How do y’all get your picky eaters to eat dinner? Mines going through the picky stage
Cook what they will eat but also have healthy foods on the side and have them take 3 bites of that food and reward them for doing so.
I always make a safe food and then highly encourage (tho don’t demand or require) just a bite or two of other things. If you like it great we’ve found a new food for you! If you don’t like it you’re free to spit it out and just eat your Mac and cheese or buttered noodles or whatever for the night.
Cook the things you know they will eat.
I gave mine no choice eat or dont
Give them small amounts of different things on the plate with something they like definitely featuring. Encourage them to try bits of the other foods. Don’t push them and don’t have a clean plate agenda. Get them involved in the shopping and cooking process. They are more likely to want to eat things when they know what’s in them and been involved in prep. You don’t need a clean plate to get pudding. However, do limit snacks before meals. If they are still hungry after not eating dinner, making them something they will eat doesn’t make you a bad parent or them a bad kid.
Honestly, I just let my daughter be picky. They eventually grow out of the picky stage. I promise, your child won’t be 21 and only eating chicken nuggets or pizza lol. As long as the child is happy and healthy, I don’t see the problem.
First of all nuggets, pizza, and mac and cheese are “real” food. Second at least she eats. She will grow out of it I’m sure. Keep trying and make sure she eats something.
Look Up ARFID.
And easy ways to make it not so stressful for her. Let it be curiosity that gets her to try stuff.
They eat or they don’t. I won’t make separate meals.
I waited til he was a teenager, then you can’t fill em up!
Have her included in meal prepping and smelling and tasting things. Also just don’t buy it they are only use to what you give. You can make your own options using a food processor.
I told my son everything tasted like broccoli (loved broccoli)
She would eat, what you cook , or not at all , stop giving into bs
The first thing you should do is to stop buying pizza, nuggets and Mac and cheese.
Don’t argue too much about food or it can cause eating disorders. If she throws a tantrum, put her in her room until she calms down. She can punch a pillow. And it’s OK to tell her CALMLY and not angrily that if she doesn’t want dinner she can choose to not eat what you’re serving but will have to wait until breakfast for more food. Or tell her to pour herself a bowl of cereal.
Give her a plate of food with stuff for her to taste to see what she would serve for dinner with her nuggets or noodles away from dinner time to see if she will try stuff, lime a wine tasting.
Can you add peas to her mac n cheese? Will she eat soup? If you puree vegetables with cream & add alphabet noodles would she eat it? Maybe put some chicken in it & call it chicken noodle soup. I hid lots of veggies in spaghetti sauce for that or lasagna or semi homemade pizza, or meatball subs or whatever you’d do with tomato sauce.
You can mix cooked, pureed yellow/acorn/butternut squash into mac n cheese. Jessica Seinfeld I believe wrote a cookbook on how to sneak vegetables into kids meals.
Will she eat fruit? How about yoghurt? Or a yoghurt parfait with berries & granola that looks like dessert? Will she drink milk? How about breakfast food? You can keep instant breakfast drink mix on hand or children’s Ensure if she’d drink that.
My mom got me to eat green vegetables with lots of cheese sauce. Sometimes providing some dips (ranch dressing, onion dip, French dressing, hummus) with little raw vegetable options will get them to eat more. Try putting out a plate like a snack tray while you watch TV. Popcorn is a whole grain and has fiber.
I take my granddaughters to Wendy’s but make them finish some salad before they get their kids meals. Maybe she has to take 3 bites of something before getting her pizza.
My rule was 3 bites to be sure my kids didn’t like it. But my daughter would just hold the food in her mouth for hours and I just gave up. My son eats everything, my daughter is picky still at 30 but has expanded her palate, makes healthy choices, and will try new things.
Eat at other people’s homes and invite other families to eat with you so she can see others—especially other children—modeling good behavior.
And finally, I found it was better to have peaceful dinners than have everyone screaming. Cook for you & hubs & let her have a peanut butter sandwich or cereal if she won’t eat what you’re serving. And work on stopping those tantrums vs. getting her to use her words.
What does she eat at school? Or do you home school?