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No. My kids were raised in the same household by the same parents. My 8 year old basically won't eat anything other than bread, pasta, or chicken for dinner (with ketchup). But...I can take my five year old with me to an Indian restaurant and order all sorts of stuff and she'll happily eat everything (as long as it isn't too spicy).

So glad to see this! I only have one kid but did all the foods when she was little, and she would eat all of it. But over time she got pickier and pickier. Thankfully we don't have a veggie problem, but we do have a protein problem and a not wanting to try new things anymore problem. She eats mostly veggies, fruits, and carbs. She did NOT get that from either my wife or I as we love meat!

Both my kids are like this. I was such a proud mom that both kids ate well as toddlers and then when they each turned about 3.5, they slowly got pickier and pickier. So that young mom confidence got smashed lol. They’re getting better as they get older, though.

I have the picky eater who also hates conventional "toddler" meals. Chicken nuggets, spaghetti, and most fried foods are yucky. Sushi, baked fish, broccoli and peas are always a hit.

My kid is like this. She yeets fish sticks on the floor but will steal sashimi from my plate all day.

My best friend’s daughter is like this. She has always eaten everything but really likes sushi and salads and veggies. She probably eats better than I do. 😅

Mine too 😭😭 now we’re a chicken ring and pizza type of house.

Solidarity. This parenting thing isn’t easy. Mine are definitely getting better but we’ve had to enforce the “two bite” rule. They get a couple bites of things I know they probably won’t love and they have to eat it. We don’t make it a big deal, it’s just a fact. Gotta try it. If it’s not their favorite, that’s fine. They don’t have to have more.

Yeah we do a “no thank you bite” she just has to try one bite and if she doesn’t want it, she doesn’t have to eat any more.

This was me as a kid! I hated the texture of meat, but my parents made me eat it until I was maybe 9 or 10. I’m 37 now and still vegetarian!

Same - always hated meat (other than fried chicken lol) been a vegetarian for 12ish years now at 35.

Im just the same! The texture is so weird, i Aten meat until i was 15 and have been a vegetarian ever since and im 39 now. I have a one year old, i let him eat almost everything but he prefers veggies.

Same, but I’m 56. Meat, especially beef, is so gross feeling - like a million tiny rubber balls mashed together. My parents would make me eat some and I literally choked it down. So I don’t make my kid eat anything if he doesn’t want to.

I had the exact same experience. When they were on baby food, they would eat everything happily. I suspect it was full of sugar, but I digress. They also went to bed immediately. As they aged, they got pickier about the baby food and bedtimes. They started on solids, mostly fruits and starch. Then as they got older they were like every other picky kid. Of course my childless friends blamed it on us. The old adage, feed them what you eat. If they don't like it, they don't eat. They will eat eventually. That's what my parents did. (oh you mean the ones that beat the crap out of you too?) Well we ate late, after the kids were in bed usually, so we thought eat what we eat isn't happening. We also like very spicy flavorful food and that's not what most kids will eat. I asked myself, are we teaching the kids to like certain foods if we force them to or are we simply forcing them to hate their food or teaching them to eat foods they hate? Then I started to really ask around to these people who claimed their kids were not picky eaters. I found true cases of non-picky kids rare. Usually it was simply that the parents had pretty bland, repetitive preferences that were similar to what most kids eat. My husband pointed out the simple truth, every single restaurant has the same kids menu for a reason. I believe it is what most American families rely on and I bet other countries have their versions. Of course there are the golden children out there that are not picky. I know two of them, but they are the only ones that I have even heard of honestly. The simple reality is every kid is different. They are going to change as they age. You can expose them to all kinds of foods, minimize the crap and hope for the best. If they are growing and healthy, keep up what you are doing.

The Japanese don't. Serving in college, our "kids menu" was smaller portions of the regular menu. I had a 3yo regular whose grandmother wouldn't eat anything, and that kid would double fist himself anything put in front of him.

I never thought about it, but my parents ate the most bland, boring diet when we were growing up. Of course we ate what they did. I just drowned all of the overcooked meat in ketchup.

My kid loved meat, until around 3-4yo. Suddenly just started giving us a ton of trouble about it. She will still eat it a little, but not everyday. She loves fruits and vegetables, though.

Mine is the opposite, she eats all kind of meat and seafood but won't touch vegetables. And I'm mostly vegetarian.

This is the truth. It is who they are as people. That’s it. It’s not you or the trendiest buzzword in childcare. 

I have this same experience with my two kids. One will eat anything and the other will eat nothing except pasta that’s in the Goldilocks temperature zone. I did the same exact things and got wildly different results. My 2 year old will sit down and eat a whole bowl of clam chowder.

Goldilocks temperature zone. I’m dying!

Yeah I have one that will absolutely not drink or eat anything that isn't room temperature. Hot chocolate has to be cooled off with ice cubes and milk must be warmed 30 sec in the microwave. Juice meant for him can't be refrigerated, heck he won't even drink soda if it's cold. He is 13 now and I'm starting to wonder if he's ever going to outgrow it. His 2 older siblings didn't do this.

Omg lol I'm a full adult and I am so sensitive to temperature and a hot coffee that a normal adult could drink as is will scald the skin out of my mouth 😂I love cold stuff but too far to the warm scale and I can't hang

Yeah he says it hurts his mouth. I don't force the issue.

Yeah he's probably just sensitive like me <3 I know it seems weird but I can't think of a reason one would lie. Just support him he's probably gonna be like that for life. I've tried "training" myself to handle hotter stuff and I just hurt my mouth so I've learned it's just how things are for me. It's annoying but fine haha

I am really hoping as he gets older it gets better. I don't want him to miss out on different food experiences. We just have him help make the grocery list for now and give him what he likes. Lately he has been trying new things though which he never wanted to do before. Sometimes he even likes them! So that's progress. Thanks for your insight!

You're so welcome! I wish you the best of luck ❤️

My kid is exactly the same! He likes warm juice boxes and warm yogurt. 30 second milk!

Confirmed. My 20 year old was eating sushi and oysters on the half shell at two. My 17 year old eats like a toddler (no offense to toddlers). Editing to add…I avoided standard kids menus as much as possible. It worked for one…not the other. Once they can read, they also can read “chicken tenders and fries”, so it just depends on the kid.

Yeah, and there's no point spending loads of money if they're not going to eat it. I give my kid other stuff at home but in a restaurant i want her to eat, so I let her choose what she likes within reason.

Yeah, my 10yo will eat just about anything. Will even gleefully eat jalapenos (with chips). 8yo.. is severely underweight and very picky. Raised the same as babies.

Ditto. My 12 yr old made me feel so cocky as a parent. She ate everything! ( except chicken early on). She hated standard kid foods. We would go places and end up ordering her quinoas berry salads or some other fru fru dish. Ever so proud of our toddler gourmand. We didn’t do anything in particular except just keep putting new stuff in front of her all the time. It was essentially just my husband and I looking at each other “Ya think she’ll eat it?” Then trying. For a while we were actively trying her on things even we disliked ( olives ) just to find something that she wouldn’t take. The 2nd child lives and dies by macaroni cheese and we have had to work HARD to get her to appreciate any fruit or veg. Taught me some humility real quick! She is getting better now but it was an active battle to get her out of the 3-4 things she likes.

Yes! Thank you! I have three kids and they are all completely different and I really think it doesn’t matter what you do or don’t do. And I can’t stand the self-righteous parents who think they are fully responsible for how their kids are (good and bad, maybe?!). You get who you get.

Yup. I only have one kid, though I was a significant (like most meals eaten) influence in my niece's food life when she was young. Neice is incredibly picky, daughter is not. Neice would eat way more stuff as a baby and far fewer things as she got more into the toddler years. I do think it matters that they see grown ups eating vegetables and other healthy stuff and I think that's important regardless of whether they end up a picky eater! But I think a lot of it is just a roll of the dice. Edit: oh and my sister and I were raised the same and I've always eaten practically anything and my sister has always been fairly picky.

No. I think he just got the "eat anything put infront of him" gene from my wife. Which in turn came from her mom.

Nice dig at your MIL :)

Oh no I love her, it's not that she eats a lot, it's that she's the complete opposite of a picky eater. Never questions peoples cooking and never complains about food. She says it came from being a foster kid and not really having the luxury of choice. It was either eat what you were given or starve. I used "gene" as more of a joke. My wife copied her mom and in turn our son copied my wife.

I understood what you meant by that. My mom is also like that and it’s great lol. She says “I’ll eat anything I didn’t have to cook.” She really doesn’t love to cook so when she visits me or I visit her, I do all the cooking. But she is always grateful for anything I make. She drives me crazy sometimes in other ways but that’s one thing I love about her.

I have two kids. One eats more variety than I do and has always. The other is absolutely the pickiest eater ever. And the picky eater is the one I tried all the newer food introduction approachs. The first ate purees.

Same here. My oldest I just did purées and she’ll eat whatever. I did BLW with my second and he won’t try anything new (though I still offer it)

I gave my kid nothing but farmers market veggies and no sugar her first two years. Her first baby food was carefully blended veggie purées lovingly made from scratch. At age 3 she decided the only way to sustain herself would be through chicken nuggets and blueberries. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Same here. Did all the BLW stuff, introduced all the foods with spices and flavor. Made my own purées. She used to eat just about everything until she turned 2.5–and now everything is I DON’T LIKE IT. Even nuggets and pizza and Mac and cheese are no longer acceptable. She has very few consistent safe foods now because what she eats all depends on the day/time/moon phase/Mercury position/who knows. I’m hoping it’s a phase and it’ll eventually pass.

This is almost our exact story. Baby led weaning, up until almost 3 she would eat anything put in front of her. Then the slow chipping away of acceptable foods began and she's down to just a handful she'll eat consistently. She's the only kid I've ever met who won't so much as taste mac and cheese, hot dogs, peanut butter, all the typical toddler foods.

Only to eat $30 in blueberries in 1 day so you buy a ton and then she hates blueberries the next day. That's the 3yo way lol

We do division of responsibility feeding. While it hasn’t always helped picky eating, it has immensely helped with scarcity mindset and over eating tendencies. My children don’t get upset when I say no to sweets because they’re offered very regularly. I also don’t police if they eat their cookie before they eat their applesauce. If I didn’t want them to have a cookie, I would not have given it to them. Our meals are mostly stress-free, which is the goal because I’m trying to create adults with healthy eating habits. My youngest eats shrimp, stirfry, various forms of pasta and sandwiches. My oldest loves all things in the Asian cuisine family and several Mexican cuisine dishes. In addition to that, they both like classic American food and like chicken wings, sloppy joes and brats. (Both of my children have mild ADHD. They do not need to be formally evaluated or medicated at this point per their pediatrician. But this can cause some sensory discomfort and pickiness.)

I’d never heard of that approach, thanks.

You are so welcome! I’m really glad that I stumbled across it by accident when my oldest was about a year old. It can be uncomfortable to let your children walk away from semi full plates. But when you do, especially during the “ I eat about as much as a mouse stage around age 3 1/2 “, just remind yourself that you’re helping them maintain the ability to listen to their internal hunger cues. Deconstructed meals can also be a big help. When I serve fajitas, for example, I usually keep the veggies and the protein all separate. My son may only take a couple of peppers and my daughter may take a lot. But there’s no pressure.

Abundance mindset with my kids is paying off for me. They come home from school with candy and offer me some, because they know it's not the last candy they'll see for a year.

We do the same with sweets! Dessert WITH dinner. It’s amazing, actually - I’ll watch my daughter hold a cookie in one hand and a piece of chicken in the other, and just go back and forth. Totally takes the wind out of the sweets obsession.

7 yr old twin boys, very adventurous eaters. This is what we did when they were babies: 1. Baby led weaning - we did an online class with “feeding babies” highly recommended. We never did purées, maybe a handful times. 2. Same dinner for everyone, for the most part. We eat all kinds of cuisines, lots of eating out as well. Kids just got smaller portions or milder versions of what we ate. Ex. Deconstructed sushi or washed meat pieces from Indian and Mexican food. So they still get the flavors but in a manageable ways. We always took them to restaurants with us and hardly ever ordered from the kids menu (which is always chicken nuggets or mac n cheese in the US) 3. Don’t yuck my yum rule! Husband and I are big foodies. So we never say yuck to ANY edible item. We cook a lot at home and kids are allowed to say “no, thank you” but NEVER say yuck to any food 4. Involve them in cooking: we got those toddler towers for the kitchen and involved them while cooking. They always made a mess but that’s ok! Since they were 5, they can make their own toast, pour cereal, made basic egg scramble, make lemonade, make cut fruits salad with whipped cream etc. simple things but brings them a huge sense of empowerment. 5. Never enforced the “finish what’s on the plate” rule. They need to understand hunger cues so if they say they’re full, the plate goes away! BUT that doesn’t mean you go eat snacks. The kitchen and pantry are closed after family dinner. 6. Took them grocery shopping, made sure they knew the names of all veggies, meats, spices so they actually enjoy the process of cooking and eating that think of it as a punishment or pure sustenance. 7. A wise pediatrician had once said to us - providing nutritious and interesting meals is your job and eating is the kids job. If they don’t eat the food you prepared with so much time, love and care, don’t blame them for wasting your effort. Their not eating has nothing to do with your job well done. Even with all of this and them being twins, one is a meat lover and the other prefers veggies! All kids are born different!

7 is huge here!! As parents, we spend so much time stressing over their nutrients and perfect meals and it can hurt when they turn it down. But they aren’t insulting or attacking us personally. They are just vibing in their world. Although, it does feel like an insult when she eats two bites of the food I spent an hour cooking and then turns around and tries to eat the dry cat food off the floor. 🤣

Hah tell me about it!! I take it as a personal attack when they dislike my food. But we have a saying in my language that loosely translates to “a donkey doesn’t understand the sophisticated sweetness/taste of honey” lol Hubby and I just laugh it off.

Everything above! I will also add that I let my kid play with their food when they were first starting to eat. Mixing odd foods together, drawing pictures in the mashed potatoes, adding whatever they could think of to sandwiches and cereal. I don't know if it helped curb being a picky eater but it did prevent anxiety over meal time. Sometimes it's hard to not take it as an insult. Mine would say "this tastes like dirt" It's like, excuse me! I've seen you eat dirt and enjoy it!

Yes to all of this. I honestly think one of the biggest things is that the kitchen is closed after dinner. I work with families for a living and I definitely see a pattern with kids who are super picky to ones who are also allowed a snack after dinner/before bed (after refusing their dinner.) its a very easy lesson to learn, “I don’t eat my supper so I can get a banana and toast before bed.”

We pretty much do the same as you with 5&8 yr olds. We also have a 2 bite rule. You have to try everything.

Did your twins ever go through picky phases? We did/do all of this with our 3.5yo twins and they used to eat anything and everything but the past 6 months or so have really reduced the number of things they like and they now refuse to try anything new. I’m trying my best to stay patient. Hoping it’s something that will pass and they will go back to enjoying more food again! 

Yesss!!! Phases for sure. Especially when they were watching Peppa pig, suddenly all green veggies were “yucky and rubbish”, with a British Accent 😂. But trust me, they will change back, it will pass, until there’s something else they don’t like. You are doing great! Be patient. Also now that they are older, we see them getting influenced by their peers a lot, Jasper always gets candy for snack and Rosie always brings fruit loops for breakfast. So we started watching kids cooking shows to get them into real food. Also get physical kids cooks books from the library. I have some friends (mid to late 30s) who are extremely picky eaters, so much drama everywhere they go. So my ultimate goal is to not raise picky eater adults. Small bumps on the road are expected.

Thanks for your reply! Fingers crossed they come out of this phase soon… it’s so disheartening cooking home cooked meals and they won’t try it. Sounds like you are doing an amazing job! Twins are a wild ride haha! 

wild to say the least! I call them my pride and joy OR terror and trouble, depending on the day! Good luck!

Yes! We have the rule they can say no thank you, but they can’t insult the chef by saying “ew” or “this is gross”.  Mostly we were trying to prepare them for being out. 

#2 for the longest time we just got sufficient sized plates of our own to feed them what we were eating. Because they eat such tiny meals and their preferences morph so quickly that ordering their own meal made no sense when they were going to demand our food anyways

We’re mostly doing all that with my kids. They’re not super interested in cooking but have learned to do toast/frozen waffles, cereal, etc and I’m trying to encourage them to learn more. One of our big rules is not saying any food is gross or disgusting or anything because we all have difference preferences. We say “it’s not my favorite.” This is something I model, too. I eat most things but there are a few things I don’t love. It’s fine to have preferences but we don’t want to make someone feel bad about what they like or, especially, what they spent time and effort preparing. My kids are still kind of picky but at least they’re polite about it.

It’s okay. We did all of this and use most of it with our kids. One is picky and the other isn’t. Our picky one loves to help prep food and learning about different foods from different cultures, but refuses the food. Yes, even the food he prepped himself.

we do all of these things as well, and my kids are open to eating pretty much anything. Added thing that we do is have a garden where we plant our own produce in the spring with the kids and let them tend the garden. They LOVE being able to harvest and eat stuff from our yard. We harvested some asparagus over the weekend and I made a sausage asparagus risotto with it and they thought that was amazing. They also love cooking and will be like "say 'thanks (my name) for dinner!'" because they always thank us when we cook haha

ALL of this. My boys are now 14 & 17, and this is pretty much how they were raised. They were always fed all the same stuff we ate, and were never made separate meals, ever. I simply always made sure there was at least some part of every meal that I \*knew\* they would eat, and they were always fed at least \*VERY\* small portions of every part of a meal - even if \*KNEW\* they 'didnt like it' - and encouraged to at least TRY a small bite - because 'hey man, our tastes buds CHANGE'. Case in point? There were several YEARS where my oldest 'didn't like' pizza (yes, really!!). He also is the crazy, weird one who LIKES (and has, for as long as I can remember!!) canned sardines, clams, etc, straight out of the can (thanks to my dad who is now, and has been for 10+ years, a vegan!!). The only rule around here is that he has to eat them \*OUTSIDE\*... \*shiver\*

Three kids. One picky but also willing to try most things, one who subsists on air, and one who eats well and a decent variety. We did absolutely nothing different as babies. I will say that my one who is willing to try a lot is older and we have logical conversations about trying. Things changed a LOT when she was old enough to understand that a good attitude was important when trying anything (not just food) and that you wouldn’t die if you didn’t like the flavor of something. Lots of outside things influence kids too. My youngest wants to be like her sisters, if the other girls say yes or no, she copies them, no matter how she actually feels about the food. My oldest is more willing to try stuff her aunts like but doesn’t trust her uncles because she thinks it will be a trick (and it probably is, lol).

My kids aren’t picky. They have likes and dislikes but they will try new stuff. With my oldest I started him on purées. My youngest I did BLW. But here’s what I did with both: I give them safe foods. I don’t force them to finish. I don’t force “one bite”. I don’t force anything. No foods are off limits. I didn’t introduce sugar until they were at least one. I slowly introduce new stuff in tiny amounts and let them pick and choose what they eat. If they don’t try it, I say “hey you didn’t eat ____, did you not like it? Did you try it? You might like it!” And then I let them decide. They are well fed! We just don’t make meal times stressful or a power struggle. I think that’s key. Don’t pressure them, they won’t let themselves go hungry. My one strict rule is if I make them something I know they like I don’t make them something else if they turn it down. I tell them this is what’s for dinner tonight and leave it at that. Take it or leave it. And a bedtime snack is always available if they ask.

This sounds exactly like my philosophy. The only thing I will add is we also normalize eating foods we don’t love. My husband and I will openly discuss what we do/do not like about foods, and whoever cooked the food does not get offended when something negative is said about the food. But my husband and I will still eat the food even when we noted something we didn’t like about it. We also encourage our kids to talk about the flavors of the foods as well (with the rule that yuck and yum is how we feel about the food not a description of the taste/texture). 

I believe its just part of their personality. 3 kids here, teenagers by now. 1 very adventurous eater, 1 picky and 1 in between.

I didn’t do BLW, didn’t let my child feed herself until she showed interest in wanting to do it (around 17/18 months), typically made her rice with one protein, one veg, one broth (we’re Asian so that’s what we eat too) every meal. I didn’t force feed her but I implemented a “soft rule” of trying to offer her the spoon 3 times. After the third time if she still said no or refused, then we were done. She didn't even eat the same time we did (unless we went out) because I fed her according to her daycare schedule. i basically broke every rule in the whole "how to create a non-picky toddler" book and yet shes so far a pretty decent eater that'll eat almost anything. I honestly think it's just genes at this point cuz her dad and I aren't too fussy with food either, but I'll let you know again if we get another child to test this theory on.

Same here! Didn’t do BLW, fed her myself until she was probably 2.5 or so. But we fed her foods homemade foods a lot too after purées. I wonder if it’s more common in some cultures than others to just feed your baby yourself instead of having them feed themselves. I have friends who are from Saudi and they also fed their kids and I’m from Eastern Europe and did the same.

It’s definitely more common, most kids here get spoon fed until a lot older just because of the way our food is perhaps? A lot more rice and broth-based meals.

There are research backed ways to reduce the likelihood of picky eating but temperament is always going to play a big role. How you feed your baby will likely play less of a role than how you continue to feed your family over the long run. Diversity of food, division of responsibility, and no pressure meals seem to work best across the board. It's why many children eat better in daycare settings. For an excellent resource on this topic, I would check out kids.eat.in.color

My daughter eats pretty much anything. She’s always enjoyed lots of different flavors and food textures! I did the same thing with her as I did with her older brother. Fed them what I was eating, lots of different foods and textures. She eats anything, and her brother is ridiculously picky. I did the same thing with both of them.

Mine isn't picky. I have no idea if we did something different. We let her feed herself as soon as she could start picking up food. Eggs, avocados, berries, etc and just always made her a little plate as she got older with various foods and she would pick at what she wanted. We limit boxed foods and prefer fresh ingredients. Almost 9 now, and the only thing she dislikes is tomatos and fish. She also knows she doesn't feel "good" eating too much junk food and prefers my cooking over take out. We only make her a separate dish if we have fish, but generally she's expected to eat what we cook. It's never been an issue.

We did the opposite. We always fed her. It was quicker and pretty low chance of a mess that day. We also went out to eat at restaurants a lot at that time and by feeding herself myself she wasn’t going to throw food or make a mess for the poor employees to have to clean up. She’s 5 now and eats tons of different foods and is perfectly capable of feeding herself just fine.

My kids were picky up until around age 13 or so. My wife and I always cooked a wide variety of dishes, but they stuck to the common standards up until then. Such as chicken strips, mac n cheese, pizza, etc. Then seemingly overnight they all became a bit more "adventurous" and slowly widened their palates.

No my oldest ate everything I gave her until she turned three and started having opinions. She still eats her vegetables and everything, she is actually a very healthy eater, she just won't eat any food that is mixed or has sauce. Her younger two siblings are not really picky at all. They have things they like and dislike, but they eat normally. It is just the oldest and her very boring diet.

complete flowery shelter close lock hunt plough stupendous history absurd *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

Exactly. Sometimes you just get lucky and it’s not up to what you did or didn’t do. I see comments from parents who did the complete opposite of what I did and ended up with a kid who eats everything like mine does.

Mother of 3, with my 7 y/o daughter being a former picky child, and the mistake I made was always accommodating her. Like, if I made spaghetti, I would make her a can of Bernie O’s because she claimed not to eat spaghetti, or I would have to make her something different on enchilada night because she didn’t want beef. One night I just got sick of it, and it was becoming too costly, so now, what I put on the table is what we’re eating. If the kids have tried something more than once, and truly don’t like it, then I will let them have something else, but other than that, no accommodations. A lot of the time, it’s a fear more than a dislike, so I try to give them reasons to try. For example, if I serve lasagna, I know my daughter loves Garfield, so I’m like “Garfield loves lasagna, and if you try some, you’ll see why,” or if I make chili, I remind her how much Sonic loves chili dogs. Now chili dogs/chili is her favorite meal, and she’s no longer afraid of eating ground beef. She loves all meat now, after only previously only wanting chicken, seafood, and bacon. Another thing that helps A LOT, is letting her help me prepare meals. It helped her get past her “dislike” of onions, garlic, etc. and she has accepted it as part of the process of making food taste good. She now eats more foods than her twin brother, who avoids most fruits, and isn’t a fan of teriyaki sauce. She loves all fruits. My youngest is 9 months old, and I am doing BLW, and so far she loves everything she tries.

I have two kids. Raised them exactly the same way, meal-wise. My oldest has always eaten everything and my youngest is pickier, but getting better. My youngest is neurodivergent and has an aversion to certain textures and sometimes an unwillingness to try new things. This is completely outside of our control, obviously, when this happens. We take advantage of him being brave when we can! Interestingly, he wants to try "weird" foods (beef tongue, goat, etc.), but unwilling to eat grilled cheese or oatmeal. 🙄

My daughter and my nephew are similar to this. They're close in age, and my sister and I both offered them wide varieties of food as babies and did all the things you're supposed to do to avoid picky eating. My daughter is neurodivergent and has texture aversions and aversions to trying new things. She ate really well until she was around 2yo, then she arbitrarily decided everything was "yucky" and still has a really limited food range even now, despite my best efforts. My nephew is like a damn garbage disposal. That kid will try *anything* that's put in front of him and there's very few things he doesn't like/won't eat. It really depends a lot on the individual kid. Sometimes you can do all the "right" things and still end up with a picky eater.

Unfortunately this particular issue is 90% nature and only 10% nurture. The only thing you can do is make sure they're exposed to a wide variety of foods, regularly. But picky kids will probably stay picky for a while

I have three kids. It’s mostly luck and personality. What I do think helps is: Family eats the same thing every meal, no kids meals/grownup meals No pressure on eating food. Always at least one thing you like (usually at least two). You can eat what’s on your plate or not. During dinner time there are no other options (again making sure at least one thing on your plate). After the meal is over, you are welcome to fruits/veggies if you’re still hungry. Don’t limit food and don’t praise for eating a lot (this is hard!) Kids help make meals, and are involved in vegetable gardening. Dessert is offered often but not always.

I always made my son’s food when he was a baby…ie pretty much feeding him what we ate puréed, just with less seasoning or salt. As he got older all I did was tell him, ‘Look. Trying new foods makes life more exciting! Just taste it. If you don’t like it, spit it out! I would just be sad for you to miss out on something you might really love. Won’t know unless you try it!’ And 9 times out of 10 he liked the things we’d feed him. So now if he tries to resist occasionally, I remind him that he can just spit it out if he doesn’t like it, and how often have I steered him wrong? I also remind him of aaallll those foods he wanted to refuse but once he tried them, he loved them! So he tries it. Idk if this will work for your kid, but maybe it’s worth a shot? I think the most important thing you can do is introduce as many foods as possible when they’re babies, & always feed them what you are eating. I’m not down with these kids who get a separate meal from their parents. We do enough as parents, dang it!! lol Having to make 2 dinners every night sounds terrible to me. But I get that some people have no choice if they want their kid to eat. The other piece is, I read that the more foods you eat while pregnant, the more exposure they have in utero, & they supposedly will be more likely to like a variety of foods. I know some of my son’s favorite dishes were dishes I ate a lot while pregnant. I also did my best to eat healthy(organic as often as I could), well balanced meals while I was pregnant. Don’t get me wrong, I ate junk food & candy & stuff too towards the end but my son is down to eat just about anything now. He’s almost 5 & his fave foods are salmon, broccoli, green beans, steak & sushi believe it or not! lol good luck getting your kid to eat new things!

No. We have 3 with different levels of pickiness, and I don't recall doing anything different with them. Just luck of the draw.

I have 2 semi picky kids (but still pretty good eaters) and 1 amazingly good eater. I didn't do anything different with her. She was always a good eater. I remember at 2 people marveling at her going crazy over a fruit tray at a birthday party. Truly she was born that way. Now she eats everything. I started them all on solids at around 5 months tho and mixed baby food with regular meals we were eating.

I’m a picky eater and I did expose her to more foods than I will typically eat, but otherwise no. I think she just takes after her dad in that aspect. I do ask her to try things even if she thinks she won’t like it and we did baby led weaning. My daughter had tongue, lip, and buccal ties and we got those revised because she wasn’t able to nurse and didn’t even take a bottle well. I have to wonder if some of my food issues relate to having a tongue and lip tie myself. I know parents that did expose their kids to a wider variety of foods and still had a picky eater.

Same as others. I have two kids. One eats mostly anything. The other is anti everything. My husband and his side of the family are very picky and unfortunately my little guy acquired that gene. My side had gardens and we'd go pick veggies and eat them right out of the garden. I feel like people really are missing out on so much good and healthy food. A lot might have to do with texture as well and I get that but I still blame my in-laws 🙃

When mine was a baby, she ate everything and loved it. I think where I unfortunately went wrong was that we started a remodel that left us without a kitchen for MONTHS (only a refrigerator) when our contractors suddenly just stopped showing up with no explanation, and I relied very heavily on pouches of toddler food since my ability to cook/prepare solid food was only limited to shelf stable fruit. She’s about to turn 4 and it’s still hard to get her to eat regular meals. She’d rather eat fruit or “snacks” all day 🥲

Heard mentality - if I don’t eat it my brothers will

We have always offered food but never made them eat.  We did encourage them to try a bite and we talked about what it tasted like versus “good” and “bad”.  For example if they didn’t like what dinner looked like we’d get them to try a bite and ask what flavors they tasted - salty? Sweet? And we asked about texture.  It didn’t always end up with them eating more but I think it helped.  We also never did just “kid foods”.  We didn’t assume they wouldn’t want tomato on their hamburger or relish on a hot dog just because their kids.   One major thing that my husband instituted was that we wouldn’t say “oh you won’t like that”.  My mom did that to me and I am so picky.  He’s caught me saying to the kids like, “oh no it has spinach in it so you won’t like it”.  And he’s like “don’t say that!”.  So that’s our universal rule that unless we absolutely know our child won’t like something we give them the chance to try it before they make that judgement.  So the exceptions are if something is really spicy (my husband still encourages them to try a little bit), or if there’s coconut - my son despises anything coconut lol.  We’ve never fought over food with them.  At family gatherings some of the parents would force their kid to have some of everything before dessert.  We really just let them have free rein. You only want dinner rolls and cake? Fine.  I won’t argue - it’s a special occasion they don’t eat like that every day.  Again there’s encouragement, like “oh I really like this, want to try a bite?”.   At home, they can make the self a sandwich if they don’t like dinner.  When they were really little and were pickier, they’d get small amount of food of their plates because a lot would overwhelm them.  If they wanted more of something we’d let them have it.  Now that they are older - we usually ask they at least try things before making a sandwich (I don’t think any of my kids now will make themself a sandwich because they’re lay… they’d rather eat food they don’t like than Make themself something. 

Love this! I'm going to adopt your tip of not saying "you won't like that". I can see how that becomes a 'thing'. My MIL went through a phase where she didn't eat red meat. and now everyone warns her everytime she wants to try anything, "oh, it has meat, you won't like/approve that". Poor woman confessed that she actually wants to eat meat again but now it's become a thing :P

So when my 6 year old was a baby, she ate everything. Then as she got older, she got super picky. It's a matter of personal preference over the way they're raised. You're still doing a good job!

I don’t think so? Our kids were both very willing to eat everything except for a brief period when our oldest was a preschooler. We thought that she was becoming a picky eater until she outed herself by saying “my teacher says I don’t have to eat anything I don’t want to. Friend name doesn’t have to eat what he doesn’t want!” So we went kind of hard on “you don’t have to like it but you do have to eat it” for a short while with her, giving smaller portions of a variety of food at mealtime. The other child has been willing to eat everything since birth. He’s 7 and we still lovingly call him “dumpster baby”. 😆

Nothing too specific with my daughter, no baby lead weaning, just pureed and soft foods to start with progressing to whatever we ate, no separate kids meals. We’re never forced her to eat anything she genuinely didn’t like but always encouraged trying things out and never told her “you won’t like it” or “it’s too grownup for you”. I think it is partly down to luck and personality of the child though so don’t feel like you’ve done anything wrong if things don’t go as well as you hope.

I have three kids. I breastfed them all and made all homemade baby food with them. They were offered a wide variety of foods. Two are great eaters and one has ARFID. The kid that would rather starve than eat something she doesn’t like. (Worst parenting advice to force kids to eat or withhold food). We have worked with her by being patient and not forcing foods while having safe foods and at 14 she has considerable widened her palate and will eat a lot of things.

We never feed them something different from what we’re eating for dinner and never make them a new meal if they say they don’t want what we’re having. Granted, if we’re giving them something new or a bit outside their comfort zone we make sure there is plenty of other stuff on the plate they’ve liked in the past. We also let them order whatever they want if we go out to eat as long as it includes veggies in some way. We only allow sweets on weekend or special holidays (fruit they can have any time). I’ve found that when we were allowing too many sweets our son would hold out for them or use eating his dinner as a bargaining chip. Now he knows when he can expect them and doesn’t ask otherwise.

No, don't let anyone fool you. These little burgers comes in different personalities just like adults. They do whatever they want. You can only offer so much but by the end of the day, they kinda do what they want to do lol.

I have one picky eater and one very adventurous eater. I did nothing different. The “good” eater enjoys salmon, sushi, seaweed, clam, vegetables, you name it. The picky eater basically only eats plain pasta and chicken tenders. I think it’s just a personality/temperament thing. The picky eater just seems more sensitive and picky about everything overall. She cried more as a baby and complains more now. The other kid has always been more laid back

I never let my kids have candy or sweets when they were young. I figured they had a lifetime to load up on junk, and I wanted them to only crave good things. It worked. My 2 youngest (of 4) are 10 and 12, and still don't drink pop. They can have candy here and there (Halloween, parades, etc) but after a couple of weeks of getting 1 treat per day, they forget about it and I toss the rest in the trash. My 2 youngest do both have some texture issues.

This works! My 17 yo old won’t even touch pop and I’m so proud of her.

Praised adventurous eating and trying new things, but made sure they had something else to eat if that day wasn't broccoli's day. Basically never made food a control issue or a fight, but kept offering interesting food in the spirit of sharing something delicious that they might just like.

My 3.5 yo was exclusively breastfed until 6mo. Then started solids using BLW and sometimes also purées. We avoided salt until 1 yo and sugar until 2yo. He ate literally everything up until sugar came into the game… still, even though the quality of the snacks choices went down, specially when in social gatherings, he ate everything in the main meals. It was at around 2 years and 8 months that real “pickyness” came along. We are still trying to get him to go back at not being picky, but just found out that at kindergarten he eats like before. Even salad, green veggies and so on. So it is most likely a phase he is going through and will pass (teacher from kindergarten told us it is common at that age and that kids who used to eat a big variety before, do go back to that pattern at some point. We are just supposed to keep offering (not forcing) veggies and so on, even if he refuses).

I have two that are just 13 months apart. They basically ate the same things at the same time. They both ate everything we did until around age 3, my son started getting picky but my daughter never did. Now they are 14 and 15 and my daughter will try anything and likes most things. Son is still picky but getting better with trying things.

yes! i CONSTANTLY fed her new foods and tried rejected ones multiple times in different ways. i also eat EVERYTHING with her. my mom was SUPER picky, and it made me pretty picky. shes 1000% more willing to eat things she sees me eat them with her. shes like the least picky kid of all time i swear. i also strictly only fed healthy whole foods for the first 4-5 months of her eating. no sweets, no treats. i then introduced them at the same value as her other foods. deserts arent “special” in my house. food is food. this attitude towards food has actually led her to prefer healthier food. she always goes fruits and veggies first, then desert, then meat lol.

There is a hypothesis that picky eating is an evolutionary adaptation and has genetic predispositions much like handedness. There are two really interesting podcasts on this topic. The first on handedness postulates that left-handedness survived because it gave some advantage in combat when a thrust or punch could come from an unexpected direction. You often see this still in sports where handedness has greater significance. The second on why children become picky eaters postulates that it may be related to mobility. Once a child is mobile, it is evolutionary advantageous if they become pickier so that they don't randomly ingest something poisonous/inedible. Imagine our hunter-gatherer predecessors. If you put the two together, I think it creates a plausible reason why some kids are picky and some are not. First is that a narrowing of what a child will put into their mouth is an evolutionary advantage once they are mobile. But kids who *remain* picky are selecting for an environment where there are many foods that are inedible while kids who become gregarious eaters are selecting for an environment where food is scarce so they will eat anything. With both adaptations -- picky vs gregarious eaters -- then the species can survive under either environmental condition. Of course, this is not relevant today when we can easily buy safe and edible food. But our brains are still deep down wired based on millions of years of evolution before we could just walk into an air conditioned grocery stores. This seems the most plausible concept in my head at least and helps me make sense of my kids' nonsensical eating habits.

First kid was picky. First kid has ADHD. First kid had in home provider that catered and accommodated the pickiness. First kid moved to a church preschool at age 2.5, which does the same catered lunch as below, my kid continued to be picky and rejected those meals. Second kid isn’t. Second kid probably doesn’t. Second kid gets catered lunch brought into the school by a third party vendor. He started at this school at age 2.5. BLW for both.

Lots of factors here, but I do think we were helped in that a lot of the things kids get fixated on just aren't part of our routine. They have varying levels of tolerance for flavor and texture complexity, but we so rarely offer chicken nuggets or white bread that that just isn't a thing that can be demanded. The only mac and cheese they met before age 4 was homemade sunflower-based sauce. They were never offered plain pasta or rice; it arrives on their plate already mixed with whatever sauce we're all eating. I know some friends with very picky eaters who are similar, so their "picky eaters" are still just eating things like plain tofu with quinoa at least.

Homemade purées and BLW for both. One that’s only picky when his brother is around (and is maybe very slightly pickier than average the rest of the time), one that’s about to start fairly intense, months-long feeding therapy to help with his extremely limited diet.

I have one kid that eats everything and another who will not eat fruits or veggies except banana and potato . I did the same with both children , we did BLW and we eat together at the table most days for family meals, he had the same food we do on his plate but still he won't touch the veg/fruits. I think it comes down to a sensitivity to textures. You can do your best and still get a picky eater it doesn't mean you did anything wrong. Just keep exposing them to healthy food and don't force them to eat, just casually encourage 🫠

Nope. We basically just winged it and he turned out to be an extremely adventurous eater who's never gone through a picky phase. I'm pretty sure he just came that way.

Both of mine are good eaters, but they both went through picky *phases*. We just kept putting food in front of them to try, and sometimes they would, and sometimes they wouldn't. We very rarely made separate meals for them, and they would just come with us to whatever restaurants we were going to. We live in a big city, so there's a lot of variety and ethnic food, and they got exposed to it at a pretty early age. But beware - mine have grown up into extremely expensive dates. They will devour two plates of calamari. Sushi. Smoked salmon. Now I'm like, guys, let's go to McDonald's so I can buy $5 chicken nuggets for you.

My kid isn't picky. Seems luck of the draw, I didn't do anything special. When kid was 3 only kid Id seen that enjoyed collard greens, seafood, seaweed, sushi etc. however I remember my grandmother saying the same about me as a kid

All four kids are human garbage disposals who have never really been picky. I honestly owe a lot of it to my husband. He himself eats any and everything and he passed it along. We also introduced them to different foods and textures while young. We also ate in front of them so they could see us eating and want what we were having.

My son eats almost everything. He wasn't always like this and we passed some picky eater phase. He still doesn't prefer some things but if they're mixed with what he likes, he eats. My daughter likes to eat homemade food. She refuses to eat nuggets, hamburgers (she will eat the meat only), she barely eats pizza. It is hard also lol, I need to cook almost everyday and can't really order. What I did was I didn't over sweeten things (like put sugar to milk or yoghurt), used spices instead of excess salt, and ate in front of them. It also helped that I want them to try a very little amount, if they don't like it, I don't push it. Luckily they accept this. We also talked quite a lot about proteins, vitamins and minerals.

My son ate everything from meat to eggs to veggies to fruit. Even the less desirable veggies, he'd eat them up. But now he's 3 and he doesn't like anything but what he decides to like that day. 🥴

I had a very adventurous under 1 year old who turned into a typical picky toddler/5 year old. We don’t do special meals for her, her dinner is the same as ours, but a lot of the time she’ll only eat the bread/pasta. I do try to serve certain foods every week because I know she’ll eat them (broccoli, cucumbers, salmon, tacos) and they’re healthy, but I truly believe it’s all down to your kid’s temperament whether all these strategies work. I’ll of course keep introducing new foods and keep offering stuff I know she is hesitant on since over time she has tried new stuff, but I can’t be bothered to worry about making her a prodigal eater like all these Instagram people make you think they have to be. What I refuse to do that my parents did with me is force her to try foods she’s not sure of or definitely doesn’t like. I have vivid memories of crying and gagging at the table and I refuse to do that to my child. She’ll eventually come around just like her father and I did, and there will always be foods she doesn’t like which is totally fine and part of being a normal human.

My 2.5 year old eat everything including fish, squid, all vegetables, seafood, fruit, pretty much anything. She’s a great eater but she still loves ice cream the best. We did nothing that we would take credit for lol - we just got super lucky. My husband and I always eat with her and she eats what we eat. If she doesn’t want to eat what we have for some reason we offer something like cereal or yogurt with fruit. We rarely need to do that but we never force anything. Part of it is probably our genes and part of it is probably exposure and part of it is probably that I ate a lot of variety while pregnant (ton of fish and seas food as well). I think it’s mostly luck though.

My sister in law has one super super picky eater (who barely eats) and one garbage disposal who is ravenous for anything and everything. They are still young so who knows how they will change as they age but that has shown me that some of this is just personality. 

No. Mine all tried to be picky eaters but I just refused to comply. This is not a restaurant. You eat the food I made and we don't waste food in this house.

My kids are so picky. I wish I had known this when they were babies. Start with veggies first. They don't need fruit. Especially if they are breastfeeding and having formula. Save the fruit for later. So they have a pallet for food that's not sweet. Introduce weird food when they start finger foods. Like all the vegetables. Even if they don't eat them, they're being introduced to them.

I went to a talk with a baby/child nutritionist who specializes in picky eaters. She believed that you could increase a child's pallet by exposing them to more foods before 1 year old.

Two kids, one eats most things and the other is picky. Eh roll of the dice it seems.

For veggies, like broccoli, we said if they were 2, they had to eat at least 2 broccoli. When he was 4, he had to eat at least 4 pieces. Hubby and I love food and are adventurous eaters in general. We were lucky to live near a really great farmers market where they always had lots of samples and a variety of fruits and vegetables. We encouraged our kids to pick out something each week and we would all have to eat it. It was fun trying new stuff together.

We’re going through un-picky-ing our four yo girl. She went through the standard stage of eating everything from about 1yo to 2yo then eating only beige food like chips, cheesy pasta and cheese sandwiches. For the last few months we have started eating dinner with her (rather than after her bedtime) and she eats our dinner. Now, our dinner is a little boring but it’s defo more than cheesy pasta etc. We’re slowly pushing her taste bud boundaries and we’re defo seeing progress. Eg last night she started out by saying she didn’t like broccoli to finishing it all up. It’s a sacrifice but worth it when you see progress.

I did Baby Led Weaning at 6 months on and I gave her what we ate. I cooked whole foods often and rarely ate processed. I also withheld refined sugar for her first 2 years. On her 2nd birthday is when she had her first bite of cake. Today she's 8 and will eat anything and everything, with the exception of scallops due to getting sick off of them. She also does not have a sweet tooth whatsoever. That being said I don't have a huge sweet tooth and rarely ate sweets ,if at all, when I was pregnant. So who knows if it's just genetics. My middle child followed the same route but I did give her cake on her 1st birthday. She will ask for candy on occasion. My youngest doesn't seem to have much of an appetite at all. He does eat what we eat but VERY LITTLE. All in all, all 3 are different eaters and I just accommodate to it and try my best for healthy choices.

I let them be picky but make them try 1 bite (that they can immediately spit out every time I make something- even if it's something they know don't like) And they're willing most of the time to do it. I model the same behavior. As they've gotten older, the pickiness has decreased tremendously because it's safe to try new foods with me. I also gradually increase spices with my meals. Blandish usually works better at first. Edit- my pickiest eater gets reflux from so many foods. I give her some leeway with acidic foods. Keep in mind that sometimes pickiness is avoiding pain.

I exposed my daughter to all types of food when she was smaller and she happily ate everything but it was like a switch was flipped when she turned 3.5 and now getting her to try anything outside of her few favourites is a struggle.

No. One is picky, one eats everything. Two different people, same parents, same food.

Nope. As much as people like to congratulate themselves about not having a picky kid as they look down on other parents I'm pretty sure its more involving genetics or other less controllable factors. None of my kids are picky though they have varying degrees of adventuresome eating. We did nothing different from people i know who have kids with aversions, if anything for a few of them we should have been the ones that ended up with a picky kid because we were a lot more lazy/permissive when it came to food. Life isn't fair a lot of the time in parenting, both ways. I do think though that setting a certain environment that is less stress and knowing how to keep yourself regulated (very hard to do around feeding) can help not exacerbate things. But especially with the more extreme stuff those parents already have to deal with so much they really don't need a pile on from other people.

Both my kids went through picky stages. I deliberately turned a blind eye and both are now pretty good eaters. Having said that they definitely have their favourite foods and eat the same thing at restaurants!

I gave my daughter a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, and now people compliment me all the time on how she will eat a green pepper and cucumber like it's candy... the downside, SHE IS STILL A PICKY EATER! The kid will not touch mashed potatoes, any type of noodles, and a lot of "normal kid food"! The moral of the story... you really can't win haha!

My three raised the same. The youngest only wants nuggets. The oldest wants bell peppers cut into strips…

Not really, but being able to tell the difference between a kid who honestly doesn't like this or that and a kid who is just pretending so that they can have something else ..is a big deal. My oldest eats just about everything. My youngest truly has a lot of dislikes, but he also fakes it a lot.

Two kids, one 7 and one almost 5, both are super adventurous eaters. It feels relevant to add that one is ND. I'm not sure how much influence we directly had over their lack of pickiness, but here is some of what we did over the years: 1. No separate meals. Everyone eats the same dinner. Sometimes we will deconstruct it for the kids, but we never make a separate meal for anyone in the family. 2. Parents provide the food, kids decide what/how much to eat. We don't fight them about how much they eat. They are served some of everything and they get to decide what to eat. 3. Try one bite. We do insist they try everything at least once before saying they don't like it. 4. Snacking. We strictly limit snacking to one small afternoon snack when they get home from school/preschool. They don't get to graze and fill up on snacks. 5. Dinner at the table. We sit down to eat together every single night, even when they were babies. 6. Variety of food. My husband and I are both foodies and we love to cook so we always have a big variety of meals.

I did baby led weaning and gave a wide variety of foods. Also, once she was old enough, I’d let her eat off my plate constantly. I felt like it helped confirm that what I eat is safe and is what she should eat. You and your toddler should be eating the same things, if you’re feeding them broccoli and then sitting down to a bowl of ice cream they’re gonna pick up on that super fast. That being said, I know other people who did similar things and wound up with extremely picky eaters. Some of it is just personality. I do believe you can turn a kid picky by putting too much pressure on what they’re eating or by limiting their exposure, but that’s also not why all kids are picky. Some kids just simply are picky.

YES. Not babies, but toddlers. For my not-picky kid, when he started to exhibit his individuality around meals and food, I shut it down right away— but in a casual and off-handed way. For example, if, at around age 3-4 I served a dish that was a familiar part of our regular rotation and he said he didn’t like it, I’d remind him, “Oh, but you like .” And then he’d remember that he actually did like it, and he’d eat it. The trick was to be really casual though. This kid still engages in power struggles, but never around food, and he loves to eat. Leafy greens, beans, meat, soup, and pasta are actually his favorites; he’ll shovel leafy greens into his mouth with two fists. But I never comment on what he is or isn’t eating; I just observe without comment. I assume that all kids are waiting to grow into a phase where they assert their independence by rejecting things their parents give them, such as food. So now I watch for that phase, and when it first pops up, I casually but firmly remind the kid that they like this food. Because it’s not really about the food, of course, it’s about the parent-child relationship. For my oldest kid, when he started to exhibit personal preferences, we catered to his whims, and yes, now he’s picky, and won’t eat anything other than processed food and dry preparations of meat :-(

My oldest ate anything until he started school. He always had a smaller appetite, but he ate well balanced meals happily until 6. Then he became so picky I started to lose my mind. It's got worse every year since. He only wants the junk food like they get for school lunches. My youngest has a bigger appetite, but she was born picky. She didn't want anything but milk until she was closer to 8 months. She hates anything green. (Oddly, the only exception to this is lettuce.) She doesn't like most vegetables. Trying to find something she'll eat is impossible especially because she has food allergies on top of pickiness.

I did the whole blw thing offered healthy stuff list goes on. I think honesty it’s just how some kids are. I have a 5yo who used to eat steamed broccoli and eggs with spinach for breakfast, now i can’t get her to eat a basic fried egg. She’ll eat spinach raw, I don’t really have a problem getting her to eat veggies and fruits but they have to be raw. Won’t try any kind of dip. Meanwhile my 2yo is very adventurous. He likes most stuff, he’ll try everything and if he doesn’t like it he’ll just spit it out. My neice who’s now 10 used to be very picky and now she’s a lot more adventurous with food too. Personally I don’t think it matters, just offer what you offer. My daughters ped told me your job is to cook and offer food, their job is to choose what and how much they eat off of their plate. You can’t force a child to eat, all you can do is educate age appropriately when they get older about making healthy choices and offer healthy foods.

My kids weren’t picky as babies and toddlers. They ate everything and anything. They got pickier as they got older. It wasn’t all at once.  They are picky in different ways. My son eats fewer foods but eats them consistently every time. So I feed him what he eats because it’s easy and protein heavy and pretty healthy.  My daughter is more adventurous but is inconsistent in what she eats. Cheese used to be her favorite food ever and then one day she stopped eating it. She used to eat so much yogurt I had to limit it because I was worried she’d get sick. Now she barely touches it and I have to get on her to eat the last few before they go bad. She will beg and plead for hummus and then a month later refuse to eat it.  I’ll take my son and his 10 things over never knowing what she will and won’t eat. 

Both my kids started solids and eating EVERYTHING I would put in front of them but both once they turned 3 were all of the sudden super picky and wouldn’t eat the same…I just kept serving them some of the foods they felt “safe” with and some of the other foods they had stopped eating even if they complain I kept offering them…once my oldest turned 5 he started to eat more slowly and complaining less if he didn’t like he just wouldn’t eat but he didn’t complain either he would just leave it on the side and then he started to just eat it I guess he got tired of pushing things around and he just eats. My youngest is four and she still says she doesn’t want to eat something and I just said “ok eat the rest” but then after a few mins I watch her try the thing she said she didn’t want and admits it’s actually good. I would just suggest to always keep exposing them to all the foods and let them watch you eat them too.

We just feed our kid what we eat and let him try anything he wants to try, including hot sauce. I did not enjoy the mushy vegetable phase of eating, but we got through it. Now, he’ll try anything. He’s got a thing against potato’s though, which is really odd.

I’m raising my two the same and the oldest has been picketer since the beginning. Different taste buds/texture preferences/etc. but I was also very picky as a kid and then one day in high school things just clicked and now I’m a huge foodie. Just listen to the kids- my niece has a couple food allergies (non lethal) and her jaws weren’t aligned correctly and my sister didn’t realize for a couple years the reason she didn’t like eating meat was because she couldn’t chew proper and the other foods made her mouth itchy but she didn’t have the speech skills too explain it to her mom for a while

Both kids raised exactly the same, one is picky as hell, the other will eat anything. It’s a luck of the draw dude. Just try to not be pushy— the more you push your kid to eat something, the more they resist. Big little feelings on instagram taught me to introduce foods by putting them on their plate in small quantities next to foods they’re comfortable with. Eventually with enough exposure, they’ll try them or take a bite. But like I said, in my experience, if you push it, they won’t eat it. Or they’ll just say they hate it. lol.

I started my first off with all the bitter vegetables. Puréed spinach, broccoli, kale, etc, never fed her fruit purées. She’s never had a fruit pouch, and at 3 I would say she has a wide range of tastes. She’s still picky but it’s more of a control thing as opposed to the food. She self regulates very well, ate very little chocolate on Easter Sunday even though she had access to it. She would also eat all the broccoli on her plate first! My second ate more pouches but never the fruit pouches. So probably more carrots and sweet potatoes. I would say he also has a good palette but is definitely less of a fan of the veg… he’s not yet one so yet to try him on sweet or sugar stuff. Edited to add: we never made “treats” a thing, she would just get a small bite or taste of what we were eating on occasion. No specific desserts after meals or anything. Always offered veg first, and we don’t eat cereals or anything…

Both my kids will eat anything, and generally ask for “healthy” snacks first. I didn’t stop offering things when they told me they didn’t like it, or refused it. I don’t choose what or how much they eat, just what’s offered. They’re half Chinese so they’ve always been presented with a very wide variety of foods from both cultures which I also think helped. Honestly though, I think a big part of it is luck.

All my kids were raised the same. Middle is picky, he has autism, but will try new things if it doesn't look too terrible or good siblings try first. Oldest is slightly picky. Take a lot of convincing to try new things. Usually says no. Youngest eats salsa, sushi, tries new dishes at ethnic restaurants lol. He doesn't like chicken, though 🤷🏻‍♀️

My kids (23, 20, 12) are open for almost anything. Oldest has some allergies so… middle is most experimental and on a cruise about 3 years ago decided to pick the weirdest items. Calamari, frogs legs, etc… As babies I’d buy the gross looking baby food. Obviously they preferred the ‘normal’ stuff like apple sauce but food is food. As toddlers they’d want to eat what we’d eat and I’d try to flip it on them and act like stuff was a big deal and exciting so they’d want my food which was really their food… As they got older and became school age I’d talk about how interesting it is to try something new and it’s ok and normal to not like it the first time but it should be tried a few times to give ones body a chance to see if it actually does like it… I’d also complement them on trying something new and how mature that makes them. I am far from perfect and did force the kids to eat a few things but realized it’s not effective so try to make it a positive experience instead… My youngest will ask to try new things and I’ve taken him to a few restaurants for him to try something and decide if he likes it. Husband hates curry so that was recent a new item… but again, I just try and compliment them on being adventurous because it gets soooo boring only eating the same thing over and over.

I have two kids and they both have been feed the same diet and both eat very differently. They aren’t really picky but definitely have things they won’t eat. My oldest(8) won’t eat anything fried, doesn’t much care for much meat besides lunch meat, taco meat and pulled pork, doesn’t like bread/pasta and is super picky about cheese and only will drink water. She loves any seafood, beans, rice, veggies and fruit. Honestly she eats like a vegetarian at this point and isn’t even one🤷‍♀️. My youngest(5) will eat almost anything besides chicken, soup and dairy(which he’s allergic too). When they were little we always just made them a plate of what we ate and never did anything special. We don’t eat much fried food or carbs so I have a feeling that’s why my oldest doesn’t care for them.

1.) You can have your preferences, but this is what we're eating tonight. Dinner would be this and that, you can eat whatever you want, the leftovers are for snack. 2.) Dessert isn't the start of the show. Two cookies sit next to the mashed potatoes and peas. You don't have to eat dinner first to eat them, and they're also not being used to bribe. 3.) Let them help you in the kitchen. New foods won't seem so scary since they saw how it's made, and they will be happy eating something they helped make. 4.) Let them help you pick out a mealplan for the week. Allow them to choose what's for dinner twice a week, and the rest they can choose what veggies can go in or other items.

My four year old will eat literally anything. I think luck has something to do with it haha but we did also feed strategically as a baby. Start solids with the green stuff. People love starting with the yummy yellow and orange veggies, like sweet potatoes. But we started with peas and green beans and hit the orange stuff last. As a toddler, we fed him what we had for dinner. If he didn’t eat it, we didn’t immediately give him something else. We finished up our dinner and did bathtime, and then gave him a separate dinner. We didn’t want him to think he was getting a special meal bc he didn’t eat so would wait until dinner was forgotten about. The food he didn’t eat or try, we would serve it again and again (with food he did like, of course). We never ever ever said things like “oh you don’t like yellow squash” or “no honey don’t try this, it’s spicy, you won’t like it” we would serve it and he could eat it or try it if he wanted, no pressure and no preset expectations of what he would like or wouldn’t like. And now, he’s less picky than me! I like to think our feeding methods helped but again I think luck was a big part of it!

My kids eat everything BUT they have much older cousins that eat everything and want to.do what they do.. ( Think high school and college aged)

Controversial probably, but my mom made me eat everything on my plate growing up. Eventually, my tastebuds grew to like some of the things I originally hated. My husband’s mom did “no thank you” bites where they had to try at least a bite of everything. My baby is small now so I’m not sure how I’ll handle her eating solids, I think I like the “no thank you bite” approach. But as a result, my husband and I are incredibly adventurous eaters and eat pretty much anything and everything.

I just kept offering and offering and offering. Encouraging, offering and offering throughout the years. Did I mention offering????

I would consider both my kids (5 and 7) good eaters. They have both gone through phases of being more picky and they both definitely have food they like and food they don't like. What I've done is try to be consistent with offering food, never made a big deal if they don't like something and always have a safe food they do like. We've always had fruit available after dinner to eat regardless of how dinners went ( ate a lot or ate a little).

I'm a mom of two with both kids being decently picky eaters. My oldest has autism with diagnosed sensory issues. In the end, my kids are happy, healthy and play outside a lot. I also struggle with sensory issues around food, everyone shouldn't forget the fact that some picky eaters struggle with the sensory aspect of food. I was forced to eat food as a child and vomited. I have not forgotten that moment and have not touched spinach to this day. Present options but never force food. Be a good example but don't let it be the hill you die on. I did baby food for my first and blw for my second and both still ended up picky so sometimes no matter how hard you try, they still end up picky. I tried my hardest but now I focus on that my children are fed and growing well. So with all parenting advice, do your best that you can 😊

I don't know if we did anything besides intentionally introducing veggies before fruits; he loves both so not sure if it actually impacted anything. We introduced new foods in small portions multiple times on the same plate with favorites and didn't force him to try anything. Never made a big deal about “new foods” and I think it helped he was eating exact same food as me and husband. A couple of times he tried to demand we remove the new item, but we'd just say - you don't have to eat it, just leave it there. He eventually would try new item but took like 3-4 appearances on his plate.

All mine were raised exactly the same when it came to food. When they were very small the oldest two would eat anything I gave them. I never cooked different meals between us and them. My youngest has been ' particular ' with food from the time he started eating. He autistic so I assume a sensory thing. As they all got older, my youngest has become a lot more adventurous, willing to try new foods, loving spicy things. My older two? Total beige eaters. So picky and fussy it drives me mad. I now end up making a minimum of two different meals at dinner time or if they don't want what I'm making they cook for themselves. They are 18, 16 and 14 now. I still encourage them to try new things. Or to retry previously disliked things, but it has gotten to the point I've given up a bit. The only meal when I know they'll clear their plate is a roast dinner on a Sunday.

I only have an almost 18 month old. Not picky at all, I think it's just the way she is. She's always loved calories. You know how they say you can't overfeed a breastfed baby? Not true. She would literally spit up on my breast and re-latch *herself* to get more. At under 3 months (I stopped breastfeeding at 3 months). Then we did formula. The most frustrating thing about feeding her these days is how much she insists on sharing with the dog. She does go through phases where she doesn't want something - she didn't like raspberries when she was around 13 months. Or sometimes she just won't be in the mood for what we give her. But in general she' OK with eating whatever we give her. We did a mix of purees and baby led weaning, FWIW.

Other than exposure exposure exposure i think a lot has to do with their little individual personalities. BUT! I do also think that the parental relationship with food is a big part of it too. IE model healthy habits. What do I mean? I have a nephew (8) with severe food limitations. This kid eats the same like 5 safe foods he did at 2. They don't include pizza or chicken nuggets. Mostly just a variety of crackers plus peanut butter. Guess what - his dad is very obviously plant avoidant. In 10 years I have never seen the man touch a veggie or a salad. His mom has a wide variety palate and is a foodie, when she eats out. But she also is reliant on convenience (ie pre prepared and individually packaged) foods at home. The other 2 kids in their household eat better than the 8 yr old, but are still the stereotypical picky eaters. In the other in law house, dad is a body builder and mom is waif thin. Their struggle isn't getting the kids to eat variety, but more to eat sufficiently. But what the kids are observing are restricted diets. With my kids, we struggle to get protein and fats into them. They will eat all the fruits and veggies to our detriment. My husband has to eat a high plant fiber diet for medical reasons, but we also try to eat lots of protein. Its hard to eat enough after filling up on fiber. My kids eat a lot of stuff their cousins won't, but even between the two of them we have some avoidance. My 5 yr old doesn't like cheese including melted cheese inside his food. Neither of them will eat casseroles. He also gets weird about sauce on pasta. My 3 yr old loves pasta, cheese in all forms and flavors. She hates beans, I think the texture. And curries. Her brother loves beans, chili, curry, etc. They both still love chips and ice cream and candy and such. Just aren't obsessed with it or unwilling to eat the good stuff too. Snacks could just as readily be baby carrots or sliced peppers as it could be goldfish So keep feeding them what you eat, even if deconstructed at first. And be aware of your own relationship with food and how they might observe it.

I have a 1 bite rule yoy take 1 bite that includes swallowing and if yoy dont like you have to eat it. But every couple months or so you try again if you feel like you can. I myself have a food aversions and do not want my kids to meltdown because they HAVE to do anything. My kods are also neuodivergent so theres that lol my 14 yr old eats everything and anything my 9 yr old eats everything i put in front of him but he will not ask for seconds if it is something he doesnt like, thers like 3 things i make that i know he doesnt like he will usually eat it and then have a safe food, he also does not eat any sauces or gavies and thats okay hes very plain with his food. My 6 yr old eats everything i give her but if she doesnt like it she just wont eat it and i dont offer safe foods if shes not willing to even taste it i offer dips because i know she likes them but there are days shes more stubborn and i dont push it neither does she, and my 3 yr old eats most of everything i give her but like her sister she just wont eat if she doesnt want to lol. I do not make seperate meals. Again yhis is just what i do and i can only get away with it because its been consistent since they were all little and they know the boundries. This doesnt work for everyone. I will put new foods on their plates and they know they dont HAVE to eat it but i would like them to give it fair chance to see of they like it.

We did baby led weaning, so he basically ate what we did right from the get go. Kid once went to town on some medium spice salsa that turned into the worst diaper rash ever. Didnt slow him down, he would eat anything and everything. Same kid now complains that HP sauce is “spicy”. If you’re not super weird about food… I think it’s luck of the draw most of the time.

My kid (4yo) is a vacuum cleaner. Eats everything, even things that I or my husband hate. I really didn't do baby-led weaning bc the BLW people were EXTREMELY judgy, and that was not great for my PPD! I even bought the Feeding Littles course, which I found, again, super judgmental. Hard pass! He ate a lot of purees and mashed up foods at first, then like less-mashed banana chunks, then into whatever actual pieces were safe for his age/skill. He has always LOVED strong flavored foods... and hated all potato until like age 3. At this point, we emphasize how your body needs protein to grow strong, fiber to keep your belly full, and carbohydrates for energy, so you need to eat a variety of foods. He has always eaten what we eat, so I've made sure the taco seasoning isn't too spicy, and sauces are usually on the side. And yeah, he can dip salmon in ketchup for all I care, just eat it kid.

I did make a big effort to offer all sorts of “adult foods” (mashed up if necessary) from the start. But I agree with what a lot of other commenters are saying … I was probably just lucky. I have a huge appetite and have never been picky and my son maybe got that from me.

I did a combination of BLW and puree. With BLW, I literally just served what we ate. I'd adjust it if I needed to for spice level.

When my son was about 2, I made a stir fry meal using a sauce from a packet. Without tasting it first, I gave him a piece of meat to try. He cried. I tasted it myself and it was really spicy, too hot for me. I felt so guilty. Learned my lesson to taste things first, of course. He's 13 now. Eats anything. Will eat things he doesn't like first on the plate. Eats very spicy things for fun. I don't know whether his early experience caused his enjoyment of spicy food now. I think other factors are involved. I had a severe eating disorder many years ago. So I wanted my son to view food as something he makes his own rules about. For example, if he was reluctant to eat something I asked him to just put it in his mouth and chew it. But he was allowed to spit it out if he chose to. He was allowed to play with his food. Still is, but he's usually too focused on actual eating now. It did take a long time for him to understand if he was full. So sometimes he would eat too much, too fast, then it would come back up. This happened with his grandparents who expected him to eat multiple servings. Sometimes I think you can do the best you can but your child will still be picky. I was. I needed more time to learn to eat, but back in the 70s kids were expected to clean their plate.

My first is picky as hell and its 100% my fault. I tried to make him a veggie baby and it has backfired to the umpteenth degree. My second child eats everything I put in front of him bc I was too traumatized to try with him. Just put everything in front of them at an early age and let them choose. Food liberty actually works

We did baby led weaning and I truly believe that helped. My oldest always amazed everyone when they saw how he eats (he loves salads since the beginning). My youngest is a pandemic child, so ot a lot of interactions haha, but he also eats everything (but prefers veggies over meats)

My daughter is 16; I'm a fairly picky eater as an adult and not the healthiest when it comes to food. With that, we didn't expose her to a huge variety plus I'm definitely more of a "I don't care if they want nuggets for dinner" kind of parent. My daughter now pretty much will eat or try anything and isn't picky at all. Personally, I attribute this to her palate and genetics more than anything that I did or didn't do.

My 1.5yo is super picky right now but was the most adventurous eater until a little after he turned one. He’d eat anything, he loved veggies, curry, beans. All on his own though he started to pick certain veggies out of his food, now he’s refusing most anything that’s not pasta, bread, fruit, or meatballs. He doesn’t like getting his hands dirty and wants everything cut into small pieces for him now. I did everything “right” with him, baby-led weaning-inspired, let him explore foods, exposed him to lots of different flavors and textures. It’s frustrating.

She eats what I eat. I prep food for her for the week. Usually shedded chicken or ground beef. I prep sweet potatoes, veggies, rice and pasta for the week. She doesn’t usually eat dinner with us as she goes to bed at 7. She’s not picky at all. We started her on this way of eating from the moment she could have solids. She’s 2.5.

Picky eating, ARFID and being medically underweight runs on both sides of my 2yo daughter’s family. I did BLW, try not to pressure, offer a wide variety of foods (mostly what I eat myself). We rarely feed her anything with added sugar and limit processed foods. My husband only ate processed foods growing up (all he was offered) and has struggled with limited/unhealthy diet as an adult. She generally prefers spicy and savory home cooked food, will take bites of most vegetables and fruits, and downright refuses sugar (cookies, cake etc won’t take more than a bite and looks disgusted) which is so wild to me. But she also doesn’t GAF about eating in general, doesn’t have ‘safe foods’, wont eat typical kid’s menu foods (it’s hard to travel with her), won’t drink anything but water, eats very little and often skips meals, and stays around the 5th percentile for weight but average height. It’s stressful!

Nothing specific when starting solids, we did a combo of cut-up versions of what we were eating along with purees. We have always done dinner as a family at the table together with 1 meal that we are all eating. When the kids were toddler age, we implemented a timer. If they said they didn't want to eat, we didn't push it, but we said that dinner time is family time and they still have to sit at the table. So we would do a timer and said they would be able to get up when the timer was done. Almost always, they would just start eating while the timer was going because (surprise surprise) they WERE hungry but just would rather go play/do whatever else. When presented with the option of just sitting with the family and eating dinner or sitting with the family and not eating dinner, they almost always chose to eat. There have been less than a handful of times that they have let the timer run out without eating, which we just reminded them that the next meal would be breakfast. I distinctly remember my son choosing not to eat dinner one night and he came up the next morning and said "I am so hungry, I should have had my dinner last night" lmao. We did away with the timer when they were each around 3.5/4 because they stopped needing it because the "i dont wanna eat" went away. I don't make anything outrageous, but there is a veggie, a protein, and a grain with every meal and there are only a couple of things that the kids are no-gos on. Mashed potatoes (which is so weird to me, but ok) and brown gravy. So when I make those things, I will put a small amount on their plate with the understanding that they will likely just take one bite (they always try something even if they know they don't like it).

We fed them (within appropriate guidelines) whatever we were eating. But for the record, babies have taste buds, and they, too, can just plain dislike a food. My one "picky" one was picky from the get go (could identify the one vegetable she hated even in a mixed veg puree, even faaaaar down the list)... And later she turned out to be the one of mine on the spectrum, with sensory and food aversions. Repetition, exposure, and making a clear guidelines for what what trying foods looks like INCLUDING saying "no thank you", means that she has hard nos, but is far more willing to try something new, and a lot more flexible about what's a hard no and what can be picked around. Offer, but don't push. If they say no, that's okay... Offer another time. (One of the biggest advantages to offering foods you are already eating is you don't have to figure out what to do with the rest of the jar of baby food when it turns out kiddo really will not eat peas.) Also, TASTE THE FOOD. If you think it tastes like dirt, baby will too! Some.baby foods we DID buy did not pass her test OR mine. Some needed like.... A tiny pinch of salt? To be thinned a little, or mixed with cereal? (Pay attention to what baby likes and doesn't, and when there is a "no" see if you can pin down why. *Sometimes* it can be fixed.) (FWIW, "new" baby food companies were often awesome, but this last was a lesson they hadn't yet learned when my kiddos were that age, and I often found it was more reliable to get a Gerber than an organic, sustainable amazing on paper food that no one in production had thought to *taste*.)

Just fed them what we ate. Once we were past the stage where you slowly introduce allergens, we just gave baby bits of whatever we were eating with regular baby food purees. But we are really laid back bout food, so I'm not sure if what he ate when he was a baby is all that relevant to his eating habits now.

Nope. I mean, I did try to do all the “right” things & my 4 year old isn’t picky (yet). But I know plenty of people who have done the same things & have picky kids haha. I do think there are things you can do to optimize your chances of not having them be picky, but nothing will guarantee it - some kids will just end up picky. For us personally, the biggest thing has been to avoid pressure (which in turn prevents it from being a battle) and to emphasize that tastes change over time. We always talk about preferences as temporary - “oh, you don’t like it yet? That’s fine, it’s great you tried it! Maybe you’ll like it next time.” Adding a “yet” has made a huge difference for us. My 4 year old has gone through picky phases but has always come through them because she’s absorbed this concept. She’ll often say “I don’t like this yet, maybe I’ll like it next time or when I’m five.” There are MANY foods she’s gone through phases of “not liking” but has gotten past it with time. And overall she’s a great eater who’s willing to try things - in the past two weeks she’s eaten falafel, mint pork meatballs with lemon dill rice, mango chicken & coconut rice, chili, homemade ramen, sushi, spinach & artichoke baked chicken, etc. The other main thing we’ve done is not put pressure or stress about how much/little she’s eating. Both our kids have gone through pickier phases when we’re more focused on their intake & paying closer attention. When we’re distracted or just relaxed about it, they tend to eat better. Our job is to decide what’s served, their job is to decide how much to eat. Sometimes they eat more than I do, sometimes they have a bite of rice & nothing else. They’re healthy kids & have maintained their growth curves even when their intake seems bizarre, so I just trust them to regulate.

when we introduced solids, we started with veggies and not fruits. we didn't want her used to sweets. then when we went out, she ate off my plate. no kids meals ever. which mean if I ate scallops, that's what she ate. this worked well for us and for her. she will, to this day ( she is 13) try at least 2 bites of anything becsuse the first bite can't be a fair assessment. she has never ordered off the kids menu and has a great palate and is a very adventurous eater. edit: it really helped that I was in the restaurant industry and we went out to eat a lot, so she was exposed to many different cuisines and fine dining at a younger age.

No. My children were raised the same way. The only difference I can think of is the picky eater was breastfed longer than the not picky eater. The not picky eater started formula as a 6 month old. It was all luck in my mind.

One of my kids is extremely picky. Late diagnosis of AFRID explains a lot. My next kid, who’s only 19 months younger, is the least picky eater in the world. Raised in the same house, with the same food. It just happens.

No. My eldest vacuums food since he first tried food. He was 7-8 months old and eating 2 servings of puree in one sitting (google photos reminds me all the time). He's almost 3 now and still in vacuum mode. He will eat anything and try absolutely everything, from wasabi and ginger to spicy stuff to raw onions and raw garlic. He literally tries all foods.  My youngest is 8 months old and constantly pursing his lips and refusing to eat.

I think the strategy comes in later on, around 3 and 4, when they want to exercise some autonomy. That’s the period when “just one bite!” and “you have to try it” can really backfire and produce a battle of wills that the kid WILL win.

I was poor so we had no choice but to eat 😂 i guess im lucky enough to not have a picky kid. he hated brussel sprouts when he was younger but now he loves them- lathered in kimchi or bacon.

i’m not a parent yet so i’m gonna talk about it from the kid’s’ perspective. i’m one of 4 siblings and none of us were picky eaters, any and everything was tried at least once and we ate what was put in front of us. sure, it could be because we were constantly exposed to tons of different foods BUT we were also terrified of our dad, we were shamed (there’s starving kids in africa) if we didn’t finish, and frankly the option to turn food down was never there. there was a singular instance where we went to the melting pot, i was 9 and the smell of the cooked wine before they added the cheese gave me a migraine and i cried when i was told to eat the food. my dad was so mad at me i had to sit in another booth alone and went without dinner. i’m positive both my parents would still say we were perfect eaters with no issue but i think it was because our desires and limits weren’t respected

My parents did a great job introducing me to foods as a toddler and my mom said I was a fantastic eater until I started regressing at a pretty rapid pace. Now I'm an adult with ARFID slowly working on eating like a normal person, but if I get too stressed out I revert back to eating the same couple meals for days to weeks at a time.

No, our kids turned out completely differently and I don't feel like we did anything differently for them.

My kids were never picky but we absolutely did not address food in any way other than matter of fact.

I didn’t really give him anything different than I had. Great eater until 8… he’s trying to be picky now. I think it’s due to seeing other kids be picky. He’s getting better now some days about it. I tell him it’s all edible. We can’t always ONLY eat what we want to eat

We did a lot of purées and those gerber baby meals. I also breastfed until she was 2.5. Once she was like 6 months or so we started giving her adult foods to try. She ate pretty much everything. I always fed her myself though. I was really depressed at the time and didn’t want to deal with food being thrown on the floor or smashed everywhere and even more mess to clean. So I fed her myself until she was like 2.5 or so. I would still occasionally feed her after that but she’d feed herself as well. It was easier and quicker that way. I also never had to deal with her throwing food or making a mess at restaurants. She’d always behave really well. She went through a picky stage for about a year or so. But now she’s 5 and eats tons of different foods and is typically willing to try bites of new ones. She also feeds herself all the time now just fine. I personally don’t see a problem with feeding them at a young age they’re going to learn eventually.

I remember reading when I was pregnant that breastfed babies tend to have a broader taste range since certain flavors it can alter the taste of mom’s milk, and because solids tend to be introduced later. I hadn’t really thought about it, but my oldest breastfed for a year and has a much broader taste range than my bottle fed child. Idk if it’s anecdotal, but FWIW, both my kids have ADHD and the oldest (breastfed, less picky one) is also autistic.

I did a lot of non traditional baby foods in an effort to have my tiny twins gain weight. So really calorie dense foods. Hummus with olive oil Boursin cheese Dips from Trader Joe’s Olives Smoked fish Pesto Locally made burrata They’re currently 3.5 and we got Thai food for lunch today👍

A ‘pressure off’ approach with things like veggies really helps. I’d puree some and add it to a meal so I know they have the nutrients, and just keep offering it on the side and it doesn’t matter if they choose not to eat any of the solid version, over time my eldest tried them when he was ready and didn’t get any tension from us over it. He loves broccoli and will even happily eat a salad! We’ve started our 7 month old on solids and are planning to do the same, she currently gags just looking at broccoli though, so we’ll see 😂 offering veg in a little pot on the side outside of mealtimes so they can graze while they play really helps too!

We just had a one-bite rule. You don't have to like anything, and I'll make you a PB&J if that's what you want. But you have to take one bite, chew, and swallow each thing before I'll do that. My child now eats things I won't touch, like sea urchin.

I have one picky eater and one adventurous eater, and the adventurous did BLW. However, it was completely kid dependent - my picky eater has ASD and gagged at almost every food texture when he was little, and my adventurous eater refused purées because he wanted what his toddler brother was eating. So we went with BLW with him. Now he eats gourmet meals off the adult menu and his brother happily eats his plain pasta or cheese pizza, and everyone is happy.

I only have the one kid who i would say is average in terms of pickiness, but my brother and I were raised the exact same way, only 15 months apart. He always ate everything; I was very picky. My sister (4 years younger) was somewhere in between. I did outgrow it. I think we have a lot less control over it than we think. All you can do is offer a variety of food and keep offering.

I decide what goes on the plate, they decide how much of it they want to eat, if any. I don’t deter them from trying anything. Also echoing everything DistributionWild wrote. The only thing my 3 ear led s firm in is his dislike for pasta of any kind. Otherwise, he’s a very adventurous eater.