My Picky Eater

I am a total foodie, so of course my children would be. They wouldn't know any better, I would present them with gourmet baby food and they will grow up eating sprouted peas for snack and think prunes were candy..... right?

Yeah, wishful thinking! In reality my children have a mind of their own. I had my first child, a sensitive yet stubborn son named Chase. He nursed easily enough and at 6 months we introduced rice cereal with no problems. I had been told to introduce hardy vegetables first to lessen my child potential sweet tooth so I made him a butternut squash puree and it has been veggie war at my house ever since!

I moved on to the sweeter veggies, totally abandoning my original plan, sweet potatoes, peas and carrots. Pursed lip my son refused. I literally tried everything I could think of plus took the advice from anyone else who had an idea. I force fed, reintroduced over a hundred times, "Here comes the air plane, open the hanger," switched to store bought food, all to no avail. When I moved on to fruits we had better luck so I thought, 'maybe I can hide veggies in here,' NOPE! I swear Chase may have the most sensitive sense of smell, he would turn his head before I even made it all the way to his high chair. I was beyond frustrated, but mostly I was concerned about his nutrition, so I did the only thing that made sense to me at the time, I force fed. This went on for three years! He learned to like frozen peas but that was about it. I became sneaky, I would hide vegetable puree in almost all his food, spinach in a fruit smoothie zucchini in meat loaf. I had some success but most of the time he could detect a difference in flavor or texture, he could even separate the veggies out with his tongue!

It wasn't until a nutritionist came and spoke at my sons preschool that I realized that I had been creating an unhealthy relationship around food for my son. She also taught us that children's nutritional needs are different from an adults, while we need to eat fruits and vegetables every day children can get their needs filled over the course of a week. That took so much pressure off! The instructor of the preschool also challenged the parents to serve food at home they way they do at school; a platter of assorted fresh fruits and veggies first then a carb and protein after. I rose to the challenge and started making fruit and veggie platters for my son every day. Finally peace at meal time! Dinner time used to be so stressful, he would cry and say his stomach hurt before he even knew what we were having. When I let go of trying to control what Chase ate, he began to try new foods on his own, I couldn't believe it!

Now Chase is in control of of his eating habits. When he his hungry he can go to the fridge and grab a fruit or veggie from the tray, if he doesn't like what I have made for dinner he can make himself a bowl of plain Cherrios, a PB&J or any fruits and veggies he wants. I saw a huge change in Chase's whole personality he seems happier and more willing to try new things not to mention he had a huge growth spurt!