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I think it's a combination of family eating style (so introducing LO to new foods, not putting a lot of pressure around eating, having them see you eat different things, etc) and development--I think some pickiness is normal and doesn't mean that your child is destined to eat white bread and pasta forever!

Right now our LO doesn't seem to be picky but I honestly think that's more due to his disposition than anything we're doing...I'm sure he'll go through a picky phase (hopefully short lived) at some point!

I've worried and wondered about this for a long time now.

My uncle was a vegetarian for nearly twenty years. When his kids were old enough to understand, they started to refuse eating red meat because their papa wasn't eating it... so why should they? My uncle gave up his vegetarian ways and started eating red meat, and now his children do, too.

Similarly, I'm a vegetarian and have been for nearly 16 years. I re-introduced chicken sparingly into my diet after Chloe was born, but I do not eat red meat, seafood or any other white meat. I worried that we'd have the same issues as my uncle and his family, but so far we haven't. Chloe loves eating her fruits and veggies, but she also loves trying new foods with her papa -- she'll scarf down shrimp, crabcakes, fish that he cooks on the grill and whatever else he whips up that day. So far it isn't an issue, and I hope it remains that way.

By no means would I call her a picky eater, but I can tell you that she loves flavor. We cook with a lot of spice and garlic in our house, something that the rest of our family doesn't really do. She doesn't particularly care for my moms pasta sauce. We use the same recipe, but I doctor mine up with loads more garlic.

@Mrs. Polish: My god honest opinion? Who knows! DH and I have the most open palate out of most people we know. When we started solids LO loved meats. She was a carnivore. But as of the last month or so she has refused meats. We eat TONS of leafy greens. I'm Chinese so leafy greens are a huge part of our diet. But she hates leafy greens of any kind. I hide them in quiche and smoothies. But she loves broccoli, green beans, etc. She'll eat vegetables raw.
She loves fruit of any and all kind.

I kinda think it's inevitable at this point that all kids will go through a picky stage. We just keep offering and offering. One day she'll devour all the meat on her plate. But then for a week she will carefully pick each piece of meat off her plate and put it on the table.

The one thing we are really proud of is the fact that she will still try anything that we offer. I think that's all we can ask of her!

Yesterday I made her a blueberry, mango and spinach smoothie. I was all out of coconut water so I just used water (read no sweetener!) and she loved it! It was even a little rough for me.

@Mrs. Jump Rope: M loves seafood of any kind as well. Fish is definitely her favorite.

My view point on this whole subject has changed a bit since becoming mom of a toddler. I'm less concerned now about raising a picky eater but maybe bc we're not picky eaters. Rather I think it's more important to teach our children to have healthy eating habits! I know I'm much more anal about it than a lot of other moms. But I'm also not a prude about it. I just don't think at this young age of all the things I want her to try junk is high on the list.

@Mrs. Polish: I do think that IS a key component. But. I have been known to make M something different when she was younger if we were eating something unhealthy. Like when she was still only about 12 months we had people over and everyone wanted fried chicken and chicken roastitos from a fast food joint. I'm sorry, I'm not feeding my 12 month old that. So I made her something different that I knew she would love.

I find the whole culture of food in america vs. other countries fascinating (and kind of disturbing, ha).

One of the books I read talked about this and it said that children eat by example and peer pressure, basically...if they see their parents and other children eating foods without a big fuss, they are more inclined to try them.

Also not forcing your kid to eat said items, but offering it and letting them decide to eat it. If they don't, they don't get other things. And, analyzing their food intake over the course of a week and not a day. Keeps it in perspective

Also make the food "fun"--make faces, give special cutlery and plates can discourage picky eating. The whole "we eat with our eyes first" thing.

I've been keeping notes on discouraging picky eating for awhile now. I'm really just hoping that because we don't eat junk at home, she's just not going to know any better. Even though all my friends swear I'll be plopping grilled cheeses and hot dogs on her plate just so she'll eat (even though Dh and I eat neither at home...)

I wish it were that simple!

I feel like we did so much in the beginning (and still do now) to discourage picky eating and my LO is still super picky. I truly think it is just his personality. We eat foods from all ethnicities with tons of flavour and spices, our meals are primarily proteins and vegetables and we offer him everything and don't force food on him. He chooses what he does and doesn't want to eat and his dinner often consists of a few sweet potato cubes or red pepper chunks. What more can I do? So when I read/hear all of these 'tips' about how simple it is to discourage picky eating, I get slightly frustrated!

Oh, and he doesn't even like grilled cheese (well, sometimes) and won't go near hot dogs, chicken nuggets or French fries!

@sammyfab, maybe he just REALLY likes sweet potatoes and red peppers!

@locavore_mama, ha, i hope my kids are the same way! we get a hot dog when we go to a bbq or something, but we never make it at home! I do love a GOOD chicago dog, tho

I just offer her everything I want her to eat. We've never offered her things like chicken nuggets, plain pasta with butter or hot dogs. We figure start her eating healthy and like us early and hopefully she won't end up being picky. She gets options at dinner. She gets veggies, protein, carb and sometimes a fruit. If she eats all of her protein, veggies or fruit, she can have more. We don't do "seconds" on carbs.

I worry about her being at daycare because they serve the stuff I don't want her to have. I would hate for her to come home and tell me that she doesn't want what we have anymore and only wants fish sticks and bologna sandwiches. To which I would just say no and if she's hungry after not eating dinner, too bad.

@blackbird: grilled cheese is soooo good, though!!! She has had that a couple of times when we have it. Not as an "option", though.