I feel like my son (Garrett, 16 months) could be the walking billboard for eating challenges…..ok so he’s not that bad, but we definitely have a very picky eater on our hands which surprises me because when we first introduced solids…..he was a champ!  He’d eat pretty much any and everything we would put in front of him, but in the past few months, he’s just become very preferential when it comes to his food.  I apologize in advance, that I don’t have great pictures of his food, I always have good intentions of snapping pictures of what he’s eating, but you would see the same things over and over again, so I’ll spare you.

First things First.  Garrett LOVES his milk.  He would probably live on milk alone if we would let him, but we only give it to him 3 times a day, when he wakes in the morning, before his afternoon nap, and before bedtime….I’d say he drinks about 18-20 oz a day which to me seems like a lot, but he still eats…sort of…so I guess I’m ok with it.

He also drinks a lot of water and sometimes watered down apple juice so that’s a good thing too.

Even though we have a picky eater, we continuously try to incorporate new foods, with the hopes that he’ll find another food he likes, and we can add it to our small list, but he is no fool, and if something looks or feels new on his plate or tray, he usually just turns away from it, and sometimes, he’ll put it on his tongue, than make a face and spit it out.  Stinker.  So because I’m terrified that my son will starve if we try to give him something that he doesn’t like, and then refuse to give him anything else, we always keep his favorites on hand.  These include….pancakes, greek yogurt or yogurt pouches, bananas, toast, oatmeal, blueberries, mandarin oranges, peaches and pears.  He’ll pretty much eat any fruit, but absolutely no eggs, and although he loves milk, and he likes whole grain peanut butter cheerios, individually, he will not eat them together.  He’s getting better with a spoon, but he still doesn’t really understand how to scoop up the food on the spoon, so we’ll scoop and put it down on his tray and he’ll pick it up and eat it, say Mmmm, and hand it back.

Our lunch staples are sliced turkey from the deli, sometimes he’ll eat ham, cheese, bread, or any combination of the 3, i.e. grilled cheese, or grilled turkey and cheese, again pretty much any fruit, veggie pouches, peanut butter and jelly, yogurt, applesauce, etc.

He’ll get snacks of goldfish, yogurt melts, apples with peanut butter, peanut butter cheerios, or some sort of graham cracker bunny thing sometimes throughout the day.

His favorite dinners are spaghetti or ravioli (sometimes I can sneak turkey meatballs in there with it), macaroni and cheese, peas, corn, bread, sometimes he’ll eat pizza, or a chicken quesadilla if the chicken is shredded and sometimes black beans….some days he will eat every last bit of what we put on his plate, and others, even if it’s the exact same thing, he may hardly touch it.  Sometimes, I just don’t get him….but like I said, as long as we’re getting some sort of food in him, I’m content.  I’m really hoping this is just a phase and that he will outgrow it eventually….Lord knows his Dad and I eat a pretty wide variety of foods, so I don’t know where he gets it from.

On occasion, we will also give G a special treat.  These are definitely not every day occurrences, but include, soft serve ice cream or frozen yogurt, fig newtons,  cookies or a little bit of a cupcake or a dessert we may have around the house.  He eats all of these things right up….go figure, that’s why we only offer them on occasion.

Again, food challenges are a part of our every day life, but we’re hopeful that we will overcome them.  Here’s to hoping number 2, due at the end of December isn’t as picky as his big brother!

Anybody else have a very picky eater on their hands???  Do you have any suggestions for working in new foods?