How can I get my picky eater to eat?

Please give me advice. My 4 year old is such a picky eater but for the last few days she will NOT eat. Even the toddler staples like Mac and cheese, fruit, chicken nuggets. I want her to eat healthy of course but I’m not even necessarily as concerned about that as I am that I can’t get her to eat a meal at all. Literally the ONLY thing she will agree to eat is cereal. I’ve tried everything and I feel like an awful parent because she’s hardly eaten, but truly she won’t.

4 Likes

I always had luck getting them to eat anything they helped make /cook/bake etc. Just an idea you might not have tried yet. Good luck

2 Likes

I say if all she wants is cereal, give it to her, just give her the healthy kind. This phase will pass I promise. The more you push her to eat what you want, the more she will push back. Offer what you cook and if she doesn’t eat, then give her the cereal- at least she is eating. If you continue to male it a big deal, she will make it a bigger deal. Ps. Mom of 4 here, ages 25, 23, 20 and 7- I definitely learned the hard way.

When they are a preschooler, they are no longer needing to eat for a rapidly growing body like a baby did. In this stage, Fed. Is. Best.

Try doing fortified cereals, vitamin gummies, and make sure they drink. The phase will pass! Let them cook with you, let them come to you with stuff they want. Forcing them to eat will only make this last longer.

If she’s not coming to you starving and crying because she’s hungry, then you aren’t a bad parent I promise you!

2 Likes

Involve her in making the meals , offer a weekly little reward if she eats for the entire week .
Do not let her play , watch tv , use a tablet if you doesn’t eat .
Do not give her any snacks , and hide the cereal , if she thinks that there are not more she might consider to eat something else .

And will not hurt to take her to her pediatrician and have her check, maybe the doctor can prescribe her something to wake her appetite.

2 Likes

Bribe her. If she eats a good dinner, give her a sweet she likes.

1 Like

When my son was that age he ate cereal for breakfast lunch and dinner because that’s all he would eat. He soon stopped eats well now.

1 Like

Try and get her tk help you make sandwiches by cutting them in shapes or pancakes etc

Probably an unpopular opinion but if she’s only eating cereal then let her eat it. As long as she’s still growing then it’s not a problem. It might last for a few days or weeks but she will start eating again

As long as she’s eating, that’s what’s important. Let her have her phase; they all do it at some point. Just getting food in them is the goal. If all she wants is cereal right now, let her have it. My little sister lived for awhile on basically nothing but sweet potatoes and brown sugar. My 3 year old went through a a month long phase of only wanting tomatoes and blueberries. :woman_shrugging: My 3 year old also tends to eat more of foods that he got to help make, you might give that a try. Let her help with the cooking, or plating of her food.

3 Likes

I just watched a video saying at that age they only need like 1000 calories and they drink most of them a lot of the times.

My 3 year Old boy is only eating peanut butter and grilled cheese sandwiches and the odd time oatmeal doc and pharmacist said as long as it something it good for now they got me to try boost but no go as well so as long as they’re eating somthing in the day it god at this age

I have no advice I’m dealing with this same issue with my almost 6 year old daughter.

My 7 year old is like that! She’ll eat cereal for breakfast lunch and dinner if I let her. Course I won’t but I take her tablet if she don’t sit and eat dinner with us, she gets it back when she decides she wants to eat, it’s never anything she hates either I generally just have her try it AT LEAST and take 7 bites (her age) she has an appointment coming up and she’s in size 6 pants still cuz she’s so skinny and won’t eat more than once a day and a couple snacks literally was able to fit into a size 5 dress the other day :pleading_face: but 7-8 swims on her. It’s hard to get them to eat when they just won’t, I mean we can’t force it

I’d start using cereal as the incentive. If you take two bites of this or that then you can have cereal. My 4 year old has been brought up in a house though where she eats what we eat. I adjust to add what veggie she likes at the time(currently broccoli and carrots) but I offer koolaid(sugar free) after she’s eaten X amt of bites. Cinnamon sugar toast as an incentive since she likes that as well. I have a snack drawer in the fridge that’s all hers and if she gets hungry she can grab from there without asking, it’s always cut fruit, protien granola bars I make at home, apple sauce, etc all healthy options. So if she doesn’t eat dinner she’s at least filled up on healthier foods. Even cereals in our house are healthier and lacking in sugar for this reason. I got lucky though, my sometimes picky eater usually asks for fruit over candy or other non-meal type foods.