Raise your hand if you have a picky eater at home

When David was very little, he ate pretty much everything.  Once upon a time, that is.  Then he started being picky - he ditched milk, cheese, lunch meats, bacon, ham, he dropped certain fruits and vegetables.  When we moved to Germany, he started refusing foods he always liked - rice, potatoes, meat sauce, meat balls... Staples, in other words.  First, I was sympathetic to the big change in his life and his wish to control at least his food intake.  I thought it would normalize after a while.

Which it didn't.

Now we are over a year later, and he's basically eating bread, pasta with Parmesan (no sauce of any kind), lentil soup and fish.  Oh, and soft-boiled eggs.  And sweets, of course.

My Dad got him hooked on potatoes again by presenting him "potato chips" - harshly browned home fries.  From there we made our way to boiled potatoes, Pommes Duchesse, and croquettes.  But other than that, he refused.  He even tried to omit yogurt but in the meantime, I had wised up and put my foot down.

He still ate very unhealthily - and too little.  There is not an ounce of fat on his body.  Going out for dinner or lunch was a recipe for disaster.  Especially staying with relatives or friends was painful.  I gave him way too many sweets in order to up his calorie intake.  Not a good path to wander down.

So Doug and I devised a new strategy.  Our little sweet tooth was put on a diet - no more sweets, for any of the boys in fact.*  The exception: you get a treat if you try something new to eat.  You have to make a real effort, not just lick and refuse.  You have to eat a little portion of something before you can make a decision.  This can happen every day,  but at least once a week.

And now, the results of the German jury:

- Tomato soup.  "That's yucky!!!" He would not touch it.  Since it's Alan and Doug's favorite soup, or food, we have tomato soup regularly.  Last week, David finally tried it.  He valiantly and with great drama tried three spoons.  He thought very hard and long about whether he liked it, then he ate four bowls. FOUR!

- Meat balls.  That one was a no-go.  That's really funny because he used to love them.  I will try this again at some later time.

- Lasagna. Oh, pasta with sauce!  And, you know, Bechamel! That's milk!  And CHEESE!  It was unthinkable.  But today, I got him in a good mood and he tried.  He ate a sliver, and I made him finish it.  I did scrape the melted cheese off the top but left meat sauce and Bechamel and herbs in there.  He ate it (I fed him), although I had to remove one offensive oregano leaf that I had forgotten to chop into tiny bit.  Then he ate three big spoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese (his favorite).  I thought he was done but then he asked for seconds!  And this time, he wanted a big piece!  And he ate it all up!

I'm loving it.  It's like winning the lottery - he likes the lasagna again!  Yeah!  One more family dinner recipe rescued.  About a thousand more to go but we're taking it one step at a time, and there is progress.  That's so much more than we had during the last 18 months.  I'm ridiculously happy.

*A freak coincedence put David into a harsh no-TV zone for a week for punishment at the same time and it worked so well, we're trying to keep it going for a while.  They are allowed to watch weekends mornings but during the week, the TV mostly stays off.  So far (it's summer), so good.

Comments

[Natalie]

Lasagna. Mmmm, Claudia's lasagna.... I'll eat it. :-) As for Allison, I suspect it is still a no go.

[Natalie]

And we have minimized the TV intake as well. Weekend mornings and an occasional weekend evening, but very little during the week. perhaps she will turn out to be my kid, instead of her father's...

[Christine]

You know, I've tried a few things in recent years that I HATED as a kid and discovered they aren't so bad after all. Either that, or the quality has improved dramatically. Lima beans, for example. Used to LOATH them. But found some really good quality frozen ones a year or two ago. Tried them on the boys, who liked them. Andrew still doesn't, so I tend to avoid them if he's home and save them for days when he's out for dinner.