Before you invest time reading this let me say: I have no answers to this problem and have failed miserably at getting my picky eater to try new foods. I have failed so badly that I have had a kidney bean projectile vomited at my face. I wanted to share our story in case others have been through something similar and had anything work. Please share in the comments!!
My 6 year old daughter has been a picky eater since day one of her life. She hated breast milk so much that she would buck her little 5 day old body away from me and growl like an animal. (I understand this also had to do with a severe dairy allergy that had us in the GI department of Children’s Hospital when she was one month old).
We switched to formula and things didn’t get any better. She would take two sips of her bottle and then turn beet red, arch her back and refuse to drink anymore. Tried zantac in case it was acid reflux, tried hypoallergenic formula, eventually ended up on an amino acid based formula that worked for us.
Things improved for awhile from there. She went through all her solids like a champ and even was an adventurous eater as a toddler trying most anything we would offer her.
Around age 4 things got tricky again. Most vegetables were dropped along with a lot of proteins. She would still eat the normal “kid foods” like chicken tenders, french fries, hot dogs, etc., but she would not eat any grilled or baked meat. Around this same time we welcomed our second daughter into our family so with a newborn taking up lots of our energy we didn’t fight about food very often. We just let it be.
Age 5 came and our baby was 1 so things had settled down and we decided to try to get our 5 year old on a more healthy diet that included more vegetables and proteins. She ate plenty of fruits and carbs.
We tried EVERYTHING. Among other things we did sticker charts, withheld sweets until her plate was empty, and tried to get her involved in picking out items for her meals. Instead of improvement things got worse. Now at age 6 there are only a handful of things she will eat. She will eat chicken tenders but they have to be the ones from King’s Family restaurant (no joke), she will eat cinnamon bagels, most fruits, rice and noodles. Once in a blue moon I can convince her to eat peanut butter. I have seen her not eat for an entire day because there was nothing available that she wanted. I could HEAR her belly growling but she would not give in. She will now only eat one kind of vanilla ice cream (some of them have specks in them or are too creamy she says). I am at my wits end.
She is somehow by the grace of God growing tall and not underweight. I need your advice Moms!!! Do I keep going with my “Get her to eat different foods” crusade or do I throw in the towel because according to her pediatrician she’s in a healthy percentile for weight??
Please help!
