what do you feed your picky 14 mo. old?

[Calee]

I understand that all toddlers are picky eaters at some point, but I worry that I can't get my babe a well balanced meal in her most of the time. I try to offer a wide variety of foods but she is not at all interested in veggies or any type of meat, no matter if I try to cook them differently to make the texture easier, mash it all into a sweet potato, etc.. If it were up to her she would have froot loops for every meal!
What are some things that have worked for you guys?

[melimcn]

I gave up on the well balanced meal idea at that age. DS is now 2, and I still don't worry about it. As long as I get some fruit and protein in him every day I'm happy. It's just not a battle worth fighting, and at 14mos, they're only going to get pickier. Trust me.

DS ate a LOT of scrambled eggs, PB&Js, yogurt, fresh fruit and pasta at that stage. The only meat I could get him to eat was chicken, and that's pretty much still the case. (He'll eat hot dogs, if you want to call that meat. ) He won't touch beef, pork or turkey. Great beans are the only veggie that I can "occasionally" get in him. So I settle for what I know he'll eat, and just keep offering different things to him. Every day is different and his tastes have changed 1000 times already.

Just keep offering things continuously and don't try to force it. You'll only drive yourself crazy.

[Winter]

This was one of the topics on the Dr. Phil show the other day. The guest was Dr. Oz. A woman was having the same trouble with her child and had tried everything - having the child sit at the table for hours, going to bed hungry etc. The food he would eat were pasta, PB&J, yogurt, fruit and a few others. The doc's were saying this is a battle you probably don't want to fight. Likely this will pass. Let him have a PB&J. I don't think they advocated to make a whole separate meal though, just something easy.

Good luck with that. This seems like a battle I would fight so now I am rethinking it.

Winter

[Calee]

Funny both of you mention it, she does enjoy PB&J's. Hopefully I'll be able to pick my battles and let it pass I guess. She still drinks go-n-grow formula in the morning and at bedtime so hopefully that fills in some nutrition gaps

[mom418]

remember they have very small tummies, even in prek some kids just snack frequently. alot of the time u can substitute fruits for veggies. like instead of orange veg. for vit.A. do cantalope,apricots...etc. u could do fruit and pb sandwhich. then theres all the ways to sneak it in: muffins,tomato sauce,smoothies. when i was a kid, we loved chocolate zucchinni bars. tastes just like brownies, reg. version is really good too, without choc.
u might find she likes to help make it. washing produce, cutting with a butter knife when shes a little older, stirring batter etc. just try to have her try healthy choices, tastes change, and if shes playing outside building appetite, offer veg. etc first. more likely to try it when they r very hungry. i could go on pages and pages...my head is full of this stuff. my fav. cover it in cheese! haha

[Peaceful Rainbow]

As long as you don't have animals that will steal the food, get a 6 cup muffin tin and put healthy foods in it. Some cup up fruit, veggie pieces, crackers, whatever you have and they often like dips, so put something to dip things in and just set it where they can graze as they want. It lets them feel more in control of what they eat. If food becomes a battle, it's not one you can win. Also, even little ones can "help" prepare their foods and I definitely found the more they "helped" the more they were willing to eat. Let them rinse fruit, hand you ingredients, dump things in the bowl etc. Try not to worry about having to have every meal or even every day balanced. A variety of foods over a weeks time will even things out.

[Calee]

I wonder if I am getting ahead of myself in the food dept. I reminded myself today that she's only been walking for a few weeks, has only eight total teeth in her head, doesn't consistantly sleep through the night, etc.. This is my first baby and I obviously don't know what to expect and when.
Keep the advice coming, for both of our sakes' .

[mom418]

i agree with the last post. great idea, and yea anything they can dip, or bite size peices almost all kids like that. since they dont need much protein they dont need very much meat, if they dont like it, can just have yogurt(real stuff, dora yogurt has way too much sugar), cottage cheese, cheese cubes or sticks, milk. we forget dairy has protein.
i would focus on offerring fruits/veggies throughout the day and iron. you can get iron lots of places even raisins. thats what dieticians at wic focus on too. and drinking water instead of juice.
little tip- eating vit. c and iron helps it absorb better
spinach salad and oranges
salsa and black beans
eating calcium and vit. d together helps it absorb. i'll post in a min ex. cant think of any think with vit. d besides sunlight.

[mom418]

vit. D is naturally found in tuna, salmon, and sardines. my kids like the sardines in olive oil and salmon patties. not everyone likes fish, can also get it fortified in dairy and soy milk.
just something to keep in mind as u group foods together in a meal/snack. but it will all be fine, just focus on eating healthy foods as much u can, and your family will be fine. after 3 kids thats kinda my attitude about most things lol. i'm too worked up, it will be fine and it usually all works out, so try to think long term. hope that helps.

[mom418]

oh yea like post above says, eggs have protein. completely forgot, one of the best and cheapest sources of protein.