FOOD: Any good Links/Ideas to help in a picky childs diet?

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My child does not like the texture of most meats,
but if made right he will eat them.
but like me, he likes chicken the best.

he does not care for peas or fresh carrots or apples.
but he likes apple sauce

he is ok with mashed potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, trail mix's.

and this is just the start.

any ideas?
any links to places that you have found to be a good source?

I want to improve on his diet and nutrition,
and make him better meals.
I never been much of a cook,
but I sure enjoy it when I see he likes something I make for him.

He is 2 years old.

Here's a good site, aspergian_mutant.

http://choicefoodforkids.com.au/

It's sponsored by CHOICE, the magazine of the Australian Consumers' Association, and is tailored for an Australian market, but you might find it of interest. Actually, what do you bet the American Consumer Reports Online offers something like this as well?

Other ideas:

• If he doesn't enjoy a food raw, try it cooked, and vice-versa.
• New item on the menu? Small amounts at first, when he's really hungry.
• If he sees you enjoying a wide variety of foods, chances are he'll do the same.

Good on you, Dad, hope you have fun!

I'm the worst picky eater ever, and always on a certian food kick, but anyways if sensory and texture is a problem, if you have a blender, you can always blend everything... That might work, if hes not eating at all, try pediasure, i drink boost or protein shakes to make it through my life haha.

He's not doing too badly - I have a younger brother who wouldn't eat anything besides banana, toast and vegemite and cut up orange. Your boy is getting plenty of vitamins with the potatoes, tomatoes and bananas, and lots of fibre. Does he like crackers or toast fingers? He might like peanut butter or avocado or soft fruit like pears.

Bananas in particular are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. It's also good to see your boy will eat chicken and some kinds of meat. I don't know what he thinks of fish - not all kids like it but it could be worth trying some little pieces of it.

Little kids are often very picky eaters but unless they are showing obvious signs of malnutrition eg. skinny, lethargic, pale, they are getting enough food. Giving them lots of milk and other drinks can make them less hungry at meal times so is something to watch for.

I'm sure you're doing a very good job with your son.

My 7 year old son is extremely picky.

He eats: watermelon, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, crackers, bread, sausages, pasta and mince.

He's also happy to eat icecream and some biscuits.

If I force him to eat food (I stopped trying years ago) he has an extremely impressive projectile vomit!

I've stopped worrying about it. Sometimes he'll try new foods and surprise us.

I give him a children's chewable multi-vitamin every evening.

Helen

He is like me in many ways, he likes pastas and breads, peanut butter, avocados, watermelon, crackers, coffee flavored milk.
he does not like fish, squash, eggplant, and the list goes on.

as for snacks, as young as he is I just set out for him to eat at his leisure, things like-
peanut butter snacks, fruit roll ups, fruit, trail-mix bars, breads, dried fruits.
I have at least "5" of those things on the shelf for him to just go eat when he wants.
then I have him 2 tippy cups, one with milk and the other with juice.
then he still most always seems hungry when it comes breakfast/lunch/dinner times.



Hmm, children's chewable vitamins, now thats a thought, thanks!

Looks as if you are well on the right track with feeding your son.

sounds like he's doing fine. give him a vitamin or pediasure if you're really concerned.

LOL, its not that I am concerned, I just want to know some good recipes
and to become a better cook and dietitian for my little one.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/1 ... t-critics/
is link to article/story about children & picky eating, the comments beneath are interesting.
I went searching for this article (since I'd seen it recently) before reading entire thread-now realize you're looking for suggestions of combinations & methods of preparation (recipes).

Am a "picky eating" adult, and had awful battles around food with family growing up. Eating meals (if a meal means a lot of food all at once, then no eating for few hours) is not normal, natural or pleasant for me. Generally, I prefer to snack & graze throughout each day (paying attention to what my body is telling me)-but I can do that now (get instant gratification for hunger, rather than having to wait for "mealtime"), I couldn't back when I was a kid & in school. Am aware it's worse for one's dental health to snack/graze, compared to confining one's intake to briefer amounts of time, as with meals.
"Winning the Food Fight" by Natalie Rigal is very good book on subject.

I like very few foods (or combinations):
Ground beef (lean hamburger made from good cut with no silverskin or gristle, custom ordered at grocer's meat counter) then fried up in stovetop pan while beef is being shredded by handheld potato masher (can be done with a fork, also) plus elbow macaroni (and butter, salt, dash of pepper & paprika) is one. I don't know what 2-yr.-olds eat. I liked peanut butter + honey (with powdered milk), I'd stir them together & eat a bowlful. Chicken breast + egg noodles/pasta. I like peas (which you said your son does not) in mashed potatoes, corn niblets are also good mixed with mashed potatoes, instead of peas. For whatever you try, altering the proportion of one or the other food ingredient might be useful, to find out what works-"fine tuning" for narrow preferences.

Edit:
Forgot to add-agree that chewable vitamins are good. As a grown up, still can't stand swallowing pills (vitamins tend to be too large) and the chewable pills are gritty & taste sickeningly bad to my mouth-so I chew gummy bear vitamins (they're grainy not gritty, and taste less terrible).

You may try to "trick" him a bit - put some other kind of mashed food into a (well-cleaned) applesauce container and see if he can tell the difference. Not trying to be cruel to your son or anything like that, but my parents did this to me all the time when I was little.

lol,
that dont work

you can also try frozen veggies with him and see if he likes them sometimes the fact that tehir frozen makes them more fun. i am not a fan of peas but will eat frozen peas straight out of the bag, my kids love this snack too same with cornand that veggie mix minus the beans.

you may also want to try pureeing veggies into a pasta sauce. using the blender, i add a small baby food jar of sweet potatoes, some spinach(deforsted frozen bits) and often zuccini to my tomato sauce for pasta, and you can't really tell the difference. you can also add some cottage cheese in for protein if you like and it's an instant balanced meal.

not sure if you or him like meatloaf but you can try to do the same thing, adding veggies in puree form so they're less noticeable.

i also add black beans and spinach to taco meat the seasoning kind of masks the taste of the spinach i think, and adds extra nutrients.

if you can try to use whole grain breads and pastas, if you're not that into it try mixing half reg and halfwhole wheat pasta, or that new smart pasta or smart white bread if you're anti whole wheat or grains bread.

i'm not sure how you feel about baking but making muffins from scratch are pretty good too then you can control the amounts of sugar and other thingss in them, i usually add 1/4- 1/3 c of oatbran if i can and you can substitiute half of the oil in a recipe for applesauce.

you could try a chicken caccitori seems like it would have a lot of favorite foods in it and serve pasta as a side dish.

try using avocado as a spread on sandwiches and adding tomato and other sandwich veggies too.

you may also want to consider using a half juice half water mixture instead of pure juice so there's less sugars in his drinks, or after one cup of juice is done the next one is water, as juices tend to have hidden sugars because they are natural.

hope this was somewhat helpful.

I used to buy mango nectar in the 2L bottle, and mix it half-and-half with water. It's too syrupy (and also not very economical) to drink undiluted - and mom2bax's point about dental health is well-taken. Small, single-serve bottles of juice with pop-up drinking spouts are good if you wash out and reuse them (for things like drinks of water if you are out walking or driving).

Neither of my kids is keen on cooked turnip or cabbage, but they will eat them in industrial quantities uncooked. I cut the turnip like matchstick potatoes, and toss in a bowl with some lemon juice and a bit of salt and pepper. The cabbage I slice thinly so it comes out in long strands, and dump that in a bowl as well. Instant finger food.

Then there's the peanut-butter-in-a-celery-stalk trick. Whole lettuce leaves can be either eaten on their own, or used to wrap cooked hamburger meat like a Chinese san choy bau.

Canned condensed soups, like vegetable or cream of mushroom, are good as a basis for a meat stew, the only drawback being their saltiness. If you can avoid your boy's getting too much of a taste for salt, it'll be better for him in the long run.

Let us know how you fare!

Sleepy dragon said:

there are sodium reduced ones as well as half fat ones they are labeled as such or healthy or something.
you may also want to try giving him a new food several times well spaced out as tastes often change oveer time. most books about feeding children will reccomend this method, try introducing it but have them take just one bite, then try again a week or month later or whatever.

I know an aspie guy whose parents tried to hide or sneak food he didn't like into his meals. He always knew and felt betrayed that they lied to him and broke his trust. I'd let your boy graze away and be in control of his diet as much as you can and he'll probably be a little more adventurous as he gets older.

Also learning to grow and make his own food could help him stay in control of his diet and girls love boys who can cook. I taught my friend the basics and he is now one of the best cooks I know. Eating out is still very stressful for him as an adult, so he avoids restaurants and cafes if at all possible. He treats it like a science project (measuring, timing etc) and it give him great pleasure cooking for other people. Even foods he doesn't like himself, which is really sweet after all the food issues he has had his whole life.