How to get my 4 year old son to try new foods

amother

Chocolate

Fri, Oct 07 2016, 3:02 pm

My son is 4 years old and for the last 2 years, all he has eaten for supper is smoked turkey (almost every night). He doesn't eat any cooked foods. For example, he has never even eaten pizza, french fries, fish sticks, macaroni, etc. He tried challah once after we finally convinced him to try it and he was okay with tasting it but then he gagged on it so he hasn't tasted challah again.

He will eat plain cheerios, fruity pebbles with milk, vanilla yogurt, chocolate lebens, matzoh, cream cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, baby carrots, apples, oranges, all kinds of cheeses, smoked turkey and different snacks, etc.

It stresses me out sometimes because he hasn't tried one cooked food and I asked him once calmly why he won't taste anything I make and he said that it's hot and he doesn't want it to burn his mouth. I'm not sure if he ever burnt his tongue on something hot because I don't recall that happening but it's possible. I have told him that he could touch the food first to see if it's hot or not but he gets very anxious and covers his mouth when I bring any food near him. I don't make a big deal out of it and I promised him a special prize if he tries something but nothing works. Any tips or ideas?

shooting star

Fri, Oct 07 2016, 5:46 pm

Could you put the food in the fridge and tell him that if its hot the fridge will cool it down?

Also, could he mean "spicy" instead of hot?

My son is a picky eater and all that I found that worked was by threatening to send him to bed if he didn't eat. That was his hot button. We would actually follow through so he would know it wasn't an empty threat. I didn't want it to come down to that but he practically stopped eating for days at a time and was loosing a lot of weight.

amother

Denim

Sat, Oct 08 2016, 1:51 pm

I would just serve him cold food. I used to do this for my daughter who refused to eat hot or warm food. If he refuses to eat food that's been cooled in the fridge, make some cooked foods ahead of time and then serve straight from the fridge.

Also, some things that helped our daughter (age 3.5) try new foods:
1) Reading her books about picky eaters and encouraging her to be like the characters. Our favorite books: Green Eggs and Ham, Gregory the Terrible Eater, The Seven Silly Eaters. We'll act things out, with each of us beng a character from a book. This sometimes works. When it does, I tell her how proud I will be of her and lavish her with praise for tasting even one little bite, and then she is more inclined to do it again at another meal.
2) Telling her the rule is she has to taste at least 1-3 foods that are on the table (just one bite), and then if she doesn't like them, she doesn't have to eat them and that I will then give her whatever she wants to eat (as long as it won't take me more than a few minutes to prepare, out of respect for the fact that it's my mealtime too). This works surprisingly well, since it gives her a sense of control and she knows that the unpleasant part is very limited. And sometimes she likes things and eats more of them. Also, even if she doesn't like them, it's not so bad if she has a peanut butter sandwich for dinner for the third time this week, because at least twice this week she actually had some chicken.
3) Telling her she will like more foods as she gets older. This is a logn term one. I offer her food at each meal, and if she says she doesn't like it, I tell her that maybe she will like it another day. After a week or two or three of telling her this, she actually tries things that she hasn't before. Ironically, smoked turkey is the only food that my daughter doesn't like, but she tries it all over again about once a month on her own initiative (she sees it on the table and asks for it) and states "it's a different day and now I'm older and maybe I'll like it". Well, she still doesn't like smoked turkey, but at least she is trying to!
4) If all else fails, bribing her. I tell her that she can have dessert if she tastes at least 3 foods on the table (start with less if you want). And dessert is not standard at meals in our house, but a square of chocolate or small cookie or a small ice pop is worth getting her to learn to eat more foods regularly.

Good luck!