Help! My kids are killing me...

[Almacham]

Thanks, ladies.

I've been very stressed out about this so I'm taking all of your posts into consideration. This going to be hard but things have got to change around here.

For the person who asked - my son is 5, and will be 6 in December. My girls are great eaters and will eat anything from baked butternut squash with cinnamon to eggs in any way, shape or form, rice, most veggies, etc. I'm not worried about them at all. They will at least try something, you know? But DS is crazy about food...

Wish me luck, ladies!

Originally Posted by BeccaSueCongdon My son is picky too, but he has sensory processing dysfunction and we work with a feeding therapist to help introduce new stuff. I'd confirm first that he doesn't have any feeding issues (sensory or anatomical) before going all soup-Nazi on him. ;-) -says the recovering soup Nazi with the special needs kid. ::good vibes::

I'm thinking about taking him to the pedi anyway, for his speech. I think he could benefit from speech therapy. While we're there, we can bring up his issues with food - he can't eat eggs and things on the plate cannot touch, etc. There are other things he can't eat or says he can't eat. He hasn't been able to touch milk of any kind since he was like 18 months old - it makes him gag. Cereal is out - even the super sweetened stuff like Trix and Coco Puffs (yes, I tried to see if he'd eat that ). Even stuff like cups - he only wants to drink out of certain cups. Water has to be ice cold - he gags and throws a fit if it's not ice cold. I don't know. Maybe he really is just that extremely picky but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get him evaluated for these things.

[CarrieMF]

IF your kids are eating all day long, close the kitchen. I had to start doing it a few years ago during summer break. They would get up at 7 & eat, then start looking for food again at 8, 8:30, 9, 10, 10:30 11. Then hardly eat lunch, but be looking for food around 1:30 again. Some of it was boredom, some was it was there so why not. I started closing the kitchen at 9. I can't literally close my kitchen but they were not allowed food after 9 until lunchtime. Then they'd eat lunch & they weren't allowed anything else until 3. They're slowly starting to get back into that habit, mostly after supper but school & activities are starting soon again so that'll stop it.

[Hungry Caterpillar]

Originally Posted by LadybugS Thanks, ladies. I've been very stressed out about this so I'm taking all of your posts into consideration. This going to be hard but things have got to change around here. For the person who asked - my son is 5, and will be 6 in December. My girls are great eaters and will eat anything from baked butternut squash with cinnamon to eggs in any way, shape or form, rice, most veggies, etc. I'm not worried about them at all. They will at least try something, you know? But DS is crazy about food... Wish me luck, ladies! I'm thinking about taking him to the pedi anyway, for his speech. I think he could benefit from speech therapy. While we're there, we can bring up his issues with food - he can't eat eggs and things on the plate cannot touch, etc. There are other things he can't eat or says he can't eat. He hasn't been able to touch milk of any kind since he was like 18 months old - it makes him gag. Cereal is out - even the super sweetened stuff like Trix and Coco Puffs (yes, I tried to see if he'd eat that ). Even stuff like cups - he only wants to drink out of certain cups. Water has to be ice cold - he gags and throws a fit if it's not ice cold. I don't know. Maybe he really is just that extremely picky but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get him evaluated for these things.

You know, with the milk thing, is it all dairy? I did this when I was a kid, I gagged when trying to drink milk and said I didn't like it. Well, I didn't like it because it hurt my stomach, but I wasn't old enough or verbal enough to really explain that. I was also getting rashes on my chest and cheeks after a while, and that tipped off my parents that it wasn't a willful thing, I really had an issue with it.

So, it could definitely be a sensory thing but if you really think about it and it's all dairy, it could be an intolerance issue that he just cannot voice.

[mamma_z]

I was the picky kid in our family. If food that I didn't like was served, and I was too stubborn to eat it, I didn't eat. I knew it was my own decision, and I was fine.

That said, my relationship with food completely turned around when I started cooking. I think familiarity with ingredients helped me not be afraid of new things--I knew it would taste good since I knew the individual parts were yummy. Can your DS help with food prep?

[VaBigMama]

Thats sounds so frustrating! Sorry! Two of my kids eat whatever I put in front of them, but one is may 'gagger' who if forced to eat something he doesn't want he forces himself to throw up. I still put everything I want them to eat on the plate and they have to take one bite of everything in order to leave the table. They can starve if they want, but they must eat one bite. We have had hours worth of the battle of the wills over this and I just remind them that the longer they sit at the table the colder the food will get and it cetainly won't taste any better cold.

[Dmpmercury]

Does your son have any other sensory issues? Maybe he could benefit from therapy if his diet is that limited and it isn't from you catering to him which it could be. I also know you buy everything organic. I would love to do that but there is no way I can feed my family on all organic. I love to be able to but I can't afford to feed us. I eventually will be gardening. Can you switch to just getting the dirty dozen organic and buying whole healthy foods? What do you buy? Do you have a Costco membership. You can get stuff in bulk there. I do half my grocery shopping there and the other half at the cheaper grocery store in town. What grocery stores are in your area? Do you buy cheaper things like rice and beans? Do you buy packaged snacks? I live in a very high cost of living area and it is very hard to stick to the budget I need to in Alaska but you got to do what you got to do.

I make 3 meals a day and have snack times. I make food and they can choose to eat it or not. I do not cater to them. I make a healthy smoothie every day packed with nutrition so if they barely touch dinner they at least have that.

[RainandRedemption]

I'm one of the "eat it or don't" moms too... but I also let my kids eat whenever they want, unless it's right before a meal. I do this because my kids are big, strong, and healthy. They are both big (tall) for their age. So if you want to continue with letting them eat throughout the day, I suggest a snack bin in the fridge and pantry. Fridge; carrot sticks, bananas, cheese sticks, apple slices, veggies and dip, etc. Pantry; baggies of crackers, nuts, energy bars (you can make them cheaply), etc.
Make rules like, you can't eat all the yogurt in one day, and no snacks within 45 mins before meals... but then you don't have to serve them snacks.

For budgeting for food costs, I suggest figuring out what you can spend, break it down to per week, and meal plan. I'm not that successful with this, but MANY on this board are. Check out thrifty families for more ideas.
We buy from Sams. The best deals I get there are on hummus, spinach and lettuce, broccoli, carrots, almond milk, cheese sticks, raisins, celery, oats, prunes, almonds, cashews, dates, some fruit, in season veggies. Depends on where you are, some locations have better selection. The Costco in MO was my absolute favorite, they had an outstanding selection of natural fooods.