encouraging picky toddler to eat/try new foods?

[fizgig]

I am at my wits end trying to convince my DS (29 months) to eat anything!  There are a few favorites he will eat but none of them are all that healthy (bacon, coconut milk "ice cream", avocado but only with little bits of potato chip, pretzels).  Every. Single. Day I offer a variety of foods, set out a healthy snack tray of munchies, etc.  He will occasionally pick at it but never seems to eat much.  I've tried every strategy I can think of - leaving it out for him to control, eating it front of him with great enthusiasm, feeding DH, using different bowls/spoons/textures.

He is small (5th%) but I'm not too worried about that since DH and I are also.  He is still BFing a lot, about 3-5x a day and 1-2x a night and so I feel like he is getting a lot of his nutrients there but I am starting to think about weaning and am worried about his weight/nutrition when we start to wean.

A few special considerations we have:

1. He was very sick with reflux his first 11 months, during which I had to constantly shove meds in his mouth.  When I approach him with a new food he reacts like he did when I tried to give him his meds.  Does it sound like I have created an aversion?  I'm worried that just the act of binging something to his mouth triggers horrible memories. This is supported by the fact that he will eat more for others.  If this is part of the problem - any thoughts on how to counter it?  I'm his primary caregiver and I need for him to eventually eat for me.

2. He is significantly speech delayed and also has a receptive delay which means he doesn't understand much of what we say to him.  His eval was normal for social/physical but he's way behind verbally and I wonder if this is connected?  He has mild sensory stuff going on but he has never shown any texture issues and has happily eaten mushy, crunchy, wet, dry, etc foods.  The speech therapist we see has said his mouth/throat seems physically fine so that shouldn't be an issue for eating.  The linked issue here is that I can't explain to him what I'm offering. 

We are seeing a developmental ped soon and we will explore what is going on with him - but in the mean time does anyone have ideas for encouraging new foods?  I would love thoughts/strategies!

[sweetBBkendall]

I was looking for some advice myself as my LO is very picky also. She is 20 months and it's very frustrating when you fix a whole plate of different things and she either won't eat it at all or chews it and then spits it back out. Sometimes I wouldn't let her down until she took 1 bite but that's gotten more and more difficult. My doctor usually says the normal things like don't give them more than 24oz milk a day (I understand you can't regulate since u r BFing) but recently she suggested I give pediasure before bedtime so she will wake up hungrier. It made sense because I know how I feel when I eat right before bed so I tried it and I can't say she eats more every morning but I've seen a difference in her morning appetite more than once. I'm assuming your LO will take a sippy cup? What about juice, are you diluting 1/2 & 1/2? How much juice are they drinking a day? Maybe substitute water a couple x's a day for juice or milk. Also, try having him eat with water and then give him juice/BF. Hope this helps.

[lifeguard]

I don't know if I was blessed with a good eater or if we've contributed to that but I can tell you what we do. We make meals & we put them on the table. At the end of the meal we clean up & put it away. I NEVER try to get ds to try to something, to eat a little more, to eat so much or any other real rules. Some meals he doesn't touch, some he finishes everything - I don't pay any attention at all. I really don't. I won't let him have a dessert type item if he refuses to eat anything else (today he wanted leftover birthday cake but not lunch - that was a no go) but otherwise I don't have a lot of rules with food. We don't keep junk in the house. We also don't do juice at all.

[Baby_Cakes]

Originally Posted by fizgig 

He is small (5th%) but I'm not too worried about that since DH and I are also.  He is still BFing a lot, about 3-5x a day and 1-2x a night and so I feel like he is getting a lot of his nutrients there but I am starting to think about weaning and am worried about his weight/nutrition when we start to wean.

He's still bf'ing!  That's great -- don't worry about him just yet.  Once he weans it'll be a process, but he'll start to eat more table food.

DD is 3 and still quite picky.  We bf'ed for over 2 years, did BLW, and she was a great eater.  But it seems like every age comes with a whole new set of challenges, and right now food is one of them!  I try to only offer healthy things, but I can't refuse her things I like too (not super junky stuff, but not the healthiest either).  You can try to disguise things to sneak veggies/protein in.  For example, my DD loves tacos but we make the filling with lentils.  We also taught her the difference b/w carbs, protein, and fat.  So when she's eating something, she'll often ask, "Does this have protein?" or "I love carbs!" She's a riot with this.  Unfortunately, for dinner I tell her she *has* to have something with protein, and she'll complain and whine.

I think, OP, you're doing all you can by offering and not forcing.  The meds prob didn't do much to dissuade him from eating, though it's interesting to say the least.  My DS (2 months) also takes reflux medication (zantac liquid) but I find he likes it, lol.

[hildare]

this isn't going to get the child to be more experimental, but if the goal is to get healthy stuff into the kid, you can:

use a processor or dice stuff really small and top pizzas with more veggies

make soup that's blended so the contents are mysterious

mix things that aren't so liked with stuff that is-- applesauce + salmon, etc. 

use incentives such as sauces or ketchup (sigh) for dipping.  something familiar plus the new thing might work.

we tend to approach eating like lifeguard does, we get remarks frequently about how dd is a good eater.  especially when she's shoveling in the kale, which fortunately she likes.  we don't put pressure on her to eat, sometimes she'll eat a ton and other times just pick.  no idea why. 

we also try to avoid stuff that is distracting, like the pretzles, etc.  she likes crackers but we've explained that they are for snack only and don't give them when it's time for "real" food.  at dinner and supper, the real food is the only option. 

[expat-mama]

We're lucky we've got a really great eater. This kid will try and eat everything..and anything! Sometimes it's not a good thing.

But one weird thing that he LOVES to do is "feed" his dinosaur. He's got a bunch of those plastic dinosaurs and there is one in particular for some reason that we call his eating dinosaur. I don't remember how it started. But it's always in the kitchen and if he is getting distracted and throwing his food, or if want to introduce him to something new that he may be skeptical about or we are in a rush to get somewhere/do something and need him to be more efficient, we simply put a bit of food in the dinosaur's mouth or act out the dinosaur ravenously eating whatever is in DS's plate or bowl. That does it! He will eat whatever the dinosaur "eats" and be really into it. 

I don't know if this is a good habit to start, but it has been really helpful to us and DS really enjoys it. We've never had food issues and the dinosaur just helps us out sometimes.

Is there an animal or something you could try it with? It's worth a shot.

ETA- sometimes DS won't want the main offering but will point to what is waiting on the counter for "dessert" (we don't do junk so this is most always fruit). Usually when this happens, DS will eat the dessert first and then dig into the rest of the meal. I don't mind it, I figure he has preferences too- as long as it's healthy it's fine.

[newmamalizzy]

I can often convince DD to try a food that she's skeptical of by presenting it as something that's only for me.  I really play it up, as though she's stealing all of my food, and she'll take bite after bite to get the reaction.  I can also sometimes get her to try things by showing her a way to take a teeny tiny taste.  I'll dip my finger in pureed squash and take the world's tiniest lick, and she'll often copy me.