Mommy Monday -- Picky Eating Children, Such a Mess!
I am a Mother to an extremely picky eater. No matter what I do, and no matter what I introduce her to, her meals usually come from the same three or four food options from Peanut Butter to Chicken Nuggets. I've introduced vegetables to her and she won't touch them (though she still loves the pouches!) and I'll try to get her to try meats and she will only eat chicken. According to her pediatrician she is very healthy, growing just fine so they aren't too concerned in terms of health. Her prior pediatrician said it was perfectly fine and actually very normal for children her age to be picky. But her current pediatrician says no, this is not right and it needs to be changed. Hard to do, but when you are wanting to make dinner on a limited budget the hardest thing to do is make two separate meals.
On one hand, you'll be told "Just give her what she wants, and she will grow out of this". You figure if she wants a cheese sandwich for dinner while you're eating Meat Loaf you'd rather give her something she will eat than waste food on her plate she won't even touch and it'll get thrown away. But then on the other hand you get told "You need to nip this in the bud now, and make her go to bed hungry. She'll figure it out." I don't know about all of the parents reading this now, but yes I've tried this and...Does not work. EVER. All this does is open a 3am wake up where she will not sleep unless she can eat because her tummy hurts from hunger. That usually ends up with me giving her groggily two pieces of bread (she loves just...plain bread) that fills her stomach and then shes out again.
So...what am I doing wrong? I've put spaghetti in front of her, nothing. I've called hamburgers "Cheese Spiders" or "Crabby Patties" (and any parent out there will know what I'm referencing with those two titles), I've made noodle dogs (where you put pasta through hot dog slices and boil them making them look all funny). I've tried sitting her at the table with us for dinner, I've tried allowing her to watch some TV while she eats.
As you can see, this is a topic that is REALLY frustrating. So what do you do? Do you have a picky child? Do you make them eat what you eat, or do you let them eat what they want? What does your doctor say? Do you supplement what they won't eat with something else to ensure they get what they need? That's what we do with vitamins, milk, and we still give her pouches sometimes of fruits and vegetables.
Sound off in the comments and tell me what is the hardest part for you about your picky child! If you used to have young children who were picky I'd love to hear from you too!
Elizabeth is a work at home Mother of a sweet and beautiful daughter. She is a wife of seven years and a blogger for some time now. When she isn't spending time with her "Livvybug" she is looking for new review opportunities and writing or singing along to classic rock and pop music!
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