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[Poll]
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3 y/o is getting pickier
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| You don't eat dinner, you don't get anything else...that'll learn ya' |
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| Make his favs on Monday and nuke them throughout the week for him |
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| Other |
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Total Votes : 12
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(last vote on : 10/29/2008 11:39:29 PM)
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3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 12:57:54 PM
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Mrs.X
Posts: 2945
Joined: 7/7/2005
From: Newberg, OR
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Breakfast and lunch aren't a problem at all. It's easy to make breakfast and lunch according to his taste, like pancakes, oatmeal, eggs, fruit, cheese, yogurt, sandwiches, snack foods, etc.
But, dinner is a problem. He won't eat meat except hotdogs, bologna, and creole seasoned pork chops. Won't eat rice, quinoa, mash, baked potato, veggies. I've tried putting melted cheese on food, but that doesn't work anymore. He used to eat rice, mash, meatloaf, corn and veggie soup. Not sure what happened and why he doesn't like those anymore. It used to be that I could always have one thing that he likes for dinner, like if he didn't like the chicken,he would eat the rice, but it's getting much harder to do that now that he does like any veggies or any side dishes.
I thought of an idea of making his favorite foods at the beginning of the week, like spaghetti, mac n cheese, burritos and then I can just microwave them for him when we sit down for dinner each night. I also thought of saying well, if you don't eat your dinner, then you're not getting anything else until breakfast tomorrow. But, his language skills are probably on the lower end of normal, so I don't think he would get it. I also think he might have texture issues with some foods, and I do believe that he genuinely does not like the flavor of certain foods.
Dinnertime is battle, and me and my husband are getting frustrated.
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-Stina
From Sweet Grass to the Packin' House
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. -Proverbs 15:1
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 1:55:49 PM
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manda59
Posts: 6150
Joined: 9/22/2005
From: Hampshire, UK
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Christina
What veggies have you tried him with? Have you tried him with salad veg at all?
I'd say if he won't eat what you give him, make him a sandwich and give him some fruit with it.
For the record, your lad already eats more meat than either of mine did at that age. And probably more variety of foods as well.
And I strongly believe in NOT making mealtimes/food a battleground. Far too likely to lead to far greater problems (emotional and/or physical) later on.
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crankius, January 2009
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 2:08:00 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1603
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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My 3 year old is much pickier then that as well.
If he's verbal enough (and pliable enough) to institute a 'try one bite' rule I would do that. Otherwise, I would allow him to go to the fridge and get a fruit or vegetable of his choosing for dinner. If he eats apples (bananas, etc) every night for dinner, so be it.
3 year olds are still toddlers in many ways and they will eat a lot when they're hungry and eat nothing at all at other times. If he's truly having texture issues he will bulk up on things that work for him earlier in the day. He's also at a good age to know that Mommy doesn't make a different meal for every person. He can eat what Mommy or Daddy made or he can have a healthy snack.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 2:33:41 PM
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Mrs.X
Posts: 2945
Joined: 7/7/2005
From: Newberg, OR
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quote:
What veggies have you tried him with? Have you tried him with salad veg at all?
We've tried just regular everyday veggies like corn, peas, brocolli, green beans, zucchinni. After reading an old post of your's a while ago, we tried him with salad, but he didn't have his molars yet, so he had a hard time. He's just now starting to be able to utilize his molars and eat stuff like pork chops, but raw veggies he has a real hard time with. He looked like he enjoyed some raw carrots a bit ago, but it was so hard for him to chew it. He doesn't like tomatoes, cukes, lettuce. I put salt and ranch dressing and grated cheese on it and everything.
Sarah, I always let him know what we're having ahead of time to see if he says it's "yucky" or "it's gonna be good". So, like I'm putting rice in the rice cooker and say "Want some rice for dinner" and he'll say "Yeah, rice, it'll be good". But, then when the rice gets to his plate, he spits it out. Or, I'll say "Momma's making chicken" and he'll say "it's yucky" pointing at it "Want macaconi cheese, yeah macaconi cheese, it'll be good." Well, OK, I wasn't planning on making macaroni and cheese tonight.
Tamara, we do make him try one bite, it always gets spit out though, sometimes before he even begins to chew or taste. We discovered that he will not like anything that comes from mommy and daddy's plates, so we give him a bite of little bro's plate, and he'll at least chew it and taste it before spitting it out.
_____________________________
-Stina
From Sweet Grass to the Packin' House
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. -Proverbs 15:1
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 3:03:18 PM
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Mrs.X
Posts: 2945
Joined: 7/7/2005
From: Newberg, OR
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LOL....I think I tried just about everything with veggies. Even that. He used to eat them in soup because it made them not taste like chlorophil anymore, but I think that's his issue. He doesn't like the chlorophil taste, so when he sees them at all even in soup, he thinks they will taste gross.
_____________________________
-Stina
From Sweet Grass to the Packin' House
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. -Proverbs 15:1
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 3:08:36 PM
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zoebob
Posts: 8858
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: land of limbo
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My mom used to make 2 kinds of soup growing up: chicken noodle and beef vegetable. she will take the onions, celery, and carrots and puree them and mix them into the broth. That way we kids would eat them and it made the broth thicker and more flavorful: not just watery
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 3:11:37 PM
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Mrs.X
Posts: 2945
Joined: 7/7/2005
From: Newberg, OR
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Zoe, that is one thing I haven't tried! Thank you! OK, I think I'm gonna do that with chicken noodle and just pick the chicken out of his bowl.
_____________________________
-Stina
From Sweet Grass to the Packin' House
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. -Proverbs 15:1
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 3:17:05 PM
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zoebob
Posts: 8858
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: land of limbo
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YW. You could even puree all the veggies if you wanted to. Here's how my mom would do it:
Cook the carcass (always made soup out of leftover chicken or a soup bone) with the veggies. Then she would pull out the bones and pick off the meat and puree what was left (this also made it easy to find small bones). Then she would add whatever extra meat might be needed and then later pasta and potatoes or the veggies that we would eat. For example: we would eat green beans and corn in beef veggie soup so she didn't puree them but you could.
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 4:32:20 PM
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manda59
Posts: 6150
Joined: 9/22/2005
From: Hampshire, UK
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Mrs.X
There is not one veggie that he will eat, raw or cooked, ranch or no ranch.
You said he liked raw carrots a while ago - I suggest you try him with them again, but grated (you might call it shredded there). You could maybe grate some cheese as well and serve it with the carrot, along with some slices of apple.
Quite often, all my 2 or 3 yr old son would want for lunch or dinner EVERY DAY was "cheese and apple". So that's what he got, then later I added some carrot, peeled cucumber chunks etc
Sounds like he is eating well at his other meals, so don't worry! That may also be why he is not that bothered at dinner time - he may well be just not as hungry at the moment.
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"I think Manda and I are on the same page"
crankius, January 2009
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 4:57:42 PM
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nicole6598
Posts: 3814
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Chelsea two great minds think alike!! I was going to mention that book, its by Jerry Seinfeld's wife. I saw her on Oprah when she first released it, the food looked soooo good!!
Grace prefers salad vegies to cooked ones. So I leave out some raw carrot sticks (how thick are you giving him? do you cut them thin julienne style?) Or like Manda said grated or shredded. That's how Nath gets carrot when we are having salad. And I mix it with grated cheese. And maybe don't put all those dressings on. Grace doesn't like dressings or anything but she will eat them on their own. Maybe put the dressing on the side of his plate and he can dip if he wants. Another thing grace loves is dip. She loves french onion dip the best, so one night she wouldn't eat what we had but she would eat dip, then I cut up bits of celery, capsicum (I think you call them red or green peppers), carrots, cucmber sticks and she dipped them in there.
I also make sure that what she eats early on in the day is going to be good enough that I don't freak out if she eats only a mouthful.
Have you tried chicken burgers? I buy them from our chicken shop (its all raw there, so I buy 6 and pop them in the freezer and bring them out when hubby and I are eating normal chicken dishes). you could get chicken mince, grate some carrot into it, and make them into burgers. Chicken sausage rolls is a big one here too. Just using chicken mince, grated carrot, finely chopped or grated capsicum, with some tomato sauce for flavouring, then make into a thick sausage shape and put it on some puff pastry, wrap the pastry around and cook in the oven for like 20-30 mins.
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 6:02:30 PM
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nicole6598
Posts: 3814
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That's a good idea too Sarah, Grace helps me every dinner time. She will either set the table, get things out of the fridge or cupboard. If I am making mashed potato, she will put the potatoes in the pot as I cut, with the salads, she puts it in the bowl etc etc
Another thing with dips is that if you just use a basic recipe of cream cheese and some sour cream you can add anything to it. I found some dip recipes in a Better Homes and Gardens mag last night actually!!! Hang on I will get it!
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 6:11:08 PM
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nicole6598
Posts: 3814
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Ok found it!
Beat 250gms softened cream cheese and 250gms sour cream with an electic mixer until fluffy. Then add the following to create flavoured dips. You can modify these to take out what you don't want.
Mandarin sliced, toaste cocunut and lime peel finely shredded
Peaches chopped, and brown sugar
Avacado chopped, red onion chopped and garlic salt
Spinach finely chopped, parmesan cheese (that's yummy in a cob loaf of bread with the bread scooped out and used to dip with, same with french onion)
Strawberries sliced, strawberry jam and fresh mint
cucumber chopped, tomatoes chopped, some fresh coriander (you could just do the cucumber like the Greeks do)
Bacon cooked and crumbled, cheese and celery finely chopped.
So those are some different kinds than your normal ones that you might think of like avacado, french onion etc. Just experiment too!!
Oh and another one we did at kindy was just a bunch of cheeses melted then we had things like toasted bread sticks, celery and carrot sticks and the kids dipped their vegies and bread into it. They were so excited about all the grated cheese melting and stirring it around and then dipping they kind of forgot they were eating vegies! LOL
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 7:33:08 PM
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ladyingrace1979
Posts: 411
Joined: 3/14/2008
From: Fresno CA
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A couple of questions, how much is he eating for breakfast and lunch? If he is eating well at those meals then he may not need to eat much at dinner. Also if he snacks during the afternoon that can sabotage his appetite at dinner. If he is getting enough servings of the basics in two meals then let dinner go. We did this with two of our girls and now they are great eaters. My only requirement of them was that they drink a glass of milk and have a vitamin. We found some gummy vits they really liked and life went on fine.
If he is not loosing weight and eating O.K. for the other meals I wouldn't worry too much.
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 7:33:58 PM
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nicole6598
Posts: 3814
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Me again LOL
I am going through my school stuff getting ready for kitchen and found a kids cookbook we used at Kindy for the kids.
Pizza's- that's one that they loved! Sometimes we would use English muffins as the base, alot cheaper and also a great size for kids. We just chopped up a bunch of vegies and ham, pineapple, capsicum, tomato, mushroom, olives etc etc and the cheese and let them decorate their pizzas!
Catherine Wheels- (we always used wholemeal bread). cut the crusts from the bread and flatten with rolling pin. Spread cream cheese, or you could use jam or honey I guessm top with some ham and slices of lettuce, roll up firmly and cut into wheels. you could use grated carrot instead of lettuce. He could help rolling the bread out.
Yogurt can be used as a dip for all types of fruit.
What about scrambled eggs? That's one that Grace eats for dinner with some bacon sometimes instead of what we eat.
Have you ever tried mini quiches? I can give you the recipe for when we used it.
What about potato bake or scalloped potatoes? Grace won't eat mashed potato or baked potato or roast, but she will eat this.
With the mac and cheese do you ever add anything like finely chopped ham or pacon, peas or corn, or some red pepper?
Savoury pancakes? You can use shredded potato, carrot etc.
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 8:12:08 PM
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Sideways
Posts: 3914
Joined: 4/12/2005
Status: online
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My toddler hates anything pureed or mushy, has since about 12 months old (a very abrupt change, I might add, before that he was eating 4-5 pureed meals a day).
Anyways, we sometimes served sweet potato french fries, baked in the oven. He loves them, and they're decently healthy.
I agree not making it a battle, but not being a short order cook, either. Having him eat either dinner or a healthy snack of momma's choosing sounds like a good compromise.
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 9:41:19 PM
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nicole6598
Posts: 3814
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Also with the bolognaise sauce, I add vegies to mine, so its not just the ground beef and tomatoes, but I add mushroom and zucchini, you could chop them so finely he would never know, and zucchini is good especially as it doesn't really have a taste. You can add carrot to it too.
Here in Australia the big health thing that is everywhere you look and in the curriculum at school and pre school is that everyone needs to eat 2 pieces of fruit and 5 vegies a day. So that's why I add as many vegies to things as I can and disguise it, from the kids and hubby! 
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RE: 3 y/o is getting pickier - 10/25/2008 11:09:43 PM
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Mrs.X
Posts: 2945
Joined: 7/7/2005
From: Newberg, OR
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: zoebob
YW. You could even puree all the veggies if you wanted to. Here's how my mom would do it:
Cook the carcass (always made soup out of leftover chicken or a soup bone) with the veggies. Then she would pull out the bones and pick off the meat and puree what was left (this also made it easy to find small bones). Then she would add whatever extra meat might be needed and then later pasta and potatoes or the veggies that we would eat. For example: we would eat green beans and corn in beef veggie soup so she didn't puree them but you could.
Sounds wonderful. My friend gave me a whole turkey for Thanksgiving, and we are only going to eat the breasts on Thanksgiving, so I will make tacos and tukey noodle (secret veggie) soup out of the leftover darkmeat.
Thanks for the book recommendation, Chelsea.
quote:
I haven't had this problem yet with Mary, she will eat almost anything raw or cooked, we have been incredibly blessed, she was even eating cesar salad off of my mom's plate the other night!
So far, we've been really lucky with Jimmy. He eats everything except pasta and mac n cheese. LOL
quote:
You said he liked raw carrots a while ago - I suggest you try him with them again, but grated (you might call it shredded there). You could maybe grate some cheese as well and serve it with the carrot, along with some slices of apple.
That's a good idea. I was also thinking of cooking them and serving them cold with ranch, so I'll try both. I cut them pretty skinny, almost julienne. It just seems so weird for a person to be eating stuff like that for dinner. Still good though, better than nothing, or saltines.
Nic, thanks for the dip ideas. I know he'll love that. Ketchup is practically a food group for him, LOL. He doesn't like chicken nuggets anymore, so I don't think he'll like chicken burgers. But, maybe if I make some ground chicken into the shape of hotdogs and tell him that's what it is, then he might eat it, especially if it's wrapped in a crescent roll like you said.
Sarah, having him help is a good idea. I let him help sometimes with certain things. He hasn't had guacamole yet, he has tried avacados though.
When I told Robert everyone's advice, he didn't like the ideas.  He called his mom and got her advice, and she said "Eat or go hungry" and not to make a big deal out of it. So, Robert wants to do that.   She was a terrible mother, and we never ever agree on child rearing. I think he wanted to do that all along, but suggested I make a thread assuming you all would pick the first choice. Whatever.
Thanks for all the recipe ideas, hopefully he will eat some of them, or else I guess he'll be hungry till breakfast. 
_____________________________
-Stina
From Sweet Grass to the Packin' House
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. -Proverbs 15:1
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