Comments on: Raising an Adventurous Eater

By: Recovering Procrastinator

Recovering Procrastinator — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:13:56 +0000

I’m joining the ranks of those who have one of each. My 5yo has been very picky since about age 2. My 3yo will try anything. So far the only thing I’ve seen him refuse consistanly is cucumbers.

They were raised the same way as far as food is concerned and have the same parents. My 3yo was primarily breastfed for 7 months and my 5yo only for 2 months. But I’m a pretty conservative eater so I’m not convinced that made a huge difference. But that said, I’m going to try to be more adventurous in my eating with the baby that is due any day now, just in case.

By: Summer

Summer — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:06:30 +0000

Mine is right in the middle, some things he likes some not. Which is right in the middle, I’ll eat almost anything but his father is very picky.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:32:39 +0000

I have a picky eater and a more adventurous eater. I’m hoping the adventurous one stays that way but who knows.

I do think that my husband and I need to try to broaden our own food horizons so our girls can see us eating a wide variety of foods. But it’s hard. By the time you get home from work there is so little time left in the evening before bedtime and I don’t really enjoy cooking.

Maybe I will win the lottery and I can hire a chef

By: IComLeavWe: Day 4 | PhD in Parenting

IComLeavWe: Day 4 | PhD in Parenting — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:34:04 +0000

[…] Mamas Worldwide: Raising an Adventurous Eater […]

By: Annie @ PhD in Parenting

Annie @ PhD in Parenting — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:10:55 +0000

I have one very picky eater and one adventurous eater.

My picky eater who gags on everything and has trouble chewing things (will spend 30 minutes chewing a piece of meat or a gummy bear), was also the one who had trouble breastfeeding (difficulty latching). I’m beginning to think that he has some sort of general aversion to things in his mouth.

By: Rachael

Rachael — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:56:26 +0000

I had to chuckle with this post because one kid eats everything… and his younger brother manages to survive on “air”!!! They are opposite in many, many ways and this is just one of them.

Older one hates jello, mashed potatoes and thing of similarly mushy or jiggly texture. …Younger ones loves anything of the baby food/mashed/jiggly consistency. He eats milk, yogurt, carbs of the cracker/pretzel/bread variety, and many fruits. But, he is very inconsistent. Eats banana one day, won’t touch it the next. Won’t even try/taste some foods (black beans, any meat, any tofu/soy/veggie burger, cheese, rice etc. etc. endless list). Yet he LOVED quinoa!!! Loves cheese toast, but won’t eat plain unmelted cheese. This is crazy to me! Nevertheless, its what’s so.

My advice is to keep offering foods, don’t stress, don’t force it. Try to serve at least one thing they’ll eat and add others. Books say kids may need to get served something 15–20 times before they’ll eat it. Older kid has gotten pickier with age, though… which has been interesting! You cannot force a kid to eat or poop on the potty…alas, this may be maddening, but forcing it doesn’t work. It’s unfortunately their choice!

By: Akiko

Akiko — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:43:08 +0000

My 4 year old daughter fortunately eats everything we eat. I love to cook all kinds of dishes and being Japanese-Brazilian and with an American husband who lived many years in Asia, our meals are pretty multi-cultural. Our daughter loves “farofa” (Brazilian manioc toasted flour with bacon and corn), “natto” (Japanese fermented soy beans), thai curries, okra with sesame seed paste dressing, etc… I believe in the fact that pickiness can come from picky parents… Hopefully she will stay this way!

By: Mon

Mon — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:05:17 +0000

I’m a believer in genetics about this. Of course environment plays a part, but only in enhancing the already present disposition. So if you have a ‘picky’ eater and stress out and force the issue, then it’ll make them more suspicious about food.
I’m very relaxed, offer variety, she sits with us, etc, etc, but nope, she’s not interested (she’s 17mths).
If I correlate this with other behaviours it fits. Firstly, she was never a mouth baby (my term). Most babies put everything in their mouths right? Non-mouth babies are the minority — they don’t. And every non-mouth baby I’ve known has been slow at starting solids, and sometimes, but not always, is also a picky eater.

I think that a relaxed environment and other positive factors are best for the over-reaching pyschological effect rather than any specific influence over pickiness.

By: Urska

Urska — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:09:31 +0000

I don’t know about the genetic part but you will see when you have a second child
My friend has a son and a daughter. Son, the elder, is extremely picky eater — and her daughter exactly like you are describing Oliver. The little girl is 6 now and even eats sushi! Everything really! They were brought in the same way — same table habits…so go figure!

In my case, i have a 7 year old daughter who was never really a picky eater until we moved to India. It’s been a year and I still have problems feeding her indian food. She does eat few items but none of them happily. Very frustrating
My 10 months old eats everything. Spicy as well. He loves to taste new things — he kind of really refuses or reluctantly eats the organic food from the jars but is happy to have indian lentil soups (dhals) with rice, chapatis, curd rice, sambar, rasam…anything i give him, really. He was born here though and i guess he has not left any favorite food behind like my daughter did

From my experiences i would really incline towards the notion that it is all in our genes when it comes to food pickines

By: Amy

Amy — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:05:55 +0000

I have an adventurous eater (she’s 15m). I only BF her for 3 weeks (she had major issues), so she was formula fed. Otherwise, my list looks a lot like yours. I did make her baby food — never bought a single jar. Instead of peaches, pear, green beans, peas, etc she had broccoli, black beans, malanga, mango, etc worked into her diet. I think that helped a lot.

The other thing that I think helps is that we don’t stress over food. I offer her most anything and she eats it. So far she doesn’t like zucchini, mushrooms, or pork chop (weirdo!), but she’ll eat most anything else. Even with the things she doesnt like, I still offer it in the hopes that one day she’ll like it! Anyway, Im so thankful for a good eater!!