17 Month Old Eater

Hi Jamie!!

My daughter is 19 months old and she's been a picky eater for months now too!! I can't get the girl to eat vegetables to save my life! She wants to eat foods that she can feed herself with, whether it's with just using her fingers or using a fork or spoon. If I try to feed her something myself, she turns her head and gives me "the hand". But at the same time, if I leave her food in front of her to eat by herself, she starts to throw it all over the floor (ergh!).

I get hot dog weiners, cut them up and microwave for about 15 seconds. She loves them!! I also found out recently that she likes fish sticks, this is an alternative for you. I also buy the Kid Cuisines in the frozen foods. They come with chicken tenders, corn dogs, fish sticks, pizza. My daughter loves them. They also include sides like a vegetable, mac and cheese, and usually some kind of little dessert. It takes a little more effort nowadays to feed her because I only put a few pieces of food in front of her so she doesn't throw it all over the place. And I also found that she loves the kernel corn (yippee, hallelujah!). We buy boxed mac and cheese and she can eat that with her fingers, she likes that. Of course fruits like bananas, apples, strawberries, and she likes the mixed fruit cups. Yogurt, frozen waffles. Geez, how come I can never remember these when it's time to feed her, I'm always at a loss! :-) Oh, and she loves spaghetti and just plain cooked penne pasta. Add a little EEVO and some garlic powder.

More than likely your daughter might want to be experimenting on her own and you might find that if you let her feed herself a little bit, she might eat a little better. As everyone says, they won't starve themselves. But I understand how it's still nerve-racking!

Good luck!

-char

Try something fun for her to eat. Like the meat sticks and get her some dipping sauce so she can dip it herself.

Let her have fun playing with her food and stand her on a sturdy stool or on the counter top and let her watch you cook her special dinner. Ask her what colors she wants on her plate.

"Do you want yellow or orange tonight?" (corn or carrots)

Give her 2 choices and eventually she will pick one.

Since you don't really cook dinner for yourself, try cooking her one anyways, my son loves chicken and salmon and all kinds of "grown up food". Those are easy things you could make and toss in your salad and again, cut them up for her and let her dip it in her favorite sauce.

Also, just to ensure my 14 month old son gets the iron he needs, I mix in the rice cereal flakes in with everything that will absorb it.

You could also give her the multi vitamin drops Polivisol (get it at Walgreens type places) and drop it in a little cup of juice, a bit of applesauce...

All I know is in my family when my teen step daughter came to live with us she put ranch on every thing, and said her mom was not a good cook. It made me mad because I always cooked good meals. But soon she realized she could eat the food and it tasted good without. Sort of insulting to the cook. Then my granddaughter came to live with me and she had been tossed around here and there between mom and dad. So she really picked at food. Now over time and it has been 4 years she is trying every thing and eating things I never thought she would eat. Also I had a friend who had a friend and her young toddler only at peanut butter and the doctor at that time said it is good for you and if he gets hungry he will eat.
Another thought is I was skinny all my life and made fun of in High School, you never know now but the doctor told me to have a milk shake every night and put stuff in it like bananas and fruits and at that time they did not worry about raw eggs. But you can put granola in it or anything that would taste good and the child would not know. Like even yogart. As long as they get antioxidants who cares?

As Lisa mentioned, try some PolyViSol. Target has a cheaper generic one that is the same stuff. My son doesn't eat too well so I give it to him and he takes the dropper full fine without my mixing it with anything else. You mentioned Gerber Graduates ravioli. Just try a couple of spoonfuls of Ragu over it if you think she wants the sauce too. I do that a lot. Have you tried the Toddler Stews? They're great too. For veggies, I get the canned mixed peas and carrots. My 15 month old eats those as finger foods. He also adores the fruit cups you can buy. He eats one or two of those a day. For meat try buying the precooked chicken that goes on salads (or fajita chicken). All you have to do it microwave it for a few seconds and it's good to go. Other than that, my son lives on Ritz crackers, Cheerios and Bananas. Just keep offering the new foods. Try having your sitter feed her something in front of you so you can see if she has any tricks. It could be something as simple as the way she hands the food over or an attitude about her. And yes, keep offering milk. It's hard for her to have too much at this age.

I give my daughter every veggie that comes in a can, straight out of the can. I also give her all of the chef boy'r dee ravioli, gerber graduate spaghetti, graduate ravioli, ect. Sometimes she eats it up, other times she takes a big hand full, drops it on the floor, and throws a fit. At that point I get her up, give her a bath, we play for a little while, and then she gets a bottle before bed. The way I see it, if she was hungry, she would eat it. She isn't old enough to look at something and think she dosen't like it. If she has a fit, remove her from the situation. Just take it as a sign she isn't hungry. DO something else and give her some milk later. Good Luck!

I found the frozen veggies helpful... because they're really easy to cook, and I could just cook a little at a time. Half the time my little guy wouldn't touch them, but now he's coming around. I'd usually put cheese or butter on them to make him more likely to try them. He's coming around now, though. He's actually gotten very adventurous when it comes to veggies. So just give it a few more months!

I have a sister-n-law that has a 20 month old little boy that is a very picky eater. I know that when we all eat together, she has to pretty much force him to eat the first bite, then he'll eat it fine. I don't know other than that. I have been extremely lucky to have 2 kids that I call "Mikey", because they eat anything that doesn't eat them first.
I would try to at least get her to eat one bite, then see if she'll take to it better.