrlwonder]

My three year old is still super picky. One day she may eat veggies in something other than baked goods and smoothies, right?