GrillingFool, you are correct. The pediatricians now say you should never force a child to eat anything. I have twin 3 year olds and one loved every spoonful of babyfood (except the meat...yuck!) we put into her mouth. The other grimaced at everything. I was sure who would be the "good eater", but I was so wrong. "The good eater" suddenly became very picky and refused to try anything. ("The Grimacer" now tries almost everything!) I asked the doctor what to do and she said to just be sure we keep introducing new foods, but only one new thing at a time. She said to make sure we always serve at least one food each child would will eat.
Most of the time, that's only veggies. She doesn't even take a bite of most meat and won't eat rice anymore. She will eat sweet potato cubes, but not mashed sweet potatoes. She will eat mashed white potatoes, but not a baked potatoes (or cubes). She eats bread (whole wheat) and pasta, but I don't want to serve them as side dishes every night.
One night, we got really frustrated because she refused to try baked beans. We basically told her she HAD to try ONE BEAN. Just one. I promised her she would like it. She cried and cried and cried. We didn't give in. After about 20 minutes, she finally ate the bean. It was cold by then, of course. She made a face as soon as she put it in her mouth and rolled it around on her tongue. She gagged a little. (She likes to do that when she doesn't like something!! Drama.) She chewed it for what seemed like an eternity and then finally swallowed it. She didn't move for about a minute and then she picked up her spoon and started SHOVELING baked beans into her mouth as if she were starving to death. She ate seconds and thirds! She loves them now, but would never have tried them if we didn't force her. She doesn't like many meats so it's nice to have baked beans (B&M Boston's Best) as a side dish (for protein).
The doctor insists that we should not do that. I am really struggling with how to handle this. She won't eat any of the "normal kid foods" (hotdogs, hamburgers, mac n cheese, etc). I know that isn't a bad thing. She eats a lot of vegetables, but, as I said, will only eat pasta, bread and sweet potatoes. Once in a while...maybe once every few months...we have Tater Tots. She loves those. She'll eat french fries, but these are junk food as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather let her eat wheat bread than those things. She won't eat eggs, she won't eat any sandwiches except pb&j and grilled cheese. She won't eat any cold cuts. (Probably my fault as they are foreign to her...we don't eat them much at all.)
It's really frustrating when the doctor tells me not to force her when I've seen first hand that being somewhat stubborn pays off. She loves baked beans now. They are a great source of protein, although they do have a lot of sugar, but since she doesn't eat sweets, I guess it's not that bad.
Milk is a struggle now, too. (She won't drink chocolate milk, just white.) When she was a baby (bottle fed) she was consuming almost 40oz of milk per day. She LOVED it. I was concerned that was too much. She was insatiable. The doctor told me she was growing and if she wanted it, that was fine. Eventually, she was down to four 8oz bottles per day (which was more normal). Then we started introducing food. When we switched from bottles to sippy cups, she started drinking less. When when we switched to regular cups, she drank even less. I struggle to get 16oz of dairy into her every day. I've just started being firm at mealtimes. I tell her she can't leave the table until she finishes her milk.
She has never taken a bite of ice cream or cake. She just won't taste it. I laugh and tell her she doesn't know what she is missing. Again, probably my fault. When the girls were babies, I refused to feed them any of the "baby food desserts". They were babies and they'd eat plenty of junk in their lifetimes. I didn't think I needed to help them acquire a taste for peach cobbler at such a young age! My MIL criticized me for this, and maybe I've created a bit of a monster (lol), but I am proud when we have (extended) family dinners and I don't have to cook a box of Kraft Mac n Cheese because that's all they'll eat. What I DO have to do is cook my own fresh veggies though. My MIL serves canned peas and canned green beans and my kids won't eat them. If you are used to fresh green beans, canned ones are pretty gross!! They don't look like green beans, they don't smell like them, the texture is all wrong... But I guess if my kid would choose broccoli over a cupcake, I must be doing something right!!
I should add:
My dad never forced me to eat anything. My mom used to just say, "Try it. If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it, but I want you to try it." I'd say no, refuse to try it and then my dad would make something else for me. (Guess who was Daddy's Little Girl?!) Boy did my parents fight about that! My mom used tell him he was doing me more harm than good, etc. He wouldn't listen. I was a terrible eater because of this until I became an adult. I now find myself struggling with which approach I should take.
and i suggest you to try to make a meal that has a lot of veegetabels and a bit of meat but try to hid the vegetabels.... Well it always works for my bro XD.
