Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Mealtime blues

Well, Ian is still having trouble eating...or more like he is very picky about what he does want to eat. We had another appointment with the speech therapist at Scottish Rite, who also does feeding therapy. As reported in another post, Ian does not have a taste aversion to textures and such, but he is hesitant about what goes in. She said it was most likely due to all the poking and prodding that he's had done to his mouth.

His current food selection includes:

Breakfast: waffles or cereal and applesauce or yogurt mixed with fruit puree--Yes, I've learned to be sneaky!
Lunch: fish sticks or chicken nuggets, chips and applesauce or yogurt
Dinner: same as lunch

With that said, we're trying new techniques as directed by the dr. to get Ian eating a healthier diet. I've come to terms with the fact that he's just going to be a small kid (He weighs only 24 pounds at 25 months.) and won't gain much weight quickly, but I do want him to eat a more rounded variety of foods.

So, I am turning to you for food suggestions. I do have Deceptively Delicious and have attempted some things out of there, but with little success (besides the muffins). I am willing to try new things as well as things tried before. Any help would be appreciated. And maybe a prayer or two as well as we try to get him eating new things.

6 comments:

Heather said...

You know, my dear boy sounds like Ian's twin. Lots of waffles, chicken nuggets, and smooth food (yogurt, applesauce, etc.) But somehow, he likes a few other random things that I wouldn't expect him to like. For instance, couscous... warm or cold, he likes it served to him or feeds himself. Also, spanish/mexican rice. Will Ian do quesedillas? Cheese? Aidan stopped eating cheese chunks, but will do quesedillas. They make yogurt (Horizon, I think) that has sweet potato or carrot in it. Called Veggie Blends. Aidan will eat the banana/sweet potato one (if you're trying to get some veggies in). What about PB&J? I guess I don't know what you've tried. And I don't have many suggestions on HEALTHIER foods, since my kid doesn't eat that great either. The recipes in DD are hard because Aidan won't eat most of those items in general (pizza, pasta, nothing). But he will do the muffins, sometimes... but there's not many vegetables in those.

I feel for you - I do!!! I bought that V8 Fusion juice with the veggies in it and have been mixing it with water (his first juice!!)

So he doesn't do fresh fruit? Aidan will eat mandarin oranges or peach chunks, but he LOVES frozen fruit - little blueberries, mango chunks cut small, even raspberries and blueberries. He wouldn't eat those fresh, but frozen, he will. Weird!

Ok, I'll stop my novel now. : )

Erika said...

Well, I definitely feel for you. Jimmy is the same way and always has been. He's four now and still very picky. He's at the age now where I don't cater to his preferences so much. Of course he's older than Ian though. Jimmy does great with breakfast and lunch because it's the things he likes...cereal, sandwiches, mac 'n cheese, bananas, etc. However, it's the dinners that have been a struggle because I now refuse to make him something different then what we eat. We've gotten to the point where my kids will eat what we eat for dinner or they go to bed hungry and can eat breakfast in the morning. Oh my, it's so hard sometimes but honestly he has tried new things because he knows this is what is for dinner.

Some foods I've had luck with: chicken nuggets...I try to make them homemade so they are a little healthier, bananas, pasta, pancakes. He impressed me last night and tried an egg roll and then exclaimed, "I love it!" I think his problem is he is afraid to try new foods. I think once he tried them he would love many of them, but of course I can't force him to try them or he will hate them. I just have to wait until he is ready on his own. A few weeks ago I tricked him into eating an egg because it looked very similar to a pancake. :)

It's tricky and discouraging but I've found that if I stop worrying and just let him make the decisions about whether he eats or not...and I decide what to offer him, then there is less stress. Kids will not starve themselves, eventually they will eat. Does that sound cruel? Well, this is way long, but that's what is currently working for us. Good luck!

Erika said...

Oh and if I let Jimmy help prepare dinner he is slightly more likely to try it. He loves to help in the kitchen!

Adawk said...

Amelia sounds just like Ian...very picky and always tiny. We tried everything and nothing every changed her eating habits until she went to school....I wonder if it was b/c she was around other kids eating things...her biggest problem is just trying things...usually she discovers she likes them.

Good luck!!

Good Remedy said...

Just wanted to add the "long view" from our experience. My oldest son, now 14, was VERY picky when he was little. He only ate a few things consistently, grits, apples, cheese, mac-n-cheese, popsicles.

That was about it. My mother-in-law said he ate like a bird. What I would put on his plate was a spoonfull of this, and a spoon of that. Why waste it? I knew he wouldn't eat it! NOW, however is another story. At 14 years old he eats like a HORSE.

So, Holly is a picky eater too. Is it because of all the surgeries? Maybe that's part of it too. But I hope that if she'll eat chips, one day she'll eat other stuff too!
Best Wishes, Holly's Mom.

Krissy said...

I hope I don't sound mean, but if Drew doesn't eat what we give him, we just wrap it up and wait an hour or so and give it to him again. I figure if he's hungry then he'll eat it and it's not like I'm serving up gross stuff like spinach! I never wanted to get in the habit of fixing one meal, him not eating it, so fixing a second meal or just letting him snack. I think he's learned that if he doesn't eat his dinner, he isn't going to get anything different so he might as well eat it the first time around!

One thing I read that you might want to try since it sounds like Ian doesn't like a lot of stuff is to put three or so things on his plate -- one that you know he likes and the other two could be "new" things. And then he can't get anymore of the thing he likes until he eats (or at least tries) the other stuff.

Can't wait to hears how it goes!!