no experimental enough

[Sweetum]

DS has been a good and experiemental eater till he turned 14 mo - he fell sick after that (first time) and developed a preference for certain food and refuses to experiment much since. While he still eats healthy, this has resulted in him not eating certain foods any which way. And now I think it's more of a "oh, but I like sweet stuff" or "I like cooked stuff", or whatever. So, it's almost impossible to give him fresh fruit or new type of vegetables, or cooked differently let alone introduce something new. He just deosn't seem to like these things. He gags and spits it all out. And gagging is not a great sign for me which is why I'm hesitant to keep offering it. Eg. I've offered raw apples in tons of way - matchsticks, whole, pieces, but he refuses. But he gets them in a smooothie or baked in his oatmeal or as freeze dried fruit. Is this typical? will he outgrow this? will I need to help him outgrow this? how? how should I continue to offer these foods? The reason I'm a bit worried is because I now find that he is leaning towards eating plain carbs - no vegetable or protein with it, and no fruit either (except a banana once in a while as is). fortunately he still likes his smoothies.

[maylips]

I think some kids are just prone to be more picky than others....so if I were you, I would just hide what I can in the foods he does like and wait a few months to start on new foods (or foods he has previously spit out). My DD is a much better eater than my DS but I'll do things like just mix broccoli (that he doesn't eat alone) in with sweet potatoes (which he loves) and some get into his body (not as much as I'd like, but it's all about nutrition to me at this point).

I am not a short order cook, though, so one thing I don't do is offer a bunch of different foods ("oh, you won't eat that? well, try this.") If he doesn't eat something, he just doesn't get anything. Then if he's cranky in an hour, I'll offer him that food again. Sometimes that works too.

My guy is a carb eater too, so I definitely can relate! Give him crackers, and that boy is golden. I'm hoping it's a phase and he's just trying to test me on what lengths I'll go to to get him to eat something.

[hillview]

Keep offering it. Kids change like the wind. What someone doesn't like today they will eat only tomorrow in our house. I often offer veggies before anything else.
/hillary

[TwinFoxes]

Keep offering it. Kids change like the wind. What someone doesn't like today they will eat only tomorrow in our house. I often offer veggies before anything else.
/hillary

So true. Forbexample, in our house, the saga of rice pudding:love to indifferent to loathe to like (current).

[lmr1101]

I've been watching this thread since I am in a similar situation with my 19 month old DD. She is very picky about what she eats.

Maylips would you mind giving a bit more advice.
"I am not a short order cook, though, so one thing I don't do is offer a bunch of different foods ("oh, you won't eat that? well, try this.") If he doesn't eat something, he just doesn't get anything."

Do you do this at dinner time and then they just go to bed hungry? I've been really torn on whether we should do this or not because I just can't get my DD to eat veggies.