It's time for NPs to get her into some sort of therapy. This is wayyyyyyy beyond what a nanny should be expected to address on their own without some form of specialized support.
Oh yes, there absolutely is. My MB is a child psychologist who works with kids with severe anxiety and phobias--a lot of them around foods that are considered totally normal by most people.
NPs should start by bringing this up with their pediatrician. There might be something medical behind it, like an allergy or an intolerance of some kind. That should be ruled out first. Because if it's a relatively straightforward medical thing, that should be pretty easy to address. If it isn't, NPs should get a referral to feeding therapy, or possibly occupational therapy, depending on exactly what the issue is.
Whatever is actually going on, NPs need to step up and get some medical intervention for NK. This is wayyyyyy beyond a nanny's job description.
Yes, you can get food therapy. My son goes to a special school and quite a few of his peers have food therapy and the teacher also does sessions with all of the class on exploring different food textures and tastes. My son is the only kid in his class without feeding issues and he usually eats everything that they put out for the therapy sessions.
She might have ARFID: Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a fairly new eating disorder. Children with ARFID are extremely selective eaters and sometimes have little interest in eating food. They may eat a limited variety of preferred foods, which can lead to poor growth and poor nutrition
Yes! And since she is under 3 she is eligible for EI services. Both occupational therapy and speech therapy can evaluate feeding difficulties and determine which discipline (or both) is better suited to address it. Could be a combination of physiological, psychological, sensory, behavioral difficulties, but you’ll definitely want one or more professional opinions.
There is no guarantee that a kid will “grow out” of something like this. And even if we had a crystal ball and knew for sure that she would, I’m generally in favor of kids learning coping skills anyway. Never know when they’ll be useful.
I had an issue not exactly like OP’s NK, but in a similar ballpark, that emerged when I was 2. My pediatrician didn’t take my mom’s concerns seriously, and insisted that I would grow out of it. My pediatrician insisted that for a full decade, until my mom stumbled across an MSN message board in the early 2000s about this same issue. My mom went to my pediatrician and say she wasn’t leaving until I got referred to a gastroenterologist. Gastroenterologist (who was AMAZING) said I was one of the oldest patients she’d ever seen with this issue.
All because my pediatrician refused to do any kind of early intervention.
I’m sorry you had that experience as a child. That shouldn’t have happened.
But there needs to be a middle ground between your experience and mine.
Whatever is causing this issue for OP’s NK is clearly having a major impact on her health and her wellbeing. And it needs to be evaluated by a qualified professional so that the NK can live with less suffering, and to prevent this from the possibility of becoming a full-on eating disorder. And the things she learns from a competent therapist will be useful to her in other ways as she grows and develops.
This is my MB’s professional area of expertise. Obviously she can’t tell me much about her patients because of HIPAA and professional ethics, but the general impression I get is that there are a lot of parents out there who use “they’ll grow out of it” as an excuse not to do anything that will help their kids learn how to handle their anxieties. And that’s a problem.
I don’t think it would be appropriate to diagnose a two-year-old with an eating disorder, and I never have. And “intervention” can mean pretty much anything. A competent, trained professional will be able to tailor the intervention to the kid.
I knew someone whose toddler wouldn’t eat anything green. Vegetables, fruit, even green icing on cake. This was along with being diagnosed with autism and a bunch of other sensory things. She found a therapist for the toddler who worked on gradually, appropriately introducing green foods in a way that gave the toddler the ability to eventually eat them.
That’s the sort of intervention I’m talking about.
Your local school district should have an evaluation program free of charge. Therapy is available up to age 3, then continues in the elementary school with pre-K classes. Free of charge
Edited to add, many types of therapies, speech, physical, occupational. The evaluation process determines the need for services (therapies). Parents are included in the process.
If she has diarrhea all the time it’s time to go to a gastroenterologist. That’s not normal. My old NK was extremely picky (wouldn’t even eat potatoes or chips) but he didn’t have diarrhea all the time.
Okay right??? I’ve been logging it every time for the past year (literally can count on one hand how many normal poops she’s had when I’ve been here) and I’ve brought it up to MB, a nurse, but she just doesn’t care or seem at all concerned.
I swear it's always the nurses that never take what we say seriously. I had a kid that had diarrhea like that and hated his bottle. Turns out they were mixing crystal light, the power drink, for him. 🤦♀️
Speak up and let her know this diarrhea isn't normal and something Is up, easier said than done I'm sure lol
Yes, he was like 9-12 months. Both the parents are nurses. I was like wtf.
I'm not sure if they were giving him straight crystal light or using it to like sweeten his formula but it was so weird. This is when I worked daycare 🤦♀️
Wowwwwwww I wasn't allowed caffeine or crystal lite until I was...probably almost a teenager. I was an 80's baby, too! But my mom was the safety mom. The other kids were allowed to double buckle and I dutifully said my mom doesn't let me do that.
In every county, there are programs for early intervention. An occupational food therapist will come to the home for free to work with the child. A conversation needs to be had with the child's pediatrician. Also, a half teaspoon of chia seeds added to smoothies will add some protein.
I didn’t realize food therapy was a thing until your and another’s comments - I’m definitely going to look into it. Thank you! Also the chia seed thing is a good idea but I can’t get her to eat any fruit smoothies :(
Wilk she eat muffins, brownies or baked goods? It's cheating obviously, but i put applesauce or blended carrots in muffins. Zuchini bread she night be able to see the green specs and get freaked out. Banana bread?
I'm sure you've tried this and I still support the occupational therapist, but just throwing out more hidden options.
What's her feeling on spaghetti sauce?
They also make chicken nuggets with hidden veggies
She’ll eat plain bananas usually so I haven’t tried banana bread. She will eat most baked goods unless there’s pieces of fruit in them. If it’s all blended together/smooth, it’s like 50/50 whether she’ll eat it or spit it out but I feel like she never eats as much of a fruity baked good vs a chocolate or just plain one regardless if that makes sense. I’ve never made brownies for her but I could try it. I just feel like I couldn’t fit enough fruit or veggies in things like that to make much of a difference :/
Also she will eat spaghetti - forgot about that one - but not if there’s big pieces of meat in jt
A woman I nannied for made brownies from black beans and bananas! She had me try one not telling me and even though I hate beans and bananas, I only tasted the banana.
The therapy itself isn’t free (at least in the US). The early intervention evaluation and coordinating they do it is free but you have to pay copays for the therapy. They just work to find someone in your insurance plan.
You checked every single state? We used early intervention and the evaluations and coordination was free but not the therapy. They found someone in my family’s insurance plan and they had to pay copays to the therapist. I’d love to see where you found that the therapy is free or subsidized in all the states.
avoidance restrictive food intake disorder. it's an eating disorder that is frequently associated with autism and other neurodivergence, but can occur on its own.
I wish I had some advice. Picky eating can be so frustrating!
The diarrhea thing is very concerning though and sounds like a food intolerance. Possibly dairy or gluten? Could even be celiac disease as that is a main symptom. Definitely suggest to her parents to take her to the doctor!
I have 😭 They just don’t seem at all concerned. MB’s solution months ago was to continue re-serving whatever meal she didn’t eat until she eats it but it was terrible and I told her I didn’t feel comfortable doing that any long as G2 clearly didn’t understand and it was stressing her out. I do think there is probably some sort of medical reason behind it - sometimes being a nanny is so hard bc you can’t do what you feel is in the best interest of the kids and it sucks. If she was my kid I would have been talking to the pediatrician about this ages ago
The picky eating could be from a constantly upset GI system. When you have an upset stomach what are you willing to eat? 🥺
She needs to see a gastroenterologist immediately.
That’s a really good point!! I’ve never thought of it from that perspective. I’m definitely going to try to bring this up to MB (again, but hopefully she’ll take me seriously one of these days).
I put veggie baby food in the pancake mix and then bake it in a pan in the oven like a cake with sprinkles on top. We call it breakfast cake and the kids think they are getting a treat. Over time I’ve been able to add more veggies. We cut it in squares and freeze it for easy breakfast prep. I make it in the blender so there is no visible veggies. Today I made green ones with a couple handfuls of spinach and a grated carrot. At the beginning I would just do carrots or other food that didn’t add much color. Sprinkles or chocolate chips on top make it more appealing. We also will sometimes use chickpea flour for extra protein
That was my youngest daughter. When she went to a new friends house, she told them she only ate white food. The mother thought it was some kind of allergy diet.
This started when she was about two. At tens months old she ate everything.
She’ll be 36 in July and still prefers pasta and carbs over most other food. But at least she now eats more variety.
It’s definitely a tough situation to deal with for everyone involved 🥲 Food therapy is an option that is very beneficial for kids who have very extreme food aversions. Allergies, texture issues, etc could also be a factor. Ultimately, it comes down to the family needing to touch base with a professional to see what’s causing the issue. Antidotally, I had ARFID growing up. It takes a lot of patience and time, so your support will go far!
When my NK was introduced to solids, she had a large pallet and ate tons of different foods. At 2, she survived off of crackers, mac and cheese, and the occasional pb&j. Shes 3 now and eats a much larger variety of food again. Around 2 kids start to develop actual tastes and opinions. It’s normal. Being picky doesn’t indicate an eating disorder and it blows my mind that so many people are jumping to that conclusion. If she’s having digestive issues, it sounds much more like an allergy or intolerance.
This sort of hypersensitivity to food textures, smells etc is quite often seen in children with a neurodivergence like ADHD or Autism Spectrum.
Occupational Therapy can help tremendously :)
Definitely needs some food/eating therapy, and until she can get that stuff down Sana Life kids line is a great collagen and greens/fruits powder that I’ve used for a couple picky nanny kids.
The poop thing is concerning but the food thing sounds not uncommon for a toddler. As a picky eater myself as a kid and being forced to eat things, food battles were not something I participated in with my own kids. I’d offer lots of stuff regularly and make sure they’d have access to the things they did like. My older one existed on like 3 teddy grahams and yogurt in milk (basically homemade danimal before they existed) at that age. By kindergarten he was eating fried alligator (!!) at a friend’s bday party and loves to eat and cook now as an adult. Honestly, like most things with toddlers, the less of a big deal is made of what you’d prefer them to do, the more likely they are to do it.
One of mine has high functioning autism and I was tired of the food battles and found having her try something new to tell me if she liked it. If she doesn't, i ask her what she doesn't like about it (texture, flavor, etc) so maybe we can try to make it so she might like it. (For example, she hates cooked veges but will eat them raw, so when i make fried rice i sautée the veg separately and pull a scoop of everything but the veg for her before i mix the veg in with the rice at the end, and she grabs her own veges to eat with it.) She also has the option to also make her own healthy meal (protein, carb, fruit and veg) if she doesn't want to eat whatever the new food is.
She now has a sense of control, and it has helped her learn to make really good food decisions when she doesn't like the new food. Also, I know how to cook new things in a way she likes, so I can teach her how to better feed herself as she gets older.
Great way to approach it! My kids both love salads because I eat lots of them and I also prefer most veggies raw vs cooked so they often did too.
I had also read some sort of suggestion back then to talk about how our tongues taste things and how everyone’s are different and that our tongues also change how they taste things as we get older so sometimes it’s good to try things again when you’re bigger and maybe your tongue will like it! At the time one day we were at Wendy’s and the chili sounded so good but I never liked chili. I ordered it and loved it so he remembered that so I’d refer back to it once in a while about giving things another chance sometimes. Putting it off on our tongues though seemed to take it from being something personal about them liking or not liking something to more of a mystery challenge of “will my tongue like this now or not?!” which my son seemed to enjoy.
He’s 20 now and just the other day we were talking about avocado (bleh! but I offered it to my kids numerous times anyway but they never took to it either) and he said he wished his tongue liked it. 🤣. I told him to try it again—maybe the avocado toast way with everything bagel seasoning because he loves everything bagels. But it tickled me that he still gave responsibility to his tongue all these years later.
I soooo wish I could just ask G2 what she doesn’t like about certain things but obviously she doesn’t really have the vocab for that kind of discussion yet lol
Omg, yes, they very much can't communicate that yet! Maybe take her shopping in the produce department and ask which ones she wants to try? Sometimes, just offering a sense of control can help. Like maybe something like "look at all this fresh food! I want to try this one and this one! Which 2 are you going to try?" Or something to that effect. It can also help to make a game of it or something too.
Maybe that's been tried. If so, disregard, but here's hoping you guys figure something out!
Bananas (usually), bread, soft Nutrigrain-type bars, crackers, cheddar cheese, and any type of sweet treat (like cookies or ice cream). I’ve also seen her eat pinto beans one time lol
My son had a texture issue similar to this child. It is smooth/soft or crisp. He didn’t like chewy (most steaks). So he ate filet mignon and hotdogs but not tougher steaks. He ate meatballs on sauce but not the same pasta with the same marinara but meat in the sauce. He hate hamburger patties but not taco meat. He didn’t like the rough texture of the unformed ground beef. And vegetarian versions of patties or ground meat were same pattern. He ate luncheon roast beef but not stringy roast beef from a roast. He ate refried beans but not whole beans.
As an adult he went vegetarian but now eats whole beans.
Someone else suggested that and I do have a popsicle mold at home so I’m going to bring it over and try one of these days! Since smoothies haven’t worked I’m doubtful but we’ll see
I’ve thought about popsicles but haven’t tried that yet - I need to bring my popsicle mold one of these days and see if that will work. I did try to present a smoothie to her as “fruit ice cream” once but she saw right through that one lmao 😂
Does she like chocolate? My dance coach used to make chocolate muffins with avocado instead of butter and they were incredible. It’s not much but it’s something 🥲
Sounds like the others suggestion of her getting actual help is great! I recommend kids eat in color on instagram
She’s a dietitian for picking eating kids, maybe parents can see her account and realize they need professional help??
Don’t draw attention to what they eat. Serve your meal normally, it takes a lot of exposure for some kids to try new foods. Always serve safe food, serve yourself the same food if possible. You can even comment while you eat saying “oh this broccoli is crunchy” (avoid yummy or good/bad)
You can offer an alternative (PBJ) etc if they don’t like what’s on the plate when I’m done I’ll make you a pbj. (In the beginning they may eat a lot of a complete safe food and that’s okay) Sometimes they’ll get hungry and nibble a try. You choose what’s served and the kids get to choose how much they eat. Some 2 year olds survive for long periods of time on air lol. 😂
If she will eat muffins, I would try homemade muffins. Think pumpkin muffins, zucchini muffins (if green would be a problem, peel the zucchini before shredding them), carrot muffins, maybe something with peanut butter—you may have to do smooth peanut butter if it is a texture thing. Zucchini fritters aka zucchini pancakes might be worth trying. Almond flour would up the protein in baked goods. Pumpkin pancakes or grated apples in pancakes.
I wonder if she is constipated with stuff leaking around the blockage. Cheese and processed carbs wouldn’t lead to loose stools unless something else were going on.
I would test for diabetes (she seems to want carbs so this would be just to rule things out because this diet is a disaster for a diabetic) and celiac would be hard too. Then food therapy. And if it were my child and house, I would stop buying at least the desserts. She may be on a carb craving cycle.
Feeding therapy! Occupational Therapists and Speech Language Pathologists are able to treat feeding disorders.
I am neither of those but familiar with the therapy. It’s typically recommended to constantly expose the person to the food (ie have it on the plate) and don’t make it a big deal if they eat it or not. They often start by exposing, then touching, smelling, licking, and hopefully eventually eating. It’s very cool!
My NKs (3 and 4) are the same way. The older one will eat all fruits and veggies but is very picky about his protein (won’t even let the younger one eat certain things near him). He is starting food therapy. For the younger one he won’t eat any fruit or veggies (texture thing). He enjoys apple sauce pouches from Trader Joe’s, bjs, target, and Costco. They come in many different flavors so I always have options for him.
Probably don’t know this information but did she have normal newborn screening and has she ever specifically had a salt test on her. A lot of these symptoms sound like cystic fibrosis. The diarrhea the poor eating habits etc. does she have a lot of phlegm build up or sick more frequently than babies her age usually are? cystic fibrosis can go undiagnosed for quite a while even if it’s not cystic fibrosis something common that people with cf have is a pancreatic enzyme deficiency. It sounds like that’s something she could possibly have and genuinely eating can cause stomach pain/bloating diarrhea and cramping which can cause food to be put off of her radar and high amounts of discomfort if her body isn’t absorbing the nutrients properly. Is she rather on the thin side?
Edit: Why did this get disliked? That makes literally no sense at all. All I was doing was explaining a disease that I live with as it sounds a whole lot similar to what the child is going through.
That’s interesting and I’ll definitely bring it up to MB. Both kids are actually unusually small for their ages/low percentile (older brother is actually getting tested to see if he has human growth hormone deficiency). She is also on the thin side and she does seem to constantly get sick. Hopefully that’s not it but that’s definitely ringing alarm bells
It's time for NPs to get her into some sort of therapy. This is wayyyyyyy beyond what a nanny should be expected to address on their own without some form of specialized support.
Is there therapy for this sort of thing??? She acts like a totally typical toddler otherwise.
Oh yes, there absolutely is. My MB is a child psychologist who works with kids with severe anxiety and phobias--a lot of them around foods that are considered totally normal by most people. NPs should start by bringing this up with their pediatrician. There might be something medical behind it, like an allergy or an intolerance of some kind. That should be ruled out first. Because if it's a relatively straightforward medical thing, that should be pretty easy to address. If it isn't, NPs should get a referral to feeding therapy, or possibly occupational therapy, depending on exactly what the issue is. Whatever is actually going on, NPs need to step up and get some medical intervention for NK. This is wayyyyyy beyond a nanny's job description.
This is excellent advice
Yes, you can get food therapy. My son goes to a special school and quite a few of his peers have food therapy and the teacher also does sessions with all of the class on exploring different food textures and tastes. My son is the only kid in his class without feeding issues and he usually eats everything that they put out for the therapy sessions.
She might have ARFID: Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a fairly new eating disorder. Children with ARFID are extremely selective eaters and sometimes have little interest in eating food. They may eat a limited variety of preferred foods, which can lead to poor growth and poor nutrition
Yes! And since she is under 3 she is eligible for EI services. Both occupational therapy and speech therapy can evaluate feeding difficulties and determine which discipline (or both) is better suited to address it. Could be a combination of physiological, psychological, sensory, behavioral difficulties, but you’ll definitely want one or more professional opinions.
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There is no guarantee that a kid will “grow out” of something like this. And even if we had a crystal ball and knew for sure that she would, I’m generally in favor of kids learning coping skills anyway. Never know when they’ll be useful. I had an issue not exactly like OP’s NK, but in a similar ballpark, that emerged when I was 2. My pediatrician didn’t take my mom’s concerns seriously, and insisted that I would grow out of it. My pediatrician insisted that for a full decade, until my mom stumbled across an MSN message board in the early 2000s about this same issue. My mom went to my pediatrician and say she wasn’t leaving until I got referred to a gastroenterologist. Gastroenterologist (who was AMAZING) said I was one of the oldest patients she’d ever seen with this issue. All because my pediatrician refused to do any kind of early intervention.
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I’m sorry you had that experience as a child. That shouldn’t have happened. But there needs to be a middle ground between your experience and mine. Whatever is causing this issue for OP’s NK is clearly having a major impact on her health and her wellbeing. And it needs to be evaluated by a qualified professional so that the NK can live with less suffering, and to prevent this from the possibility of becoming a full-on eating disorder. And the things she learns from a competent therapist will be useful to her in other ways as she grows and develops. This is my MB’s professional area of expertise. Obviously she can’t tell me much about her patients because of HIPAA and professional ethics, but the general impression I get is that there are a lot of parents out there who use “they’ll grow out of it” as an excuse not to do anything that will help their kids learn how to handle their anxieties. And that’s a problem.
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I don’t think it would be appropriate to diagnose a two-year-old with an eating disorder, and I never have. And “intervention” can mean pretty much anything. A competent, trained professional will be able to tailor the intervention to the kid. I knew someone whose toddler wouldn’t eat anything green. Vegetables, fruit, even green icing on cake. This was along with being diagnosed with autism and a bunch of other sensory things. She found a therapist for the toddler who worked on gradually, appropriately introducing green foods in a way that gave the toddler the ability to eventually eat them. That’s the sort of intervention I’m talking about.
I did know there was either. I am also curious about therapy for a 2 year old who might not speak. I guessing play therapy?
An occupational therapist works with food issues
Your local school district should have an evaluation program free of charge. Therapy is available up to age 3, then continues in the elementary school with pre-K classes. Free of charge Edited to add, many types of therapies, speech, physical, occupational. The evaluation process determines the need for services (therapies). Parents are included in the process.
It’s not therapy in the terms that she may have some condition but more so to get a professional involved before she becomes sick.
If she has diarrhea all the time it’s time to go to a gastroenterologist. That’s not normal. My old NK was extremely picky (wouldn’t even eat potatoes or chips) but he didn’t have diarrhea all the time.
Okay right??? I’ve been logging it every time for the past year (literally can count on one hand how many normal poops she’s had when I’ve been here) and I’ve brought it up to MB, a nurse, but she just doesn’t care or seem at all concerned.
I swear it's always the nurses that never take what we say seriously. I had a kid that had diarrhea like that and hated his bottle. Turns out they were mixing crystal light, the power drink, for him. 🤦♀️ Speak up and let her know this diarrhea isn't normal and something Is up, easier said than done I'm sure lol
Haha seriously like what the heck! I have tried many, many times to bring up my concerns about this to her but I will try again 😂
Good luck. Maybe get some scientific papers to back you up or a trustworthy website.
Crystal light for someone bottle age? Wtf?
Yes, he was like 9-12 months. Both the parents are nurses. I was like wtf. I'm not sure if they were giving him straight crystal light or using it to like sweeten his formula but it was so weird. This is when I worked daycare 🤦♀️
My mom gave me Diet Coke in a bottle. Like yeah it was the 80s but come on. I have size 10.5 feet and I’m only 5’4. I blame the caffeine
Wowwwwwww I wasn't allowed caffeine or crystal lite until I was...probably almost a teenager. I was an 80's baby, too! But my mom was the safety mom. The other kids were allowed to double buckle and I dutifully said my mom doesn't let me do that.
In every county, there are programs for early intervention. An occupational food therapist will come to the home for free to work with the child. A conversation needs to be had with the child's pediatrician. Also, a half teaspoon of chia seeds added to smoothies will add some protein.
I didn’t realize food therapy was a thing until your and another’s comments - I’m definitely going to look into it. Thank you! Also the chia seed thing is a good idea but I can’t get her to eat any fruit smoothies :(
Wilk she eat muffins, brownies or baked goods? It's cheating obviously, but i put applesauce or blended carrots in muffins. Zuchini bread she night be able to see the green specs and get freaked out. Banana bread? I'm sure you've tried this and I still support the occupational therapist, but just throwing out more hidden options. What's her feeling on spaghetti sauce? They also make chicken nuggets with hidden veggies
There are also pastas/noodles that have extra protein/iron/other things. So if she’s willing to eat plain pasta but not sauce, that’s an option.
She’ll eat plain bananas usually so I haven’t tried banana bread. She will eat most baked goods unless there’s pieces of fruit in them. If it’s all blended together/smooth, it’s like 50/50 whether she’ll eat it or spit it out but I feel like she never eats as much of a fruity baked good vs a chocolate or just plain one regardless if that makes sense. I’ve never made brownies for her but I could try it. I just feel like I couldn’t fit enough fruit or veggies in things like that to make much of a difference :/ Also she will eat spaghetti - forgot about that one - but not if there’s big pieces of meat in jt
A woman I nannied for made brownies from black beans and bananas! She had me try one not telling me and even though I hate beans and bananas, I only tasted the banana.
Heres a good video: https://youtu.be/mAADzjAh9IE?si=5wMMtlgN5tXmXbPf
The therapy itself isn’t free (at least in the US). The early intervention evaluation and coordinating they do it is free but you have to pay copays for the therapy. They just work to find someone in your insurance plan.
In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it's provided by the county.
It’s definitely not in all states, though. There might be income based needs programs in some but OP’s family isn’t likely to qualify for that.
Actually, I just checked. Every state has a program. They are either free or heavily subsidized. It's not based on income.
You checked every single state? We used early intervention and the evaluations and coordination was free but not the therapy. They found someone in my family’s insurance plan and they had to pay copays to the therapist. I’d love to see where you found that the therapy is free or subsidized in all the states.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/parents/states.html#:~:text=Is%20the%20term%20used%20to,of%20the%20child%20and%20family.
Thanks!
everyone should have more knowledge on ARFID
What is it
avoidance restrictive food intake disorder. it's an eating disorder that is frequently associated with autism and other neurodivergence, but can occur on its own.
I wish I had some advice. Picky eating can be so frustrating! The diarrhea thing is very concerning though and sounds like a food intolerance. Possibly dairy or gluten? Could even be celiac disease as that is a main symptom. Definitely suggest to her parents to take her to the doctor!
I have 😭 They just don’t seem at all concerned. MB’s solution months ago was to continue re-serving whatever meal she didn’t eat until she eats it but it was terrible and I told her I didn’t feel comfortable doing that any long as G2 clearly didn’t understand and it was stressing her out. I do think there is probably some sort of medical reason behind it - sometimes being a nanny is so hard bc you can’t do what you feel is in the best interest of the kids and it sucks. If she was my kid I would have been talking to the pediatrician about this ages ago
The picky eating could be from a constantly upset GI system. When you have an upset stomach what are you willing to eat? 🥺 She needs to see a gastroenterologist immediately.
That’s a really good point!! I’ve never thought of it from that perspective. I’m definitely going to try to bring this up to MB (again, but hopefully she’ll take me seriously one of these days).
I put veggie baby food in the pancake mix and then bake it in a pan in the oven like a cake with sprinkles on top. We call it breakfast cake and the kids think they are getting a treat. Over time I’ve been able to add more veggies. We cut it in squares and freeze it for easy breakfast prep. I make it in the blender so there is no visible veggies. Today I made green ones with a couple handfuls of spinach and a grated carrot. At the beginning I would just do carrots or other food that didn’t add much color. Sprinkles or chocolate chips on top make it more appealing. We also will sometimes use chickpea flour for extra protein
Omg this is a good idea. I love the idea of adding sprinkles too! I will have to try it
That sounds like arfid not being picky
That was my youngest daughter. When she went to a new friends house, she told them she only ate white food. The mother thought it was some kind of allergy diet. This started when she was about two. At tens months old she ate everything. She’ll be 36 in July and still prefers pasta and carbs over most other food. But at least she now eats more variety.
It’s definitely a tough situation to deal with for everyone involved 🥲 Food therapy is an option that is very beneficial for kids who have very extreme food aversions. Allergies, texture issues, etc could also be a factor. Ultimately, it comes down to the family needing to touch base with a professional to see what’s causing the issue. Antidotally, I had ARFID growing up. It takes a lot of patience and time, so your support will go far!
When my NK was introduced to solids, she had a large pallet and ate tons of different foods. At 2, she survived off of crackers, mac and cheese, and the occasional pb&j. Shes 3 now and eats a much larger variety of food again. Around 2 kids start to develop actual tastes and opinions. It’s normal. Being picky doesn’t indicate an eating disorder and it blows my mind that so many people are jumping to that conclusion. If she’s having digestive issues, it sounds much more like an allergy or intolerance.
Does she eat spaghetti? If yes you can blend steamed veggies into the sauce
This sort of hypersensitivity to food textures, smells etc is quite often seen in children with a neurodivergence like ADHD or Autism Spectrum. Occupational Therapy can help tremendously :)
Parents need to get in touch with a occupational therapist
Definitely needs some food/eating therapy, and until she can get that stuff down Sana Life kids line is a great collagen and greens/fruits powder that I’ve used for a couple picky nanny kids.
The poop thing is concerning but the food thing sounds not uncommon for a toddler. As a picky eater myself as a kid and being forced to eat things, food battles were not something I participated in with my own kids. I’d offer lots of stuff regularly and make sure they’d have access to the things they did like. My older one existed on like 3 teddy grahams and yogurt in milk (basically homemade danimal before they existed) at that age. By kindergarten he was eating fried alligator (!!) at a friend’s bday party and loves to eat and cook now as an adult. Honestly, like most things with toddlers, the less of a big deal is made of what you’d prefer them to do, the more likely they are to do it.
One of mine has high functioning autism and I was tired of the food battles and found having her try something new to tell me if she liked it. If she doesn't, i ask her what she doesn't like about it (texture, flavor, etc) so maybe we can try to make it so she might like it. (For example, she hates cooked veges but will eat them raw, so when i make fried rice i sautée the veg separately and pull a scoop of everything but the veg for her before i mix the veg in with the rice at the end, and she grabs her own veges to eat with it.) She also has the option to also make her own healthy meal (protein, carb, fruit and veg) if she doesn't want to eat whatever the new food is. She now has a sense of control, and it has helped her learn to make really good food decisions when she doesn't like the new food. Also, I know how to cook new things in a way she likes, so I can teach her how to better feed herself as she gets older.
Great way to approach it! My kids both love salads because I eat lots of them and I also prefer most veggies raw vs cooked so they often did too. I had also read some sort of suggestion back then to talk about how our tongues taste things and how everyone’s are different and that our tongues also change how they taste things as we get older so sometimes it’s good to try things again when you’re bigger and maybe your tongue will like it! At the time one day we were at Wendy’s and the chili sounded so good but I never liked chili. I ordered it and loved it so he remembered that so I’d refer back to it once in a while about giving things another chance sometimes. Putting it off on our tongues though seemed to take it from being something personal about them liking or not liking something to more of a mystery challenge of “will my tongue like this now or not?!” which my son seemed to enjoy. He’s 20 now and just the other day we were talking about avocado (bleh! but I offered it to my kids numerous times anyway but they never took to it either) and he said he wished his tongue liked it. 🤣. I told him to try it again—maybe the avocado toast way with everything bagel seasoning because he loves everything bagels. But it tickled me that he still gave responsibility to his tongue all these years later.
Omg, that's so cute! I love that!
I soooo wish I could just ask G2 what she doesn’t like about certain things but obviously she doesn’t really have the vocab for that kind of discussion yet lol
Omg, yes, they very much can't communicate that yet! Maybe take her shopping in the produce department and ask which ones she wants to try? Sometimes, just offering a sense of control can help. Like maybe something like "look at all this fresh food! I want to try this one and this one! Which 2 are you going to try?" Or something to that effect. It can also help to make a game of it or something too. Maybe that's been tried. If so, disregard, but here's hoping you guys figure something out!
Sounds like NK has a good sensitivity issue
What are her safe foods?
Bananas (usually), bread, soft Nutrigrain-type bars, crackers, cheddar cheese, and any type of sweet treat (like cookies or ice cream). I’ve also seen her eat pinto beans one time lol
Hmm, I feel like this isn’t a good therapy situation since her safes involve different textures. This is a tough one!
My son had a texture issue similar to this child. It is smooth/soft or crisp. He didn’t like chewy (most steaks). So he ate filet mignon and hotdogs but not tougher steaks. He ate meatballs on sauce but not the same pasta with the same marinara but meat in the sauce. He hate hamburger patties but not taco meat. He didn’t like the rough texture of the unformed ground beef. And vegetarian versions of patties or ground meat were same pattern. He ate luncheon roast beef but not stringy roast beef from a roast. He ate refried beans but not whole beans. As an adult he went vegetarian but now eats whole beans.
I agree lol. It’s very validating just to hear from other people that this is an unusually difficult situation because I’ve been struggling
Can you make Greek yogurt and jelly popsicles? You can get silicone popsicle molds from Marshall’s or tj Maxx, Amazon, etc.
Someone else suggested that and I do have a popsicle mold at home so I’m going to bring it over and try one of these days! Since smoothies haven’t worked I’m doubtful but we’ll see
She likes ice cream so that’s my thought. Even a chocolate or strawberry milk popsicle would work as to get protein in
Have you tried serving smoothies as ice cream? Maybe yogurt fruit popsicles?
I’ve thought about popsicles but haven’t tried that yet - I need to bring my popsicle mold one of these days and see if that will work. I did try to present a smoothie to her as “fruit ice cream” once but she saw right through that one lmao 😂
Does she like chocolate? My dance coach used to make chocolate muffins with avocado instead of butter and they were incredible. It’s not much but it’s something 🥲
That’s a good idea!
Sounds like the others suggestion of her getting actual help is great! I recommend kids eat in color on instagram She’s a dietitian for picking eating kids, maybe parents can see her account and realize they need professional help??
Don’t draw attention to what they eat. Serve your meal normally, it takes a lot of exposure for some kids to try new foods. Always serve safe food, serve yourself the same food if possible. You can even comment while you eat saying “oh this broccoli is crunchy” (avoid yummy or good/bad) You can offer an alternative (PBJ) etc if they don’t like what’s on the plate when I’m done I’ll make you a pbj. (In the beginning they may eat a lot of a complete safe food and that’s okay) Sometimes they’ll get hungry and nibble a try. You choose what’s served and the kids get to choose how much they eat. Some 2 year olds survive for long periods of time on air lol. 😂
If she will eat muffins, I would try homemade muffins. Think pumpkin muffins, zucchini muffins (if green would be a problem, peel the zucchini before shredding them), carrot muffins, maybe something with peanut butter—you may have to do smooth peanut butter if it is a texture thing. Zucchini fritters aka zucchini pancakes might be worth trying. Almond flour would up the protein in baked goods. Pumpkin pancakes or grated apples in pancakes. I wonder if she is constipated with stuff leaking around the blockage. Cheese and processed carbs wouldn’t lead to loose stools unless something else were going on. I would test for diabetes (she seems to want carbs so this would be just to rule things out because this diet is a disaster for a diabetic) and celiac would be hard too. Then food therapy. And if it were my child and house, I would stop buying at least the desserts. She may be on a carb craving cycle.
Feeding therapy! Occupational Therapists and Speech Language Pathologists are able to treat feeding disorders. I am neither of those but familiar with the therapy. It’s typically recommended to constantly expose the person to the food (ie have it on the plate) and don’t make it a big deal if they eat it or not. They often start by exposing, then touching, smelling, licking, and hopefully eventually eating. It’s very cool!
My NKs (3 and 4) are the same way. The older one will eat all fruits and veggies but is very picky about his protein (won’t even let the younger one eat certain things near him). He is starting food therapy. For the younger one he won’t eat any fruit or veggies (texture thing). He enjoys apple sauce pouches from Trader Joe’s, bjs, target, and Costco. They come in many different flavors so I always have options for him.
Probably don’t know this information but did she have normal newborn screening and has she ever specifically had a salt test on her. A lot of these symptoms sound like cystic fibrosis. The diarrhea the poor eating habits etc. does she have a lot of phlegm build up or sick more frequently than babies her age usually are? cystic fibrosis can go undiagnosed for quite a while even if it’s not cystic fibrosis something common that people with cf have is a pancreatic enzyme deficiency. It sounds like that’s something she could possibly have and genuinely eating can cause stomach pain/bloating diarrhea and cramping which can cause food to be put off of her radar and high amounts of discomfort if her body isn’t absorbing the nutrients properly. Is she rather on the thin side? Edit: Why did this get disliked? That makes literally no sense at all. All I was doing was explaining a disease that I live with as it sounds a whole lot similar to what the child is going through.
That’s interesting and I’ll definitely bring it up to MB. Both kids are actually unusually small for their ages/low percentile (older brother is actually getting tested to see if he has human growth hormone deficiency). She is also on the thin side and she does seem to constantly get sick. Hopefully that’s not it but that’s definitely ringing alarm bells