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Julia Altshuler

wrote:

> I have the same fears you do, about taste development. . .I do know
> that when my 10 year old grandson was a baby, I baby sat him, and made
> all his food. During that time, he loved most anything I made for
> him, but he has been prejudiced by his dad, and all those things he
> ate as an infant, he won't touch today.

I've heard another theory that has to do with normal growth rates.
Infants have voracious appetites. Parents are often amazed at how much
a baby will eat in proportion to her size. Some time around toddlerhood
and 4 years old, the child stops growing so fast. Proportional to size,
they need less food. The child sensibly stops eating when she's not
hungry, but the parents aren't prepared for the change. The child says
she's not hungry or that she doesn't want food or that she doesn't like
the offered food.

Parents don't realize they're doing it, but they push food on the kid.
In the kids' mind, the food really does look yucky because the thought
of eating it really does make the kid feel sick. A 4 year old isn't
able to distinguish where the feelings are coming from, the desire not
to eat, or the desire not to eat that yucky egg. Before you know it,
the kid is turned off certain foods for life.

Which is why the best advice is still for parents to offer a variety of
nourishing foods, spend no family food budget on junk, and let the kids
eat whatever they want from the foods offered.

I have another question for the picky eaters in the group and especially
the parents and grandparents of picky eaters. Are any of these picky
kids unhealthy or overweight? I was a picky eater who didn't grow out
of it until my late teens. I was a skinny kid, have been a slender
adult, and now that I'm looking at the extra pounds that come with
peri-menopause, still don't fall into the overweight category according
to the charts. I call it picky kid's revenge. Other than trying to eat
more fruits and vegetables, I've never dieted.

--Lia