picky 15 month old eater

[MrsBone]

My son was never this way, DD though is a picky eater! If I put a plate of food in front of my DS, he wouldn't always like what he was offered, but he might throw it on the floor, and I'd give it back to him, telling him that this is dinner/lunch/breakfast, etc, and eventually he'd try it at least. It didn't take long before he liked foods that he previously thought he didn't like. So, I figured that was the right approach for DD as well. Well, she'd rather not eat than eat what she's never had or doesn't know if she likes, etc.Last night I put a plate of food in front of her and she dipped her finger in the hummus, tasted it and made a sour face and pushed the plate away(first, maybe second time she's had hummus). I tried to get her to try the tuna fish, olives and salad on her plate as well, and she wouldn't even budge in trying it. I don't want to get to where I only feed her what I know she'll eat, because that's just feeding the picky eater problem, but if I don't feed her something, she wakes in the middle of the night or screams before bed because she's hungry. What's the right approach here? She ended up eating cantaloupe and ham for dinner because shes it. I know these don't seem like typical kid foods..but we are primarily grain free and when DD has grain products, she gets addicted and doesn't want to eat anything else. I don't want her to be a fruit/bread only eater!! I always offer her healthy foods even if she doesn't touch them, and try not to make a big deal about it, but I don't want to be adding to her pickyness by only giving her foods I know she likes just so she'll be full before bed. Help?

[luckiest]

I would make sure she has really good gut flora going on.  Being grain-free is a great start, but might not be enough.  There's a theory that picky eaters, rather than being exceedingly choosy, are actually truly addicted to grains/sugar/dairy and they are just responding to intense cravings that are fueled by an unhealthy gut flora, specifically yeast overgrowth.  I would get her on a good probiotic (Threelac, Biokult) and maybe do a mini-GAPS type diet for a while.  Is she nursing still?

[neonalee]

Hm. That is interesting. We limit grain & sugar for DS because of his reactions (demanding more & refusing all else). I would love to hear more about that.

I don't have any great solutions for you, but we face this problem too. We frequently buy the puree pouches because he loves them. They are expensive but using them I can at least guarantee some veggies daily.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk, please ignore typos!

[rdehoff-us]

With my son we offer him some variety on his plate of a well balanced meal, but if he doesn't eat something or even try it then I will continue to offer it at each meal (or fresh same thing) until he does. This sometimes takes a day or two, but with his appetite, hunger usually wins since he generally eats everything on his plate and we're not going to substitute junk food when he turns down something. He is less picky now, but occasionally we still have to try this with new foods.