At my wits with his eating
My almost 4 year old is a very sweet, anxious, overall good boy. But when it comes to food I’m living a nightmare. Ever since he was an infant he was never particularly food driven like his little sister has proven to be, but he did eat better than he does now. Year after year it has gotten progressively worse. I have tried everything, short of starving him until he cooperates because I’m really not willing to do that. He will gladly skip meals and fill up on water rather than eat something he doesn’t want to. Here are some strategies I’ve tried:
Help me make food
Smell touch play with the food
Rewards (over the top crazy incentives)
Consequences (no snacks later if you don’t eat this meal)
Serving a meal with one safe food on his plate (he only eats what he likes and is done)
Serving a new food over and over
It does not work. Recently he got sick and our one source of fruits and veggies (pouches) is no longer tolerated by him. So now it’s just carbs carbs carbs. There are 10 foods he will eat. I feel the judgement of others but I truly don’t know what else I can do at this point. We are seeing an OT in November to get their opinion and some help but I can’t help but feel I’ve failed him.
Here are the foods he will usually eat
Chicken nuggets (only Dino nuggets or McDonald’s)
Popcorn
Teddy grahams
Red Doritos
Toast
Sausage occasionally
Pizza but only from certain places and sometimes cheese needs to be removed
Goldfish
Granola bars sometimes
Sometimes garlic bread
And of course chocolate chip cookies or brownies but very specific kinds
He would happily live off milk if I would let him but I limit him to 24 ounces a day. It breaks my heart to see him hungry all day and ask for food but I have to tell him no unless he eats x,y, z and he says “no thank you I’m fine” but I know he’s not.
He has never had a weight issue because dad and I let him fill up on foods he will actually eat but lately his weight has started to stall a bit especially because we have cut down on milk so I wonder if we will start to encounter weight issues.
He really is such a sweet boy. He’s well behaved and overall a good listener but he just will not budge on the food and it makes me wonder if something really is wrong because this seems like more than average toddler pickiness. Please be kind.