I was so proud of myself for the way I introduced foods to my firstborn child. I tried varied flavors, exposed him to as wide an assortment of foods as I could manage, and as a result I was rewarded with a child who will eat virtually anything placed in front of him. I seceretly considered this to be *my* accomplishment.
Seven years later, I had my second child. From the first moment we introduced any food to him, he acted as though we were trying to poison him. I kept trying, patiently introducing new foods, waiting after they were rejected and trying again later. Day after day, I found more and more foods he would not eat. I was stumped, because even the foods that most babies like, he wouldn't even consider trying to eat.
At one point, I decided to get a little tougher. That was when I discovered that he will gag and throw up if a food that he doesn't want to taste is placed in his mouth. Just last evening, my husband tried it with a berry smoothie. It is sweet and delicious. Our older child loves it. LJ didn't want to taste it, and my husband insisted that he allow just a tad to be placed on his tongue. Gag, gag... luckily I was standing by with a glass of water and he didn't "refund".
Since foods coming up can create strong aversions, I quickly abandoned the tough love policy. Besides, I wasn't a fan of cleaning up the tough love results.
So at this point in time, I can count the foods that my 5 year old will eat, and the number is under 30. Most of them are grains and dairy products. Fruits, vegetables and meats are something he generally regards as disgusting.
I am curious... does anyone else have a picky eater? How do you handle it?
3 comments:
Hmmm!
When Alexyss was a baby we tried possibly EVERY bottle known to man. FINALLY she took a playtex bottle and playtex nipple that actually looked like a boob. You know the brown ones? Almost 7 years later she is very much a picky eater! She refuses to try new things. Unless it's sweets or chocolate. :0)
Avery on the other hand...was on table food so early! I really don't think she ever ate baby food. She is my "daring" child when it comes to food. She's not afraid to at least try it. She may end up spitting it out, but at least she tries.
Now...I am by no means a "fancy" cook. I very rarely try new things...I try hard to keep things simple. I typically don't make a big deal if they don't eat...as long as they TRY IT FIRST!
Interesting... LJ wouldn't take a bottle at all. At all. I even paid $40 to overnight one of those that is actually shaped like a breast. No dice. It was me or nothing. I forgot about that until you mentioned it.
Funny.
And like I said, even trying food leads us where no one wants to go. Blech.
Haha, this makes me laugh. Since I'm not a mom I can't really give you much good advice. BUT, I have heard that if you want your child to try/eat something (ex: peas) you offer them only peas for every meal for three days. This usually works for younger kids who are just starting out on table food, and can't get themselves different food.
I can just imagine your little one sitting on the kitchen floor eating peanut butter from the jar at 3am because he was hungry. Good luck!
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