[...] the ranks of Dr. Mary Harris and Nancy Tringali Piho in an effort to raise awareness about the health benefits of the Omega 3’s found in [...]

This has worked for my twins. We don’t usually make separate food for them or order off the kids’ menu at restaurants. I also just serve what I serve and they can eat it or not eat it. We’ve had this approach since they were babies, which is easier than suddenly trying to get an older child to be adventurous. I’m sure we also just got lucky with kids who aren’t picky. I was never picky as a child either, so maybe they inherited it from me. Now if only they slept as well as they eat…

My nephew eats only lunch meat, American cheese food, Hawaiian bread rolls, and fruit snacks. He’s five and he has been eating like this for years. He was diagnosed with an eating disorder. I’m so paranoid about my kids turning out like this, that I give them anything I’m eating as long as it’s safe. My nephew watches other people eating as if he’s not sure what they’re doing. So when my kids want a bite of what we’re eating, I take it as appropriate group eating socialization and share. Humans are pack animals, and we eat communally. This is why so many celebrations seem centered on food. Sociologically, eating together is an important part of being a human.

My toddler is less picky than I am. His idea of a good meal is sushi and tempura. Basically we have rarely ordered off the kids menu. When he started eating solids we would order him vegetable soup at restaurants and give it to him with most of the broth drained off. Another thing we do is we talk to him in a nonpreachy manner about all of the good things the healthy food is doing for his body while we are eating. For example, when he’s drinking milk we talk about how the calcium is making his bones strong. We don’t avoid sweets but like my mother did for me, I don’t give to him all the time and try to avoid processed sweets in favor of homemade sweets. Any everyday treat in our house is a sweet plum or watermelon.

My 20 month old used to eat basically anything we put in front of him, but he gagged on something about five months ago, and we’re back at square one with him. Gone are the days he would eat hummus and grilled chicken. We’re back to gallons of Greek yogurt and triscuits, macaroni and cheese, and occasionally a veggie sub. Getting him to eat protein is ridiculously difficult, and he has no interest in anything we eat now. My husband is insanely picky too, though, and I am a very adventurous eater.

I think the premise of raising kids who love to eat everything is bogus. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. I have followed every piece of advice for my picky daughter, to no avail. I cannot get her to eat things she doesn’t want to eat. Period. I followed the same exact tactics for my son, and he will eat anything.

I have a cousin who cooks two meals every night. She makes a nutritious meal for the adults and processed crap for her children. I swore that I would never cook two meals. So far, we’ve been incredibly lucky that our 3 year old will eat almost anything. She has her favorite foods of course, but for the most part, she’ll eat anything as long as it isn’t too spicy. My husband and I love curries and spices but I’ve come to tone them down a bit for her. We don’t keep junk in the house and I involve her in meal prep and shopping. She had her first chicken nuggets recently and was disgusted and only ate a bite of one. I figured they can’t want what they’ve never had so we’ve kept her pretty sheltered from most processed “kid” foods. I also nursed her for a little over 2 years and I’ve wondered whether extended exposure to what I was eating has helped her pallet.

Like other posters, I follow most of these recommendations, and my son (2.5) still doesn’t eat a lot of what I eat. But I don’t actually think of him as a picky eater (even though he plainly is), since I never make him anything special, and I just assume that he’ll eat at the next meal (we have very regular meals and snacks) if he doesn’t eat anything but strawberries for dinner (like last night). We don’t eat a lot of processed foods, and he has a positive attitude towards food (he’ll usually put something new into his mouth, but if he’s not ready to eat it, he’ll take it out), and I figure he’ll start eating more new foods eventually. To me, the important thing is not to be over invested in “getting” your kids to eat – it’s to offer him healthy food and then leave what and how much to eat up to my son.

For anyone struggling with feeding issues, I highly recommend Ellen Sattyr’s book Child of Mine.

yeah .. I don’t keep mac and cheese or chicken nuggets in my house, but that’s what my son wants. We serve him what we eat and then he just won’t eat. But he used to eat anything. I think all kids go through a picky-eater phase.

Hmmm….I have an older daughter who will eat octopus (really!) and a child 2 years younger that only eats bread and cheese. I raised them both the same, more or less. I’ll go with the idea it’s genetic, not anything I did or did not do.

As a registered dietitian and mother of a 9 month old, I have made it my mission to expose my son to a variety of nutrient-rich foods and flavors early on. Once he started solid foods I became a baby food making aficionado and have found it’s not only a nutritious option, but it’s simple too. It is true though that as babies grow into toddlers they tend to want to exert some control over what goes into their mouths and tummies. For parents who are looking for ways to help their little ones expand their food choices see these Seven Tips for Raising Healthy Eaters. Meals Matter is funded by Dairy Council of California, my employer.

My mother always catered to my brother who was/is a very picky eater. She made our dinner & made him what he liked. To this day, & he’s in his 50s, he’s the pickiest eater I have ever seen. He literally lives on chicken, hamburgers, fries and steak-umm sandwiches. He will eat potatoes, but no gravy ever on anything, no vegetables at all, nothing with mayo – extremely picky. I often wonder if he wouldn’t be this way had he at least tried different things growing up.