Hellobee Boards

My brother was like that but take heart he became a hugely adventurous eater in college!

We always offered him what we knew he could eat - especially protein - and then put a small portion of something new next to it. So if he only eats that one kind of chicken sausage, throw a bite or two of hot dog or another flavor next to it. If he ignores it then fine. Give him plenty of carrots and 1 spoon of peas. That way he gets full on what he likes and he is exposed to something new but no big if he doesn't eat it.

As someone who has been on the other side of this, I have a really different perspective. I was a desperately picky child who has evolved into a desperately picky adult, although I've managed to work with myself to some extent to create a much healthier diet than I used to eat. Until I was able to do that I really suffered, though. From headaches mostly, due to lack of protein, and from terrible blood sugar highs and lows due to lack of fiber and overconsumption of carbs and sugar.

So while I'd suggest continuing to do all of those things to expand his pallet, I'd really suggest trying to meet him where he is to get him the nutrients he needs every day. Even if that means feeding him chocolate milk and black beans and chicken sausage every day of his life.

It's far better to have a picky, limited child, than to have one who is miserable from headaches and blood sugar swings. My parents gave up on my picky eating very early and just decided that it was my problem, and that they couldn't fix it, and to be honest I have a lot of anger about it. I'm a big believer in the family meal, and not being a short order cook, and in healthy foods, but at the end of the day your child needs nutrients to grow and to feel healthy.

My 2.5 year old is very similar. At meals I usually have two things I know he will (usually) eat and one new/previously refused food. He almost never tries anything new, but we keep offering and have a success once in a while (he just ate some green peas for the first time yesterday! not sure if he'll do it again tho) Overall I focus on giving him a protein at each meal/snack and I also still feed him baby food pouches because its the only way he will get any veggies. Its tough, I feel you!

If your kiddo likes pancakes, here is a recipe idea. My son will eat these and they are mostly egg, so lots of protein!
http://balancedbites.com/2012/10/easy-recipe-pumpkin-pancakes-from-practical-paleo.html

@BananaPancakes: Yeah, I have a lot to say about it. I totally get stressing out about how many veggies, how much sugar, etc etc. But at the end of the day if your kid isn't eating enough protein they're going to suffer in the short and the long term. Same with fiber. If I had a picky kid I'd be pretty generous about making sure that they got the protein they needed, even if it meant they were drinking chocolate milk daily.

I wish that feeding therapy had been around when I was a child. I should probably look into it now, because I still have all of those problems. Some people just have a really, really hard time with food.