Food Wars

Right now the most frustrating part of parenting is getting Liam to eat normal food. I am not writing as a mom that has any answers in this area, just the frustrations that I have and maybe you have too. Maybe if you've had success, you can share that. And by success I don't mean tell me that your child has always been a good water and here/s what you did (Felicity is that so far). I want to hear from those who have had picky eaters and how they turned it around. 

Liam hasn't always been a terrible eater. Up until his first birthday he would eat every thing. I never had any problems. Then he got a stomach bug and didn't want to eat for a couple of days. Them he got his first molars and refused some of his favorite foods. Since then, he hasn't worked his way back up to what he used to eat. 

I write this today because I tried to give him a piece of cheese and he lost his mind (resulted in a 30 minute time out). Besides a grilled cheese and a quesadilla, this boy hasn't had a piece of cheese in over a year. That's right, a year! He used to eat cheese everyday as a snack. In fact, that was one of his first words, "chees". Now, he won't even touch it. Here's a breakdown of his current eating habits:

Has never eaten - rice, mashed potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, ground meat

Used to eat, now won't - cheese, mac & cheese, pasta, peas, green beans, beans, tomatoes

Sometimes eats - chicken, lunch meat, eggs, oatmeal, meat, carrot 

Will always eat - fruit, pancakes, french toast, PB&J, pretzels, crackers, cookies, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, yogurt

So you can see how challenging this is. Things are a lot better then six months ago, but we still have to pack a PB&J where ever we go just in case he won't eat what's there. How do we stop it? We've done the whole, "This is what's for dinner" thing, but we end up giving him something just so we don't have to wake up in the middle of the night with him cause he's hungry. 

Am I making a bigger deal of this than I need to? I just don't want a picky child. I remember picky children  growing up and I thought they were brats and their parents were push overs for letting them get away with it. But now on the other side, I sympathize with the parents cause sometimes you don't have the energy to fight it. And the way our life has been going lately has left me with very little energy to try. 

If you have any tips, share the wealth please.