I should’ve known that Dylan would be a picky eater. I grew up eating not much more than hot dogs, pancakes, and grilled cheese sandwiches. When my mom would cook something that I didn’t like, I filled myself up on bread and milk so I didn’t have to eat it. Occasionally my parents would bribe me with a candy bar — every bite I took, they moved it a little closer to me. But every minute I didn’t take a bite, they moved it a little farther away from me. I remember sitting at the table for at least an hour after my brothers were done on numerous occasions. But, at thirteen months old, bribing isn’t an option with Dylan. Nor is punishing him for not eating. Here are a few things that I’ve learned so far from dealing with a picky eater:
Avoid forcing your child to eat.
Associating mealtime with frustration and fighting won’t be good for either of you. Unless there’s something medically wrong, your baby knows that he or she needs to eat and won’t starve him or herself, so you don’t have to worry about that. Days that he or she refuses to eat will likely be offset by other days when they eat nearly nonstop. Aside from screaming and crying, your baby will also probably end up spitting food or throwing it all over anyway.
Offer a variety of foods, in a variety of ways.
Offering a wide variety of foods for your child to experiment with will help him or her to not become bored with seeing the same foods over and over again. It can also help to change up the way he or she sees or feels the food. For example, Dylan won’t eat Cheerios plain, but if I put some on his tray while feeding him yogurt, he thinks it’s funny to either put them on top of his spoon or to pick them up with the bottom of his yogurt-coated spoon and he’ll eat them without a fuss.
Offer you baby what you know he/she likes.
There are a lot of foods Dylan usually likes but has been refusing to eat lately: chicken, sweet potatoes, cottage cheese, and carrots, to name a few. But he always seems to like bananas, and I’d rather see him eat one of those than nothing at all. So, rather than being stubborn about trying to force him to eat these other foods, we offer them to him and if he won’t eat them, we try other foods until we find something that he will eat (we’ve been going through a lot of bananas lately).
Give your baby control.
Your child refusing to eat may simply be a sign that he or she is ready to become more independent. Try letting your baby feed him or herself, either with a spoon or fork or as finger food. Sometimes my son won’t eat unless he’s got at least one utensil in his hand. And often, it’s enough for him to just have one in his hand, not even necessarily feeding himself with it. Sure, it usually ends up with a bigger mess at the end of the meal, but I know at least some of it has gotten in his mouth.
It’s okay to trick your child if you need to.
If your baby refuses to eat certain foods like vegetables, you can try mixing them with other foods that will overpower their flavor. I recently found out that I may actually start having to puree carrots before I mix them with Dylan’s other foods because if I just dice them before I add them to other foods, he can feel them in his mouth and he’ll dig them out with his finger and throw them. It’s actually pretty funny to watch.
Don’t give up on a food after one try.
If your child refuses to eat a food on his or her first experience with it, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll hate it forever. My son has a love/hate relationship with sweet potatoes, for instance. Some days he can’t get enough of them, other days he’ll take one bite and end up throwing the rest on the floor. If they’re refusing to eat a certain food, go ahead and take a break from it for a while and try again another day.
Relax.
Your child’s pickiness is likely just a phase that will pass with time. Just because he or she doesn’t seem to be eating well now doesn’t mean that that’s the way they will stay throughout their entire childhood. It could be just his or her way of letting you know that you’re not always in charge.
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