Extreme picky eater…what’s next?

[Beemommy]

Hi Mommies,
looking for reassurance mostly…
DD is 17 months old and extra picky eater… She is my 3rd one and hasn’t had that problem with her siblings so I’m absolutely stunned… never have seen a child who doesn’t eat any single kind of fruit. I know veggies are normally a problem but for her even fruits she wouldn’t put it in her mouth.
Basically what she eats is tons of pasta with some cheese, rice and chicken, toast with nothing on it and fruit pouches.
So I just wanted to ask how long will this last for?? Will she ever eat properly? Will she ever like fruits?
How did it work out for you?
Btw I have tried all the techniques that are listed there on the internet and keep offering different kind of foods but as long as she sees a fruit on her plate she would scream “No this” until I remove it… 🙄

I think what you are describing is actually not that bad, I've got 2 picky eaters and my youngest will hardly touch anything really apart from crisps and sausages. I don't know what else you can do apart from keep offering things, it looks like she is getting plenty of protein from that diet and as long as she is growing and healthy then it's just something they'll grow out of I suppose.

@Conniethecatapillar oh wow, didn’t know it gets actually worse than this 😅
just wanted to hear from moms who have passed this stage if it ever passes …😕

Yes much worse, and I'm not saying that in a competitive oh my child is so much worse type of thing, more that if you look at it as a whole it's not so bad. I just got my 3 year old to eat half a banana and that's the only thing of any goodness she's had all day apart from milk. I try to take the small wins wherever I can otherwise I'll go mad.

As a fussy eater myself I definitely grew out of it and now I eat most things.

My son was a picky eater. The only thing he really wanted was breast milk and would just 'graze' very lightly (one or two bites) on other foods. His food preference was similar to your daughter's. I constantly felt worried about it but although he was small and light his BMI was fine. It just went away gradually. I noticed he ate much better at nursery than at home, often only snacking at home. Then he started to eat more at home. Currently he still goes through phases (especially when ill) of not eating much but never for long. The main thing that reassured me was he was happy and healthy and not severely underweight so just tried not to worry about it and hope it went away, which it did!

Have you tried to get her assessed..to gue ties and mouth anatomy can make it harder for some kids.
She eats pouches so just make fruit smoothies for her and add veggies into it. She will get the fiber and all the goodness. Even homemade fruit ice pops.
I have a fussy easter niece and she grew out of it once at school age 5 and started to see other kids eat, her friends and also do some cooking.
Something you can try when she is a bit older having a learning tower / chair and have her help cut and prepare food using a toddler knife.
Use cookie cutters to cut fun shapes.

@MixedCouple funny thing - I have tried the smoothies, milkshakes and she doesn’t like it either… she would eat steamed and blended fruits though which resemble the pouches…but I guess she is getting too big to eat those. I mix it in the baby cereal and oats as well and she would eat… but I don’t know for how long I can keep her going on the baby cereals and baby foods??
Tried the shapes also but I think for her it’s the texture problem…more how it feels in the mouth rather than how it looks.
Yah and I don’t think she has any mouth anatomy problems…if she really likes the food she will devour it and ask for more but just they are not that many foods on that list..

@steelwings at which age did it get better?
My DD is far from underweight, she is quite chubby actually… from all the carbs she is consuming I guess 😅

I think around 3.5 years I started picking him up from nursery and they said he'd eaten everything which was really good to hear!