[/caption]When my youngest was a baby just starting on solid foods, I grew very excited with each new food we tried. He loved it all! Fruits, vegetables, cereal, crackers...all went down happily and without a fuss. After spending months battling every bottle due to reflux, this was so rewarding. I thought perhaps he had finally found joy in eating something that didn't hurt his tummy and he just couldn't get enough.
Soon, however, his acceptance of new foods dwindled. He began to limit himself to a few fruits, breads, and cheese. Looking back I know this probably happened with the new addition of milk to his diet (he was soy-fed as an infant). I now had on my hands the pickiest eater of all.
Dealing with Josiah's pickiness was a battle. He was incredibly irritable if he didn't get food in his tummy at each meal, so I did what many moms do: I made him his own suppers alongside ours. We had to feed him something! Therefore I gave in even further to his self-limited diet.
That is where we found ourselves a year ago, before we started changing how we eat. His iron was low and his behavior out of control. Slowly but surely, we pulled foods out of his diet that were irritating. The funny thing was, most of these foods were the very ones he craved. And when you take out one favorite, you have to find something to replace it. Viola! His diet improved and his pickiness began to subside.
In her book What's Eating Your Child, Kelly Dorfman describes her E.A.T. program for picky eaters. The strategy follows like this:
E-Eliminate any irritants that may be causing a bad reaction. (If food sensitivities are not an issue, this could simply mean eliminating unhealthy foods from the diet.)
A-Add one food at a time.
T-Try one bite of this food each night for two weeks.
We know this works--it is basically what we have done with our youngest! Our own variation on the last step is simply trying new or previously disliked foods, one bite at a time. We call this our "try it" bite. In this way my daughter has learned to love broccoli (especially when she tried it with garlic salt sprinkled on top) and Josiah has added a greater tolerance for meats, vegetables, and other new foods. I try to serve a variety of foods at each meal, making sure there is something everyone can get filled up on, but I am no longer a short order cook (except for Josiah's special sensitivities.)
Other ideas for helping kids learn to like new foods:
-Let them help with cooking.
-Read books about food.
-Try ethnic recipes and make it an adventure that everyone participates in together.
-Don't badger but do be firm. "You can get down from the table and play after your 'try it' bite is gone."
-Try a food fixed different ways.
-If you child is a dipper, provide a dip for the new food. Mustard, honey, whatever it takes to get it to go down.
-Model adventurous eating yourself.
It has been 6 months since we removed the irritant of milk from Josiah's diet, the last of several foods we found that were bothering him. The result has meant a much less picky eater. He is even asking to try things like fish, beets, carrots, and lettuce. The more I read about nutrition, the more I realize eating a variety of foods is an investment in my family's health and well-being.
Bon appetit! I think our adventuresome eater has returned.
[caption id="attachment_1498" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="He loved it!"]
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