[isisjade]

I have posted a similar message in a different forum, but I was wondering if anyone had a bit of guidance. My 2.5 year old son has an EXTREMELY cautious temperment. One of the ways this manifests itself is through food; he is 2.5 and has not tried a new food in well over a year (which is a lot of his life!). He was almost exclusively bf for the first two years of life and has recently cut down quite a bit; his appetite has increased somewhat, but not his sense of adventure toward food. He basically wants to eat the same 10 foods or so over and over [dry wheat toast, a PARTICULAR type of cracker, pizza, bagels, naan bread, soy sausage or nuggets (which I limit to once weekly) tortilla chips--with only one fruit (apple) and two vegetables (tomato soup and saag ONLY from their respective restaurants!)]. I know food jags are typical with toddlers and tend to peak at this age, but I am beginning to think he will NEVER try anything new. He does not even want to touch new foods, although occasionally I can get him to feed ME something, so at least he has some tactile experience with it.

Did anyone have a child as cautious as this regarding food, and at what age did this change? I feel I have tried everything I can think of, and I am hoping he will come out on the other side without some professional form of intervention.

Any inspiring stories to let me know I am not alone?

 

[stafl]

has he been tested for food allergies?

 

[isisjade]

No, not yet. That may be a next step; however, thus far he has shown no signs (or, I guess, obvious ones) of allergies--he's really healthy, happy, sleeps well, etc. Neither my husband nor I have any.

 

[amybw]

you say he likes pizza, can you sneak anything else into it ?
Does he notice when it is different?
My son loves pizza too, so occasionally if he hasnt eaten many veggies that day I will add more to the pizza. We usually have red and green peppers and onions on it but i have also added green beans or broccoli before :LOL

Is he very verbal about why he doesnt want a particular food? I mean can he say "that tastes yucky" or why he wont try it? etc..

My brother only ate a handful of things his entire growing up life. VERY picky. Of course, when he was 3 my mom was in a state of depression and she let him eat his favorites over and over and never tried anything else. cereal, pizza, spaghetti mostly. Once in a while he would eat other things. She even took a frozen pizza to my grnadma's at thanksgiving. ( sorry i wouldnt do that.) but like i said, she wasnt in a very motherly state of mind.

My point of telling you that is that he is now 20 yrs old. Very healthy and fit. and handsome too :LOL
( and i am not saying in any way it is your fault your DS is like that. Please dont think that! My mom just didnt have the capacity to care at that time and was just glad he was eating something, anything. )

good luck !

Amy

 

[isisjade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amybw you say he likes pizza, can you sneak anything else into it ? Does he notice when it is different? My son loves pizza too, so occasionally if he hasnt eaten many veggies that day I will add more to the pizza. We usually have red and green peppers and onions on it but i have also added green beans or broccoli before :LOL Is he very verbal about why he doesnt want a particular food? I mean can he say "that tastes yucky" or why he wont try it? etc..

He very much notices when anything is different. When I've tried to add vegetables, he says he wants "dry" pizza. He is very verbal, but not really able to tell me why he doesn't want to try new things. He just says, "I don't like it." Occasionally, he will say, "I only like dry toast, crackers, bagels"...and lists the rest of the things he will eat. Glad to hear the 20-year-old is no worse for wear. I really hope we come out of this soon, and I may try a bit of "food play" just to get him a little more desensitized to the idea of touching and possibly eating different foods. Thanks