Ila’s Menu
I always assumed that none of my kids were picky eaters because of something that I did. Turns out I was wrong. In fact, a lot of the things I took credit for with one child or another, I’ve learned had more to do with their individual personalities than anything I did.
So, for those of you who are really interested, here are the details of what she will and won’t eat:
She still likes Snow Pea Crisps most of the time, although she’s started to only eat them directly from the bag. Sometimes when I just put some on her tray, she won’t eat them, but if I put an open bag on the table next to her, she’ll eat them.
She really likes yogurt. It’s a good thing since it’s the only dairy product she will eat. She will not drink milk. I have tricked her into taking a sip or two here and there, but most of the time I can’t even get her to drink that much and I have tried Chocolate and Strawberry milk. She will not taste cheese (although she will sometimes eat a cracker that comes with some kind of cheese paste on it). She will eat strawberry yogurt, but she will not try a strawberry. If I put one on her tray she will look at it and cry until I remove it.
She will eat some varieties of crackers. Naturally, I have offered her every cracker imaginable. Crackers are hit and miss with her. Some days she’ll eat them happily, other days she just rejects them. She has learned that you can open up the Peanut Butter and Jelly crackers and just eat the middle out. I wish she hadn’t learned that because she will often only eat the PB&J and reject the rest of the cracker. Despite her love for peanut butter cracker filling, she will not taste regular peanut butter or taste a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I have even tried putting fresh peanut butter on a cracker once she ate all the filling and she rejected that as well.
She will sometimes eat bananas, but she will only take a bite if I give her the entire banana partly peeled. She will not eat cut up pieces of banana or large pieces with no peel.
She will eat apple slices. She likes to chew the apple and spits most of it back out after chewing it up into tiny pieces. She will not try an apple slice if it has a green peel. She will not taste applesauce. In fact, her grandpa Cochran tried to offer her applesauce last time we were in Utah. When she rejected tasting it, he put a little on her lip. She cried and cried. Even after all the applesauce was wiped off her lips, she continued to cry for several minutes.
She will sometimes eat bread or toast with cinnamon and sugar. She will not try a sandwich or bread sticks, or bread with anything on it other than butter, cinnamon and sugar. She will eat muffins and banana bread.
I have gotten her to eat some oatmeal. She will eat some types of cereal. She has started eating raisins and Crasins.
She will not even taste any type of meat and if you put a small piece of meat on her tray, she will cry until you remove it. She will not even try any other type of fruit (not even berries or oranges). She will not eat anything at a fast food restaurant (including french fries and chicken nuggets). She will not eat potatoes or rice or any vegetable. She will not eat chips or Gerber Graduates puffs. She refuses to even taste pasta.
She will mostly only drink water. I have gotten her to try Pedialyte and Gatorade, but she wouldn’t drink much of either. I have finally weaned her from nursing this week.
She does like sweets. I don’t know how she knows which things fall into the cake and candy category, but she is always willing to eat sweets. A few times i have made the mistake of breaking a cookie or brownie in half to make it easier for her to eat. When I have done that she instantly starts to cry and tries to put it back together. She will reject a broken cookie (or a broken cracker) just because it’s broken.
That is it. I cannot think of a single thing that I have not listed that she will eat. I have been giving her vitamin supplements to make up for some of the foods that she won’t eat, but I worry about how healthy she’ll be on a diet of yogurt, water, and crackers.
She definitely knows what she likes. What a little turkey! I am sure you will keep trying, and maybe someday she will like other things!