Food frustrations

[TwoBees]

I need some ideas. DD is not an eater. At all. She would much rather skip meals if she can't have her preferred foods. She has some food adversions and sensory issues, to the point where I am considering getting her back into EI (we were discharged almost a year ago). Yesterday I gave her two choices for dinner or told her she wouldn't be eating. Her response was "no dinner."

She eats NO fruits or veggies, other than what is in yogurt (premixed, I can't get anything in there) or a NutriGrain bar. Her typical day consists of:

Breakfast: Eggo waffle, cereal bar, or nothing
Lunch: Chicken nuggets, cereal bar, milk
Dinner: Grilled cheese

We don't give her milk until she asks for it or finishes her food, because otherwise she will fill up on liquid.

She has licked strawberries, pears, pickles, and red peppers, sucked on grapes, and chews carrots and spits them out. None of it get swallowed.

The other foods she will eat are any form of chocolate (thanks DH!), cookies, animal crackers, graham cracker, goldfish, most types of bread, yogut, a bit of egg smashed on a bagel, pancakes, french toast. She gets upset if I don't open the yogurt in front of her, so it is hard to mix anything in. She will help me make foods, but will not eat them. Smoothies have been a n-go so far even though she helps make them.

I started Pediasure again last night after I had to spoon-feed her the rest of her yogurt cup because of our recent "dry spell." She hasn't lost weight in the last 6 months (I don't think), but she hasn' gained either. She's grown taller, but that's it. Otherwise, she appears very healthy.

Ideas? I've been pulling my hair out here.

[rin]

Have you tried smoothies? If she's not put off by the color, you could try blending up fruits/veggies along with yogurt, or if she is put off by the color you could put it in an opaque straw cup so she can't see it.

Sorry, I just saw that you said smoothies had not been a success.

This is a weird idea, but I have a friend whose son was very much a carb-and-dairy guy. Their whole family went gluten and casein free due to their younger daughter's food allergies, and she said that one of the most unexpected benefits was that her son became a much more adventurous eater. I'm sure it would be pretty intense to try to cut those things out of her diet, but maybe you could try a day or two of no dairy/grain, and see if she actually gets hungry enough to eat some other things?

[SnuggleBuggles]

Does she like dipping? I can get a ton into ds2 if I offer ketchup. :). He eats some gross combos but he likes it.

[crl]

Will she eat muffins/quick breads? You can sneak fruits and vegetables in with those (banana bread, zucchini bread, carrot muffins, etc). Will she eat fruit if you let her dip it in chocolate? Might help get her over the hump.

Can you sneak things into the foods she already eats? Will she eat a home made waffle and you could sneak almond flour and flax meal in, for example? Will she eat a grilled cheese sandwich if you add something to it, like apple slices?

What about "healthy" cookies? For example, an oatmeal raisin cookie made with olive oil and whole grains? What if you did chocolate chip banana cookies?

Does she like french fries? If so, can you do sweet potato fries or zucchini fries or similar?

Does she like Popsicles? Could you do home made Popsicles out of fruit juice? Not as good as real fruit, but maybe better than nothing and maybe an start at eating fruit (flavor without texture).

In addition to a feeding therapist I wonder if a child nutritionist might have suggestions?

:hug:

Catherine

[Indianamom2]

:hug:I have no advice, only comisseration because that pretty much describes my DD. Except yours eats/tries a few things mine won't. Mine is 8 and we are thoroughly frustrated. If you find an answer, let me know too!

[edurnemk]

Does she like dipping? I can get a ton into ds2 if I offer ketchup. :). He eats some gross combos but he likes it.

DS also likes dipping stuff in mayo (a little something he picked up from DH). Ketchup also worked during a picky eating phase we had long ago.

I second sneaking things into baked goods.

Re: weight gain, don' worry too much DS was stuck at 38 lb for.ever, like over a year, even though he's a good eater. -he grew several inches but no weight gain. Ped wasn't concerned.

[TwoBees]

Dipping doesn't work, she either licks the dip off the food if it is a dip she likes (nutella), or eats the food around the part she dipped. Popsicles are "too cold." I'll try waffles/breads with flax and healthy cookies, but if a food even looks or smells a bit different than usual, she will refuse to even taste it. That really is our biggest problem, she won't even TASTE new foods, she tells me she doesn't like it or doesn't want it before she even gets it to her mouth. Sometimes even getting her to SMELL a food is a huge ordeal.

I got her to eat French Toast last night, which she sometimes loves and sometimes refuses. I wanted to make it with Pediasure instead of milk, but she was helping me and would have refused to eat it if she saw me add the Pediasure.

Since she is otherwise healthy other than typical childhood/daycare illnesses and she is meeting her milestones, I get varied responses from the different doctors in our practice. Some say try harder. Some say let her be. :confused:

[chottumommy]

Dipping doesn't work, she either licks the dip off the food if it is a dip she likes (nutella), or eats the food around the part she dipped. Popsicles are "too cold." I'll try waffles/breads with flax and healthy cookies, but if a food even looks or smells a bit different than usual, she will refuse to even taste it. That really is our biggest problem, she won't even TASTE new foods, she tells me she doesn't like it or doesn't want it before she even gets it to her mouth. Sometimes even getting her to SMELL a food is a huge ordeal.

I got her to eat French Toast last night, which she sometimes loves and sometimes refuses. I wanted to make it with Pediasure instead of milk, but she was helping me and would have refused to eat it if she saw me add the Pediasure.

Since she is otherwise healthy other than typical childhood/daycare illnesses and she is meeting her milestones, I get varied responses from the different doctors in our practice. Some say try harder. Some say let her be. :confused:

My son is exactly the same .He has had a nut butter sandwich for dinner for the past 2 years (yes 2 years). He tries the little bit of food that i put on his plate everyday (fruit/veg/other food) but till date has never liked it.

He is healthy, growing, rarely sick and meeting all milestones. I have sort of given up on his eating anything else.

He will not fall for smoothies either since he can smell and taste the culprit (veg/fruit) that I add to it.

I even made the famous banana icecream with lots of cocoa powder and vanilla essence to mask the taste but one small lick and he said it was made of bananas.

I have no advice but just wanted to let you know there are other kids like yours.

And yes Ellen Sater and other methods donot work on him. He has some sensory issues (very minor) but I think its his extreme sense of smell and taste that puts him off food. I don't know how to mask it. He tried pasta sauce one day which had a bit of pumpkin and he was able to figure it out even though his only source of pumpkin is pumpkin bread.

my son's daily menu
breakfast - cheerios (the kashi one with lots of whole grains) with milk
lunch - bread, cous cous, corn muffin, tomato soup (depending on what the daycare offers)
dinner - nut butter sandwich

[crl]

I really think it is worth an evaluation by someone who does feeding therapy. I'd try not to worry about it too much or push things until you get that done.

:grouphug:
Catherine