Mom’s Naptime Power Hour: Picky Eater

Top (ON SALE for 50% off! size down) // Pants (sold out-similar) // Shoes (c/o) // Earrings (c/o) // Leyton’s Outfit (c/o) // Teepee – Use discount code MYLIFEWELLLOVED for 15% off. (c/o) (Thank you to Garden Lites for partnering with me on this post. Affiliate links may be included.)

I hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend. What a blessing it is to live in the USA where brave men and women sacrificed their lives for us to enjoy our freedom!

See some of my favorite Memorial Day Sale picks below:

We had so much fun with you guys doing this series and got so much good feedback that we’ve decided to continue our Mom’s Naptime Power Hour series once a month. So, each month Molly and I will team up once again to bring you a mom-centric blog post and a Facebook live where we talk about the topic that month. We’d love to hear your feedback, what do you want to talk about next?

In case you missed the first Mom’s Naptime Power Hour posts, you an see them here:

• Cleaning tips for the busy mom
• Fashion: Mom Style Checklist
• Mom fitness Question and Answer

One of the questions we’ve gotten a lot over the past several weeks is how to incorporate healthy food into your childs’ and family lifestyle and especially what to do with a picky eater. We’ve gotten lots of comments about picky eaters and so many questions about how we handle that in our own families.

Here’s how we combat unhealthy eating with a picky eater:

Meal plan: I know this sounds like a broken record if you’ve been following my blog for a long time but meal planning really is where it’s at! It helps you be more prepared, helps you have more healthy and different options on hand for your child to try out and alleviates the stress of what’s for dinner. Plus you know you have healthy snacks and meals available for your child vs just grabbing sugar-laden snacks out of the pantry all the time because you are in a pinch and your toddler is having a full-on meltdown.

Sneak in veggies: I’ve briefly mentioned our love for Veggie Lites before because in their cute little muffins, there are TONS of veggies blended into delicious flavors like chocolate, blueberry, superfood veggie cakes, etc. In under 1 minute, you can microwave these muffins and have them ready to go with you or serve them to your little one for breakfast or a snack. They are dairy, gluten and nut free to boot!

You can use this coupon for $2 off. I found some of the flavors at my Target on sale so with this coupon you could probably get them for about a dollar a box! That’s a steal.

We also sneak in veggies like spinach in a fruit smoothie which he loves to slurp up with a straw.

Have a picnic:  To make things more fun and interesting, sometimes we’ll load up our food and take it in the backyard for a mini picnic as shown above. Leyton likes to be outside and either play with the pom poms on the teepee if we bring it out, pick up sticks, talk about watering the plants, babble about the flowers and trees, and run around chasing balls and such.

Sometimes this takes the stress out of mealtime and allows him to grab a bite here and there in between play. Just like all toddlers though, sometimes this works and sometimes it proves to be too great of a distraction from eating. Why oh why do they love things one day and the next HATE the thought of it? Ha! They are such interesting little characters.

Keep exposing different foods: I asked a pediatric specialized dietitian about my son’s picky eating while I interviewed her in a Facebook Live for Homefit a while back. She mentioned that kids need to be exposed to something around 100+times before they may come around. That’s a LOT, y’all! So even though I assume Leyton won’t eat the chicken or almost any veggie I put on his plate, I still put it there so he continues to get familiar with it.

A frequent mistake I made was always placing lots of different foods on Leyton’s high chair as well. Sometimes the choices could overwhelm him and I’d be running around like a crazy person trying to pull out ANYTHING I could think of to see if he’d eat that instead. She said that I should instead offer 1-2 things at a mealtime. If he chose not to eat it, that was his choice. Then at the next meal time, I would bring out that same 1-2 things and so on and so forth till he finally gave it a try. This is trying as a momma especially when sometimes he’d eat it and then two days later he turned his nose up at it. However, there’s no more turning the house upside down over here to offer him 100 different things till he lands on something he likes. He’s either hungry or he’s not.

She also mentioned that I should try to avoid regularly feeding Leyton crackers, candy, convenience foods, pouches etc in our home so that I won’t have to tell him no when we’re out in public. She said it’s overwhelming how much candy is offered to kids everywhere now…at birthday parties, school, and sports practices. That way if you know they are eating healthy, well-balanced meals at home, the little indulgences out in public won’t add up as much. Otherwise the amount of sugar and processed foods they consume can seem a little daunting.

Don’t sweat it. My pediatrician and numerous other parents have told me that when Leyton is hungry enough, he’ll eat. A lot of times they don’t need as much food as we think they do. I try to remind myself that even though he won’t eat meat or many veggies, he’s still eating a lot of healthy things that do have protein in them like Greek yogurt, peanut butter, hummus, etc.

As an example, Leyton’s typical day of eating looks something like this:

Breakfast: Banana and milk

Snack: All natural bar broken up in pieces with water

Lunch: Greek yogurt parfait with tons of peanut butter and cut up fruit sometimes and milk

Snack: Garden Lites muffin or Fruit and crackers with water

Dinner: Peanut Butter and Jelly on whole wheat bread with milk

Although it’s far from perfect, it’s a start and we’re taking it one step at a time. Sometimes he’ll gobble up his PB&J or banana and other times he looks at me as if I’m from Mars if I think he’s going to eat that! “What the heck, mom?!” I’m still learning what to do just like you are but I’m trying to stress less about it and be informed. I’m just grateful we have the food to provide him and that he has the ability to start expressing himself.

Click to shop the picky eater post:

How do you get your picky eater to eat meat or veggies? I’d love to hear your tips too!

Above all, I hope this post encourages you that you’ve got this momma. Just by reading this article, you are showing that you care about how your child eats and you want what’s best for them. Do the best you can and take some deep breaths, toddlerhood is a hard stage but we’ll get through it and then we’ll miss it. Give your sweet little one a hug today and soak in the sweet moments. Even though some days they seem far and few between, you are doing the best you can and that’s all anyone can ask of you. God has uniquely equipped you to raise your son or daughter, so be confident in that.

PS Don’t forget to click to download the Veggie Lights coupon HERE!

PPS See more of my favorite Memorial Day Sales here!

Photos: Casey Marie Photography