Need some advice on foods for texture-challenged toddler...

[brigmaman]

Brig has some major issues with foods that have aren't soft and mushy like baby food. In fact, I offered baby food way after his first birthday because he was so fussy. So now he eats a few limited things and though he's plenty healthy looking, I'd like to try some new things. Here's what he eats faithfully:
applesauce
yogurt
oatmeal
sweet potato or butternut squash mashed with applesauce
sometimes:
waffle cut up
banana
He is willing to eat any snack foods, chips, cookies, granola bars, but I try to limit them to 2 or 3/day. The only surprise is that he will eat pizza cut up off a fork.
So I'm looking for ideas for either doctoring up his pizza and serving it often or other things to try that might be like pizza. We offer him what we're eating but he looks repulsed and screams if it's on his tray. I've tried to blend meat and put it in his food (yuck!) but he spits it out!

[raynjen]

Will he eat scrambled eggs? How about snack style veggies (cucumbers, red or yellow peppers, steamed carrots)? Ummm, I'm racking my brain here...cream of wheat, refried beans, avacado (smashes great). Thats about all I can think of right now.

Oh, does he like Rice? Since we live in Japan my DD gets rice at least once a day and in more forms than I realized existed in the world (did you know, for example, that if you smash rice long enough it gets a taffy like texture?)

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (2 1/3)

[Hallie_D]

Elijah is now much less of a picky eater than he used to be, although he has his moments. Like Brig, he never wanted things that were hard or crunchy unless they were crackers, chips, or pizza. Two things he loves and would eat all day long every day are cottage cheese (the full-fat version) and Israeli-style couscous--also known as pearl pasta. Imagine regular couscous but each grain is about 10 times the size (and round). I just boil it in water for about 8 minutes, drain it, and melt butter and sprinkle cheese on it. It is much softer than regular pasta, but it does have a firmer texture to it than oatmeal or mashed fruit.

You should be able to buy boxes of Israeli couscous in the health food aisle or buy it in bulk (much cheaper!) at Whole Foods or a similar place.

HTH!

[nigele]

Tom is a picky eater and has trouble with textures like fruits and vegetables but he will eat crunchy food. I gave him baby food well beyond his first birthday but stopped around 16 months when he started hating being fed - he wanted to do it all himself and it created a huge mess! He will eat crunchy foods like chicken nuggets and fish sticks (his favorite.) Here are some suggestions to try with Brig:

- Pizza with finely chopped meat (ham, chicken) and finely chopped veggies (spinach, brocolli, etc.)
- Tom once ate a huge piece of breakfast pizza at a restaurant. ONCE! You might see if Brig will eat it!
- Mini Quiche (I buy them frozen - Nancy's brand.)
- Fish sticks, chicken nuggets and fries with ketchup to dip (this has been a huge hit with Tom!)
- Grilled cheese (you can add tuna or chicken salad which is sort of mushy)

I'll let you know if I think of more. Good lucky - picky eaters are really challenging!

[trumansmom]

Canned green beans were a BIG early favorite of Truman's. We also gave him baby food for a month or so after his first birthday. He just wasn't ready to make the switch yet.

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/29/01 and EDD 4/23/04!

[houseof3boys]

I'm months off from this but they were talking about this in my mom's group today and here is what I remember:

tiny pieces of hot dog or veggie dogs
beans
scrambled eggs with all kinds of "secret" ingredients in them (pureed veggies like zucchini, faux/veggie sausage?)
veggie burgers sliced up into bite size pieces and let him dip them in sauces like ketchup, ranch dressing, yogurt mixed with avocado, et cetera
cream cheese sandwich (yup :))