I found allowing my kids to help in the prep of food helped spark their interest. Whether its mixing a dressing to dip the veggies in, or stiring the mac and cheese. Who cares if the counter got as much PB&J as the sandwhich? not me! Cheese sauce for veggies helps too. Small portions help. My kids would say "I cant eat all that!" even tho it was a small portion in my own head. I started making lil tiny piles, and if they wanted more, they could have it.

Speghetti is a fav, have them help season or stir the sauce, break the noodles to slid in the water or grate some fresh cheese for it.

fish sticks! or chicken fingers. finger foods rock!

hot dog bites with some mac and cheese, or beans. beanie weenies we called um.

If you find that you are seeing her not gain weight, or struggling in that department, you can add pediasure to the list. it will give her calories, and some vitamins. Make sure you keep a multi in her while she figures this out.

Ask her long before lunch or dinner what she wants to help you make. then make it a project that she looks forward to all day. peanut butter cookies are a fav too. good protein from the peanut butter.

btw, there are ways to hide veggies in everything! the deceptively delicious cookbook has great ideas! puree hidden in everything. zucchini hidden in cakes, and carrot puree hidden in pasta sauce and so on. really great recipes in there as well.

Oh I remember those days with our boys. I visited my niece last month and her daughter, my great niece is the same way. She kept wanting orange juice and that was fine. Yogurt too. But give her a peanut butter sandwich and chips and she'd eat one chip and start to fidget, wanting to go play. She'd open the fridge and get little things out, a piece of cheese, etc...

I read somewhere recently that they are generally "grazers" at this age. As long as she's picking at healthy foods here and there, she should be ok as long as she doesn't look or act sick or look too thin.

ROTFL! When my 22 year old son was about a year old he went through a ramen noodles phase. That was the only thing he would eat! If I gave him anything else he would throw it off of his high chair tray and scream "OODLES"! It was frustrating but it passed. He is still the pickiest eater I know. He'll eat frog's legs but no fruit or vegetables besides strawberries, apples and romaine lettuce. He drives me nuts so I rarely cook for him now .

DD18 is the same way!!! I stopped cooking for her as well. She is too dang picky and I refuse to waste time and money cooking something no one will eat. If it were up to her she would eat red/black beans and rice every day. LOL

BTW Brain, part of this is a control thing and it is normal. Making her feel that she is in "control" of some of the choices will really help her and you. And Wiz is right, they are natural grazers. I, at 45, am still a natural grazer.

Kids eat stuff they get used too - new foods need to be introduced a few times - you don't have time for that - my kids liked shrimp that tickled their tongues - HOT Chinese Shrimp Kung Po - Spicy chicken with peanuts!! But that's my kids. Anything resembling a chicken tender, nugget or popcorn, veal bologna (yes, I know how veal is gotten, but they ate it!!) Mottz. cheese sticks, pita pizza, english muffin pizza. They were pretty adventrous. Grapes I cut (They can choke a toddler, rice/popcorn cakes. In a desparate pinch A Hot dog carefully cut into small bits to be eaten by hand. Ask her. Healthy is nice if she eats it, what might mom serve?

You know I think I am a grazer too, but now I have this mental image of all of us out in a green hilly field munching in grass.

Grazing...what a great way to discribe the little one's eating habits.. That's exactly how DD feeds her crowd....gets lots of fruits, vegies, dips, chicken & cheese chunks. She has also been known to crumble for "Lunchables".

I've always been a grazer, living in a meat, potatoes, gravy kinda Family.

We were lucky in this house. I started introducing foods to my son when he was a toddler. Yogurt, etc.

All kids go thru a phase at age 4 or thereabouts ...suddenly examining their food. I read an anthropological paper once that explained this as the developmental awareness we evolved when hunting/gathering, since some berries and roots can be poisonous, etc. It is thought that this reflex starts to protect the child, who is no longer so close to parents, and finding things on their own. I can recall setting a plate down in front of my son, and having him examine it minutely before starting eating. Mushrooms were always removed. (still today sometimes). Any fleck of herb warranted an explanation etc. LOL

But you know there is also the possibility that a small child who starts rejecting foods, may have a sensory integration disorder. Low choline during pregnancy and after in the diet is implicated in this behavior. If you notice, children's vitamins are now advertising "NOW CONTAINS CHOLINE" on the labels.
from http://flintstonesvitamins.com/faqs/

So if you are going to choose a child's vitamin, consider this type. Read the labels to see if choline is in the one you are using.

You know we still laugh at my son's idiosyncracies at that age.
He started rejecting pickles, sausages, or hot dogs, unless we cut off the ends. This started in school, where a precocious little boy convinced him that hot dogs were a certain anatomical part of the pig...that we are eating! This became a habit, for my son, even when he was older and knew better. I once caught him cutting off the end of a kosher pickle in a restaurant! ( and I am not talking about the "stem" or other inedible parts! LOL)

I was amazed too, at my youngest two they do not like Mac and Cheese.... I thought How could a kid not.. as my three oldest wanted it daily if I would... hehe

I do have a 3 year old that does not eat much... she will eat like graham crackers with peanut butter with milk for breakfast.. I usually do not cater to what they want as much as serving meals and not worry if do not eat.. but this one is a light weight... I just got a note from her school she goes to.. saying she does not eat hot lunch meals that she only drinks her milk.... but I try not to fret... I will offer her yogurt and crackers after school.

hugsss and good luck, sarah

To this day, my son is not big on Mac and Cheese. Says it is "cloying". He doesn't like cheese in his omelets either.

Hubby won't eat peanut butter in any form. And if we have fish I have to prepare it carefully, to get rid of the fish smell/taste. I typically poach fish over lemon slices or blood orange slices, and he will accept it that way.

Today my son is a great cook...he makes Thai and Korean dishes, Middle Eastern food is his fave when we go out.
He is quite the baker too. So with patience and time I did expose him to enough variety that as an adult he does pretty well now.

If a small child refuses protein foods, you can add that as Whey protein to smoothies. Whey comes in flavors, and WalMart has small canisters of the various types to save $$. The amino acids in the whey will help and be disguised with whatever flavor you choose to make. Kids who only "drink" are prime candidates for this trick.

There is also a new yogurt at Kroger's called Carbmaster (it is their generic). (I think it is made by Dannon).
This is a very non-yogurty type yogurt. It is more like a flavored pudding. It has only 4 grams of sugar, and 12 grams of protein (some derived from whey protein added). The flavors are very good and it only has 80 calories. I think it is designed for low carb dieters, but in fact it is a really nice product. Especially for those who don't like yogurt much. The high protein content would be a good snack to send to school for kids who won't eat meat, etc. And it costs .39 cents a cup.