I was so excited to introduce my son to solid foods when he turned
6 months old. He’d given me all the cues that he was ready to make the next
step and it was a milestone that I was looking forward to. Over the first
several months of his solids journey, we tried a variety of foods. He wasn’t a
picky eater and loved all of it, which was a dream.
Now that he’s approaching two and is slowly forming his own
opinion on things, he’s becoming much more picky about the food that I put in
front of him. He has his staples that I can never go wrong with, but I’d like
for him to branch out and be able to eat whatever we are eating at the table
without refusing them.
My older daughters are quite the opposite of him. They are
always willing to try new foods and will eat anything without any hesitation. I
was hoping that he would take the cue from his sisters’ fun and excitement with
trying new foods, but he’s still a little young to understand. After struggling
for months and putting new food after new food in front of him that he was
still refusing, I thought we were just going to have to deal with having a
picky eater in the family.
That was until one day when we were eating dinner and I put
a meal in front of him. I’d fixed him a plate of our dinner, but cut it into
tiny pieces, the perfect finger food size. As soon as I put the plate in front
of him, he tried to push it away. I tried again, he did the same thing. Then he
started to point over at his sisters. I explained to him that he had the same
food they did. But it wasn’t the food that he was pointing to — it was the
utensils.
He wanted to use his independence and his big boy skills to
eat just like his big sisters. I went and grabbed him a fork and spoon, Mickey
Mouse easy grasp utensils, and handed it over to him. Low and behold he began
to take the fork and try to grab little bits of chicken with them. He put them
to his mouth and chewed. He then did it again. His willingness to try new foods
all lied within a pair of utensils.
Don’t let your picky eater leave you feeling defeated. Never
in a million years would I have thought that a simple fork and spoon would help
us overcome a stage we’d been stuck in for so long. Keep trying new things and
see what works for you. Your little one won’t be eating just chicken nuggets
and mac and cheese forever, I promise.