On May 25, 7:58 am, Julia Altshuler > wrote:
> 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.

I swore I wouldn't do that. I remember sitting at the table until
bedtime with some food or other that I didn't want sitting on my plate
uneaten.

My daughter was what we called the "air baby". She would eat and
nurse normally, then all of a sudden, had little to no interest in
food. The next morning, her clothes would not fit! Hmmmmm. This
pattern lasted until she was about 5, when she became a picky
eater<g>. My response was to give her tiny portions of everything,
which she had to eat (a teaspoon or so to start). Then if she was
hungry, she could have more.

At 15, she now has definite preferences, but eats a reasonably well-
balanced diet.

> 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

I felt it was the overriding of the child's "appistat", the signal
from the stomach to the brain that they've had enough, that caused
obesity and eating disorders. The "clean your plate" syndrome. I've
trained myself to not eat everything on the plate when we eat out, and
to take smaller portions at home. Doesn't always work, but it's
better than it used to be. The kid is now learning to order by what
she will eat.

maxine in ri