wenrob
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2008
I agree with this 100%. I think there’s definitely something more than just pickiness here.I always think that when I see picky eating to THAT extreme, it's more than just a willful need to eat junk food. I kind of give the eye roll over those picky eaters who will only eat chicken strips, mac and cheese, pizza, and/or hot dogs (along with chips, cookies, and candy). I think we all know what that is about.
But when I hear about extremes such as the OP has posted, I think it's more than that. People are either having texture issues/problems or they don't taste things in the way that most people taste something. It certainly cannot be pleasant and your niece's extreme limitations aren't to foods that satisfy the fat/salt/sugar propensity we have.
I was one of those parents that felt “you will eat what you are served” and even patted myself on the back for it because look at what a great job I did with older DD. Ha.
Enter my boy, born a preemie and a kid who was classified as underweight. I would get speeches from the pediatrician and lived in fear she would call CPS because I could not get this kid to eat. Jarred baby food? No go. Puréed fruit? Uh uh. Veggies? Nope. He lived off of formula and rice cereal and didn’t eat table food for a good six months after his twin sister. At 6-18 mos old that’s an aversion not pickiness. Moving on to 2-4 years if you put something new in front of him he would push it away, put his head down and cry. They were going to come and take this kid away from me, I just knew it.
What I figured out through trial and error (and desperation) is that a lot of it had to do with texture and some of it had to do with anxiety. Once I learned to accept that he wasn’t just being stubborn and he learned to accept the “one bite rule” (I let go of “eat what you’re served” pretty early on) I managed to find ways to get healthy fats and protein in his diet and he learned not to be afraid of new things.
Of my three kids he is now my most adventurous eater and will try anything once. If he says he doesn’t like something, I can take that to the bank. He’s not being picky, something about it isn’t sitting right with him. He LOVES vegetables that other kids won’t touch like cabbage, onions, asparagus, brussel sprouts, avocado, broccoli etc. but won’t touch fruit (except for apples) even if his life depended on it. He’ll eat salad for breakfast but won’t eat a banana. I can work with that. He has a hard time chewing sliced meat. Rice and mashed potatoes make him gag, I’m not going to insist he eats them. (we just serve two veggies on a night I’m serving rice) For whatever reason, there are things he just can’t bring himself to eat but it’s no longer a reason for me to be concerned about his health once I figured his little butt out. Only eating a handful of things ever does sound like a cause for concern but at 19 it’s something your niece will have to seek out on her own.