Have your picky eaters always been picky?

[plantnerd]

Just curious.  DS is almost 12 months and will eat anything and everything, he loves his veggies, stinky cheeses, fish and shellfish, etc etc.  Always been a great eater.  I am kind of bracing myself for picky eating though, and it will drive me NUTS.  I can't stand picky eaters, really it makes me Po'd.

So my question is, have your picky kids always been picky, or did it kick in at a certain point?  My instinct right now is if it starts just say tough deal kiddo and keep on feeding him what I want to feed him.  He has a great balanced diet right now, so I'm not sure he will even get the idea that mac n cheese can be served for breakfast lunch and dinner.  My thought on it is he can eat what I serve or be hungry, but I've also never experienced this before.

[GardenStream]

Yes, my picky eater has always been picky.

My oldest will eat just about anything and he has done that ever since he started eating solid food.  My youngest has never been a good eater.  He didn't like solid food until 8 or 9 months and it took until he was 12 or 13 months before he was eating much food.  I make one meal and everyone eats whatever it is.  My 2 year old won't eat his dinner most of the time.  I won't force him to eat it, but he doesn't get to choose an alternative dinner either.

It still amazes me that I raised them in exactly the same way yet one is picky and the other one isn't.

[CanBoo]

dd1 ate anything when she was little. It was very noticeable because she preferred food that you would not think a kid would eat. Hot sauce on eggs, kalamata olives, roasted garlic, etc.

Over the last 6 months or so, she has developped a little bit of a picky phase but I think it is just that a phase. Preschool educators are still surprised what I put in her lunch and  actually gets consumed: Vegetable juice, Calamaris leftovers, etc.

I believe it is in them whether they are picky or not.. Although she does eat a lot of different food, and a lot more than other toddlers around, I can tell dd2 will be pickier. We will see how we survive it.

So for now, we just manage it by making sure they are hungry at mealtimes. (i.e. no filling snacks before meals. They can have a fruit or veggies to tide them over until mealtime.)

I respect a few things that I know she hates and give her choices around it. For example the kid doesn't like potatoes, so I make her some more vegetables instead or warm up some rice if I same some precooked.

Oh and I did give dd1 back her plate a couple time before bedtime. She has now figured that spaghetti tastes better warm at dinner time :p

[onlyzombiecat]

Dd started getting much stronger preferences about food textures, flavors and temperatures after age 3.

I don't like just labeling it as picky because everyone has food preferences and dislikes as they go through life. I think some of it is stubbornness and wanting to be independent but some is a real sensory issue for dd- either seeking or avoiding certain things. For a long time she would not eat any food that had been heated and for awhile she would not eat any meat.She ate vegetables as a baby or toddler that she would not touch now. However, dd will eat some things she would totally refuse a few years ago. It changes as she ages.

I don't always make foods dd loves but I don't make her eat things she doesn't like. I think it is better to not make too a big of a deal out of being choosy when they are young and just be patient.

[mamadelbosque]

Nope. Ds1 started out eating just about anything. Sometime ~2-3 he became picky. He's 3.75 now and sometimes infuriatingly picky. DS2 (16 months) on the other hand is still in the eat-most-anything-you-put-in-front-of-him stage, and I'm savoring it :p

[Summersquash]

DD started getting pickier between 12 to 15 months or so.  Before that she would try most fruits and veggies I offered her but didn't like eggs, meat, things with rich flavors, etc.  Now at 2 she has gradually gotten even more picky so that some veggies and fruits she used to love are no longer preferred.  She went a long time not liking bread but will eat it now.  She won't touch soy or coconut milk yogurt or cheeses or peanut butter or anything like that.  She is dairy free due to some pretty bad reflux.  

I think pickiness is more about the individual kid than it is about parenting.  In DD's case I think a lot of stuff hurts her belly and that makes her reluctant to eat things and/or try new things.  I offer a plate of healthy food at meal times and she is allowed snacks whenever she wants and I do my best not to stress over it.  She'll figure it out eventually (or she won't).

[plantnerd]

Cool, thank you so much for the info.  I have witnessed first hand the picky kid vs the non picky kid in the same family.  My sister is the pickiest 28 year old you have ever seen, and I will eat anything, always have.  I just wonder sometimes if it didn't help that Nana indulged her pickiness and always made special foods for her, or if she has a true super palate.  She is very sensory sensitive in a lot of ways.

[Llyra]

My DD1 was always picky. Even before she started solids, she was very fussy about how and when she fed. She ate to eat, and didn't like comfort nursing. If I attempted to feed her when she wasn't actually hungry, she would meltdown and scream at me. When she started solids, the pickiness manifested itself almost immediately. That said, a lot of her "picky" tendencies are really related to her having a very small appetite. I've come to realize that if she ate like my other two always did (the other two were hearty eaters willing to try almost anything) that she'd be overweight-- she just doesn't need more than the few nibbles of foods she takes at most meals.

I can say, though, that once we got through the preschool years (which are the peak of picky tendencies for most kids, I would guess) that she got a LOT better. Her list of foods she'd eat expanded a lot. She still eats very small meals, though.

[Owen'nZoe]

I have one picky eater (DS2) who has been picky from the time he started eating solids. There are only a handful of healthy foods he will eat (although he'll happily eat just about any junk food he can get his hands on ). I do encourage him to try 'just one bit' of foods he "doesn't like", but I can't remember a single time that he has ended up liking a food that I encouraged him to try in this way. Generally, it ends in spitting out the food very dramatically.

My older son was an adventurous eater from birth. He ate healthy, and would try anything (seriously, even things I can't stomach, like whole baby octopuses). That changed when he started at public school. Suddenly anything 'wierd' was not OK, and this including really normal things like stir fry (sans baby octopi ;)), most vegetables, etc - things he had happily eaten before starting school. He also started requesting chicken nuggets and corn dogs and pizza, which are all once-in-awhile treats at our house, but not standard menu items like they are at school. I pack a lunch for him, so it isn't even that he's gotten used to the taste - he just sees them everyday. It is very frustrating.

[Mere]

Two eat-everything kids - from birth.  One picky eater - from birth. 

I'm sure my picky eater would eat a lot more foods if I filled the pantry with processed and sugary foods.  I don't though, and the result is that he eats about 20 foods total. He doesn't seem to mind though, and he's growing and healthy.  Just stick to your guns, stock your pantry with whole, healthy food, and your child will always be able to find something to eat.  I think where people run into trouble is when their kids are used to eating more processed foods and the family tries to switch to more whole foods. 

The one concession I do make for my picky eater is to serve something at every meal that I know he likes.  In our case, I serve chunks of cheese or nuts and cut up veggies at every dinner.  It just takes a second to put together, and everyone - not just ds - ends up eating them. 

[Princess ConsuelaB]

My picky eater, raised on healthy whole foods(but not with treats completely verboten which I feel can be another extreme) used to eat almost anything I served. I think she started to get picky around 3 or 4. I didn't indulge her pickiness but I didn't make a big deal out of it either, as long as what she chose to eat was relatively healthy(it usually was!). The last year or so she's getting more open to trying new things and has begun adding more items to her diet...she's 12.

[neptunemama]

Both of my girls ate everything until about age 3 or so.  Then both got progressively pickier.  My older one emerged from the picky stage around 7 1/2.  My younger one started eating more variety around 6.