For the last year we have noticed that Claire is a really picky eater. Ever since she got sick last March/April with that Klebsiella virus, her appetite has been very limited. Before she would eat almost anything - especially spaghetti. Now she will not touch it with a 10 foot pole. Not only is she picky about her food, she is very weird about her food. See below her menu and her weirdness:
Claire's Daily Menu (meaning this is all she eats every day over and over again):
Peaches
Pears
Grapes - only red seedless
Mandarin oranges - she used to eat them out of the can and out of the plastic containers. Now she will only eat them out of the can. And she will only eat them at my parent's house - not our house. To tell if she will eat them or not, she takes the orange and puts it to her mouth (like the side of her mouth). Somehow this tells her if she wants to eat it or not.)
Bananas
Cheerios
NutriGrain bars
Raisins - this is about the only thing she will eat for snack at preschool
Pancakes - she only eats these on the weekend for breakfast. I bought blueberry pancakes to try those and she has actually eaten a few pieces!
Gerber snacks - meaning those freeze dried yogurt dots, those Gerber cheese doodle looking things. She no longer will eat the puffs.
Yogurt - Claire will not eat yogurt at my parent's house. Just our house. She will only eat the Yoplait Dora yogurt.
Low Fat Fruit and Yogurt Parfait from McDonalds - Claire actually LOVES this and will eat 2 whole containers!
Cheese - she is kind of getting out of eating cheese now.
Crackers - she will eat the Great Value brand wheat crackers - sometimes.
Turkey - only from a Subway sub
Doritos - do not ask my why she decided these looked good enough to try.
French fries - she is just now getting to where she will eat a few french fries. About the only vegetable she eats!
Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts - she loves these pop tarts. I only give her the edges of the pop tart. I eat the rest.
M&Ms - this baby has loved M&Ms from day one
Goldfish - Claire really only likes the baby size Goldfish and will only eat them at my parent's house. She won't eat them at our house at all and will SOMETIMES eat a few at preschool.
That's it. You would think she would get tired of eating the same things over and over. If I put something different on her plate or offer her something like pizza or cake she makes a gag face and noise and gets really mad until I get the piece of food off of her plate. She will not try new things. I am worried that she will start not having enough nutrition for her growing body. I do not want her to have to drink Ensure or something.
So I am wondering if anyone out there has any advice, suggestions, etc. Where most kids will eat chicken nuggets and pizza, Claire won't touch it. I have to carry her food with us where ever we go because I know she will not eat whatever is there. I know eventually (or I hope at least) that she will try new things. I thought when she saw her friends in preschool eating different things that she would try them. But that is not the case. She doesn't care! The teachers keep raisins on hand for Claire. They said they give her whatever snack everyone else is eating first to see if she will eat it. If not, she gets raisins.
Claire does not like change. So changing up her food is something she is not interested in. I think she would rather just eat the same things over and over even if she is sick of them than rather change and eat something different. And I think she also has a texture issue. She doesn't like sand or anything on her hands. She puts foods to her closed mouth or chin to "check them out" sometimes before she eats it. She gags at new things when we have never even done that in front of her so I have no idea where she learned that reaction.
HELP!!!
Love,
The Scott Family
PS - I typed this blog post a few days ago. Last night Trent and I were talking about our concern of Claire's eating habits. I kept saying I didn't understand why she was such a picky eater. As I am saying this, Trent points out that I am sitting there picking the little bits of chicken out of my chicken noodle soup (b/c I just can't eat those things) and then I start picking the heart shaped sprinkles off of my piece of cake b/c I don't want to eat those either. I pointed out that Claire does not see me picking through my food - she was already playing - so it's not like a learned habit by watching me be picky (all the while I did not realize I am a "picky" eater). Trent then pointed out that it didn't matter that Claire was not seeing what I was doing - "She is 1/2 you, Rebecca. Remember that." So, am I the cause of her pickiness?
Oh Rebecca - the quandary of a toddler Mom! I swore I would not have a child who was a picky eater and here we are! Our list includes a little bit more than yours and we seem to add a new item more frequently then we used to but still have a LONG way to go. I keep hoping she will out grow it. We try not to fix something separate for her to reinforce her picky habits knowing that if she's truly hungry she will eat. It seems sometimes that all she wants to eat is "junk" which is frustrating. She also ate much better as a baby and will not touch foods she loved then (like green beans and sweet potatoes). Her grandma & pediatrician have both talked to her a lot about trying just one bite and so now if she tries a bite she will say excitedly "I like it" but won't eat anymore. She also doesn't like common kid foods like burgers, hot dogs, mac & cheese (most of the time), etc. I wish I had more wisdom for you!
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