My children's eating habits never fail to amaze me. They are all so different! When Emma was little, I was very prideful of what a fabulous eater she was. She always prefered a plate of broccoli, peas and corn rather than any other thing I could offer her. I was thrilled! And of course, proud of the wonderful parenting skills I had. I have to admit that when I heard stories of other kids who did not eat very well, or were very picky eaters, I secretly chalked it up to being something the parents did or did not do. And then Walker came along. A blessing from God. I needed a little humility when it came to the eating habits of my children. And boy, was I forced to rethink all that I thought before about what causes picky eaters. From the time Walker was a baby, he would spit out any baby food that was green. Emma rarely spit anything out as a baby! I could put just about anything on her plate and she would wolf it down. But Walker, was a whole new story. I don't feel like I did anything different with Walker than I did with Emma. Our family has always eaten pretty healthy at almost every meal. And we eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, grains and milk products! I tried fixing every kind of food possible and in every style with Walker. But, there are very few things that he will eat. I really think that he struggles with some texture issues. As a baby, he would not eat anything that was not crunchy. I had to use a lot of creativity to find ways to make everything he ate crunchy! He has gradually started to eat a few more things with a variety of texture, but he has still not gotten very far off the "crunchy" path.
A few months ago, however, we made a giant break through with him. Everyone kept telling me to just feed him what he would eat and not worry about it. But, I was really just having trouble accepting that fact that at many meals, he was only eating bread because that was all he liked. Every opportunity I get, I hide veggies and fruit in any kind of bread I can. (Muffins, pancakes, rolls, etc.) But there are days that there is just not time to hide anything in anything! And so, we were trying to get him to eat at least one bite of something at each meal that he did not like. And it was not working so well for us. So, after a rough day of unsuccessfully trying to get him to eat at least one bite of something he didn't want to eat, Chris and I decided to regroup and try something new. We brain stormed and came up with a new plan. Since Walker has always had trouble adjusting to new things, especially food, we decided that we would introduce one new food at a time. We started with apples. And at 2 meals out of the day, we would start out with apples. Every one of us would get a few bites of apples on our plates and then we would all take bites together. We made it into a race. Whoever got their bite eaten first, got bragging rights as being the winner. We weren't sure if it would work or not, but we thought that anything had to be better than him crying through meals because he didn't want to eat whatever was on his plate. And amazingly enough, it worked fabulously! Walker, a child who would never even put a bite of apple to his lips, was eating 2 and 3 bites of apple at every meal. And happily! Since then, we gradually tried it with grilled chicken (previously, he would only eat breaded, crunchy chicken). And tonight, using the same technique, he ate macaroni and cheese for the first time in his life! We have done it with a few other foods, but most of the foods he has a hard time chewing because he doesn't like it. (Again, the texture issue seems to play a role in his dislikes) But, we still make him chew at least one bite. However, tonight is the first time we have made him try macaroni. Through the first few chomps, he was saying, " I don't like it!" But by the end, he grabbed another bite and said "Let's race again!" He ended up eating about 7 or 8 pieces of it! So we had 7 or 8 races! He may never eat it again for all I know. But to me, every small step is a huge victory! And I love that he now knows that there are foods that he hasn't tried that he might like. He still does not eat a big variety of food, but knowing that in the past few months, we have added apples, grilled chicken and now macaroni to the list of things that he will at least allow to touch his lips- I am thrilled! To me it sure beats just letting him continue to eat bread at every single meal!
And I can't leave out little Olivia. She is now 10 months old and most days I am thrilled with her eating habits. She loves most baby foods, eats just about any kind of fruit pureed in her cereal and likes to eat most solid foods with her hands except for beans and peas. She even loves pureed spinach and onions mixed with cheeses and/or yogurt. It really is amazing how different each child is when they are all raised in the same household and sit down at the same table every day together for meals.
Now when I hear about families who have picky eaters, I can certainly empathize. And I no longer assume it is anything the parents did or did not do. It is simple- kids are just each different!
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