I’m still a picky eater. I can unequivocally say it has not affected my health one iota, neither negatively nor positively. I seem to be in a mostly similar state as everyone else, if not better.
Grandma is a grazer, 98yo and in better health than her daughters. Doesn’t seem to have hurt her none.
Some people are picky eaters and will always be, because food simply isn’t interesting to them, it’s a bother; the Celtling sounds a lot like Littlebro, who’d be happy if he could get fed intravenously in his sleep - he’ll try different foods for social reasons, but he has to remind himself to eat at apropriate times. For others, the pickiness is limited to foods which simply do not agree with us, or to specific preparations (I like my veggies crunchy and my pasta al dente, Mom would like to cook them until they have the texture of goobers).
One thing about mixing different options: there will be times when the mixture becomes or introduces something new to the acceptable menu, but be prepared to have others where the proximity of an unacceptable item renders everything else yucky. There’s a veggie nobody in our family (biological or political) likes, but Mom insists in cooking it under the “you must eat all kinds of food” premise - well, acelgas isn’t food, and adding food to them is an abomination unto food. The aforementioned Littlebro threatened with not eating with Mom any more if she insisted in pulling stunts like that (he was in his mid30s at the time and I agreed with his assesment).
First-World Problem.
What do you think people in poor countries with little ones do? They just keep presenting the same food that they have. Eventually hunger will always win out. I’m not saying this to make you feel bad, I think you are trying to do the very best by your kid and that is fantastic. At this age, she is too young to actually be “picky”. She is simply wiggly and disinterested in food in general. The trick here is to balance out consistency with a reasonable accommodation. If she absolutely hates something, then no need to force it, but if she is simply disinterested because it is not a favored food item, then keep presenting it to her all day until she nibbles a bit of it. Stay firm and it should only take a few days to sink in. Every toddler I’ve ever met raised this way will try just about anything and is happy to eat most adult foods.
1st world problem? That’s funny. :rolleyes:
My experience is similar, but my two babies ate everything we ate, I just used a food grinder, in went lamb, chickn, broccoli, lima’s, potatoes, what ever it was they ate it all. Then one day, as toddlers, they became “picky” didn’t like lamb, didn’t like broccoli, all of their likes turned to dilikes except for maybe 6 food items. this phase lasted a longg time. We didn’t freak out about it.
Today as teenagers they still have food preferences, and they know how to cook what they like and even to cook what the rest of us like to eat.(though there won’t be any browning of meat on their part) They are healthy and have no food issues.
Egad. This subject is SO fraught with emotion and you have bunches of people all yelling different things at you. That lactation consultant should have been drummed out of the profession. Yeah, if you’re doing “wrong” stuff, how about SUGGESTION WHAT TO DO INSTEAD???
I wonder if the LC ever checked your daughter for tongue-tie (where that little membrane under the tongue connects too much of the tongue)? That’s a huge culprit in unsuccessful / painful breastfeeding, and takes literally 5 seconds to correct.
Anyway, you tried, you found it was not effective, you took the CORRECT APPROACH and switched to formula, now quit beating yourself up over that or I’ll have to come over and smack you upside the head ;).
My own LC/breastfeeding vent:
My daughter was a preemie (6 weeks early) and I had consults with THREE different lactation consultants (2 on-staff at the hospital, one I brought in privately), and of course the neonatologists were insisting that nipple confusion was nonexistent and how DARE I suggest alternate methods of feeding to avoid that, clearly I was dangerous and wanted my baby to develop pneumonia…
We ultimately succeeded in breastfeeding for two reasons:
- I had successfully breastfed my son, and knew DAMN WELL what successful breastfeeding was supposed to feel like (and Moon Unit’s halfhearted attempts to latch on were NOT working), and
- When I was on bedrest before her birth, I happened to stumble on a description of “finger-feeding” (taping a thin tube to the mom’s pinkie finger, tube attached to a milk bottle). Every other trick I tried did nothing or even made the latch-on worse. Then I remembered that website… thought it couldn’t hurt to try… and damned if she wasn’t nursing correctly within 24 hours. It was THAT dramatic a turnaround.
And yanno, not ONE of the LCs suggested that technique.
Thanks Mama Zappa and Typo Knig for the breastfeeding talk-ups. I’m over it except for being paranoid about Mimi’s eating. Yesterday she wasn’t even eating pasta and was up three times in the night. Arrrrrrgh.
And now she’s trying to pull herself up to stand on her toy box… and just up-ended into it. It’s gonna be a fun day!
LOL!!! For folks who don’t recognize “acelgas” (I didn’t, and had to google it), it’s Swiss Chard. I actually have a recipe where, if the stuff is finely chopped enough, it’s tolerable (a barley / lentil soup), but I have to reduce the amount the recipe calls for.
My own mother insisted on feeding us lima beans. She loved lima beans. We kids, quite correctly, recognized them as not-food. To this day, I can only force them down if they’re well hidden in other stuff.
Why oh why is it the nights they didn’t let you sleep always precede the most active, mischievous days? Argh!
Have you tried giving her just an ounce or two of warm water when she wakes you at night? Some kids will go back to sleep with something warm int heir stomachs,a nd then wake up ravenous int he morning. This re-trains the body to expect food only during the day. You may have to start by watering down the formula a little bit each night until you are only offering water in the nighttime.
Just one of the million things you coudl try. . . 
Hang in there. It gets easier. Not easy, mind you, but easier.
Only sort of. I meant it in the classic sense of the term, not the snarky redefinition. In poorer countries where people do not have access to the wonderful variety of food we do, youngsters just don’t have the option of favorite foods, or being picky for long. If all there is is tortillas and rice or cassava and fish, then that is what is broken into little pieces and given to them. They either eat or go hungry,and little ones won’t go hungry for long before instinct kicks in and they begin to eat. I would never advocate forcing a hated food on a child, but neither do I believe that they will only consume three or four items either. Those are simply the items they prefer, and have learned they will receive if they hold out. The middle ground is to offer a variety of healthy foods and not make something different or resort to snacks. There is always formula to provide a nutritiously balanced assist in the transition to solids. I know the OP’s heart is in the right place, and she doesn’t want to see her daughter hungry, upset, or have the doctor grouse at her. Unfortunately, her daughter is too little to express herself and doesn’t know what is good for her, and the doctor does not have to live with the child. Consistency now will reap huge rewards later. It is far easier to tackle this issue at this age then at three or four, or later. It is done every day in this simple manner by billions of parents because they have no other option.
My son got into grazing. Not so much picky as stubborn, if he’s not really hungry you can’t get him to eat squat, getting him into a high chair was a miserable fight. He’s 3 now, and the idea of sitting down to eat a meal doesn’t register at all.
I kind of wish we had done a better job of enforcing the eat at mealtime idea, having no concept of mealtime is not easy to deal with.
Well my picky eater would have been happy as third worlder then I guess, rice, tortillas, cassava - my starch lover would be good to go!
not so good on mixed veggie medley, whole milk, spinach or even catsup.
Yeah, one thing that strikes me about the third world scenario is that there’s a very limited selection of foods usually. The kid gets used to those few foods and he’s good to go Not like us middle-class foodies who are always springing new stuff on her.
I’ve been watching her, and she’s a good sport about trying things (even though there’s no way to tell her to try something right now). She’ll put everything in her mouth for a second, it’s just that most things get spat back out. Most edible things, I mean. Things like lint and carpet fibers she will keep in her mouth as if they’re chewing gum.
How do picky eater adults handle social situations like dinner parties where you won’t (can’t) eat what’s being served? Or how about going out to a restaurant with a group and not being able to have any of the entrées?
This is what worries me regarding my daughter, as she approaches adulthood with a very limited diet.
They either learn to eat more things or don’t eat there. Unless they have a very very limited diet, there’s usually something on the restaurant menu. (I can probably be called a picky eater, as there are a lot of things I won’t eat, but I can always find something and I don’t make a big deal out of it.)
The issue there is social skills, not food preferences. I know some fairly picky eaters who are very graceful about it so that you would never know there is any issue. Like anyone with food restrictions who doesn’t want to be a boor about it, they snack ahead so it isn’t a crisis if there’s nothing palatable, and at the worst just order a soda to be sociable. Going out to dinner is about seeing your friends, not about who crams what down their craw.
No. Sometimes going out to dinner is a business affair. Also, I can’t imagine what it would be like to be on a business trip, have lunch brought in, and not be able to eat.
As someone who will eat anything, I have no idea how I would handle these embarrassing situations.
This scenario is becomming vanishingly rare in the American business world. Like having your boss over for dinner. Who does that!? Most of my workplaces would laugh if I wanted to go out to a meal on the company’s dime.
I will also eat anything, I just don’t see it as a big deal. There are people with all kind of food restrictions from severe allergies to bariatric surgery to vegan diets. Handling the social aspect is all about social skills, it’s not about eating.
Teach her about gracious manners and all will be well. It is not embarassing any more than any other occaisionally visible disability is. If someone is deaf in one ear, or walks with a limp, how do they handle that “embarassing situation.” According to you, they are destroyed for life. That’s absurd. It’s just a thing. They deal with it.
Agreed, and those skills are learned early. My sister was a terribly picky eater for most of her life and is only now in her late twenties beginning to try new things. That came only at the absolute insistence of her fiancee. She learned early though, that few people would accommodate her screwiness and adapted well. On the other hand, my mother was a wide eater for most of her life and has taken on a very restrictive diet in her late fifties for “health reasons”. (not at doctor’s recommendation and in spite of it mostly- she is convinced she’ll live forever on the right diet and supplements) Having never learned the social skills to cope with her habits she is insufferable when trying to go to dinner and insists on having her way so there will be a safe. familiar food for her.
I think I hijacked the thread.
Eating meals with suppliers, or customers, or clients is done all the time; I do it all the time.
I would personally be embarrassed if I couldn’t eat what was being offered. Sounds like it’s just me then. I’ve never had to worry about it.
Last week I was in Toronto and lunch was brought in. No one asked me what I wanted, and thankfully there wasn’t an issue. If there was, how would I have handled that tactfully? “Sorry, I can’t eat any of this. I’ll be back in an hour.”
How is that not embarrassing?
I had a coworker who couldn’t eat if different foods on her plate touched each other. I chalked it up to OCD and reminded myself that being detail-oriented is a plus in our line of work. :: shrug ::
I’ve also worked with numerous vegans, and was a vegetarian myself for a while. Honestly, being a non-drinker is more of a work-social problem, and even that is now coming around. Folks these days mostly recognize that diversity is good, and all “quirks” should be treated respectfully. As long as your daughter feeds herself beforehand, and doesn’t make a big deal about it - others will keep their noses out of it.
Int he situation you describe, most people would be bale to eat the bread from a sandwich, or limit themselves to the salads. That always worked during my vegetarian days. Relax, she’ll figure it out.