need picky eater advice-- what do you feed them?

[colleentara]

DS (26 months) has become pickier than ever! He loves fruit, but won't touch veggies anymore. Sometimes he'll only eat fruit, yogurt and maybe some crackers with cheese. He likes meat at dinner (and sometimes salmon), but won't always eat it.
I'm looking for ideas to get him to eat more in general (he's very small) and also to try veggies and other foods.
What will your 2 year old eat? What do you do?

thanks mamas!

[confustication]

Chickpeas are a big hit around here, also, quesadillas with an assortment of fillings, trail mix/granola, sandwich 'fingers', cold veggie plates with a dip, homemade (and healthy!) chicken nuggets- really if you think outside traditional 'kid foods' you can come up with a ton of ideas.

[2timestrouble]

My daughter gets picky every once in a while, back and fowrd.
Luckly she always have at least one or two veggies that she likes even in those times and she have them day and night during those times.
What have work for me is:
-Keep offering new veggies, one of those days she was picky I had raw spinach salad for us, I never thought she would like it because she was so picky and my older hated spinach but I gave it to her anyway just in case, she eat it!!
-I am not too into hiding all veggies just because I think I am letting her believe that she can not eat them if she just try hard enough. So I always make her eat at least one veggie per day (lucky forcing in this case is just keep saying:"Yes, you have to" and "Good job!" whit each spoon she eats.
-Since she already eat at least one veggie even if she didn't want to, then I do hide the rest of them in food she likes. In her mind she only made the sacrifice to eat "one" veggies but she got 3, lol. My favorites hidings are: spaghetti, cheese quesadillas, and creamy veggie soups.
Hope this work for you too.

[K1329]

One thing I've noticed about my picky eater is that there is NO, or very little, consistency. One day, he's fine with carrots, the next he won't touch them. We keep offering all foods and letting him choose to eat them, or not. I'm afraid of it becoming an issue and don't push him too hard.
If he won't eat anything that's being served at dinner, he can have cereal or a peanut butter (no jelly - he doesn't like it!) sandwich. Some nights he chooses what the rest of the family is having, some nights it's the pb sandwich.
I also try to look at a few days when I'm thinking of his nutrition. As long as he's getting a balanced diet over a week, then, one especially picky day doesn't really matter.

[kriket]

Originally Posted by K1329

One thing I've noticed about my picky eater is that there is NO, or very little, consistency. One day, he's fine with carrots, the next he won't touch them.

I have found the same thing. Even hour to hour! DH tried to feed DS a cracker all day. Then I found it on the couch arm, and gave it to him and he ate it right up

I have no suggestions, just in for the advice and some new ideas!

[Nicole730]

I offer what we are eating then provide him with what he likes.

He pretty much lives on:

Fruit
Peanut Butter Sandwiches - whole grain bread
Cheese
Yogurt
Cereal - with or without milk
Smoothies - tofu, yogurt, kefir, juice, fruit, carrots, spinach, cabbage

He has only gained 4lbs since he turned 1, so I recently added whole milk into his diet, before that he didn't drink milk. The whole milk doesn't seem to make a difference in his weight yet.

Other foods he eats, but not on a daily basis:
Pancakes
Scrambled Eggs
Waffles
French Toast
Crepes
Pizza
Quorn Nuggets
Veggie Burgers
Mac n Cheese
Veggie Corn Dogs

[missdawn25]

My 29 month old does not eat a big variety either. He loves fruit and will eat almost any fruit you offer, but rarely eats veggies (and only corn or peas). He will eat, when he wants to:
rice
noodles
cereal (with or without milk)
peanut butter and jelly
bagel with cream cheese
crackers
cheese
homemade chicken nuggets
bacon
yogurt
peanuts

I put what we are eating on his plate (just a small amout so it is on there). I have tried making it look fun, but to no avail. I always have snacks available to eat (usually fruit)

[grace2008]

You can try flounder, a little bit salt or soybean sauce, then fry it. Test good and very tender. I tried several brands, the best one is wild caught flounder sold in Costco.

My son also loves chicken noodle soup made from Costco organic whole chicken.

For veggies, he likes French green bean, just boiling in water with a little bit oil and salt.

[sillysmile]

Thanks for the tips - we struggle with this too.

Today the big hits were plain whole wheat orzo and avocado with italian dressing. She usually hates touching things that are wet, but apparently her love for italian dressing overcame that in this instance. I'm going to have to try putting italian dressing on more of her food

Other favorites are crunchy things (freeze-dried fruit, veggie chips, breaded chicken or fish), meatballs, and yogurt or cream cheese.

A little drizzle of honey also goes a long way sometimes.