Picky Eating

Since the day he was born, my son has been a big boy.  He was 10 lbs 1 oz at birth, has always enjoyed eating, rarely missed a meal, and ate pretty much whatever we gave him.  From a young age, he was an easy child to feed.

But suddenly, at the age of 21-months, he has become a picky pain in the butt.

Sure, there are plenty of things he'll eat--yogurt, crackers, noodles, fruit, and randomly, croutons--he can't get enough of any of them.  But other foods, even things I know he likes, are pushed aside.

We have tried bribes (eat one more bite and you can have XYZ).  We have tried only putting one type of food on the plate at a time, starting with the ones he is least likely to eat.  We have tried ketchup on the plate with every meal, as dipping food seems to make it more palatable.

And nothing works.  Well, not regularly, anyway.  Occasionally he will eat the last piece of broccoli to get another crouton.  Sometimes he will scarf down all his chicken knowing that next he gets rice.  Every now and then he eats an entire meal slathered in ketchup.

But its completely hit or miss; there is no rhyme or reason whatsoever to what he will or won't eat on any given day, and at any given meal.  I spend most of dinner trying to get him to eat rather than enjoying my own meal.

I am not sure whether to take this seriously and worry that he's not eating a well-balanced diet, or chalk it up to the terrible twos.  He exerts his independence in all other aspects of our day, so I suppose I shouldn't be shocked that he inhales plates of steak and green beans on Monday, and refuses the same foods on Thursday.

I have trouble feeding him yogurt and noodles for every meal.

But I am tired of the power struggle.  I want to just eat my meal without cajoling him to eat his.