Picky Eaters and Food Allergies

Frank, I like the idea but I need to be careful. My boys know that Spiderman lives with his Aunt May. Maybe if Aunt May says it, it will work!

All those yummy dips make a great spread on sandwiches too.

I dont know how this would fly with yours, but i used to tell my son that I was friends with spidermans mom and she told me that he loves all these foods ?

I Have also asked the adults in his life to try and not influence him on food preferences. My son used to be my squash buddy until his dad said that he hated squash, so my son went through a phase of hating squash because daddy hates it. It took many times of my husbanf to say "its okay that I dont like it. You and mommy can still love it and eat it together." So I've asked grand parents a d such to make sure that its okay to let him know that he can like stuff that they don't.

I'm no help on the protein stuff since the majority of our protiens come from beans,eggs, nuts, and meat.

I notice my son eats significantly more food if he gets to helo make it or I make it into funny shapes/ mini sizes. Like we made homemade waffles and he loved it bacuae he ate 7 of them, as opposed to one regular sized one. Lol

Not sure if he can eat almonds because of the allergy.

@mamabird, I actually just read that they are fine to eat, but a while ago I look them up for my boy and says they help loose weight, because of that I didn't give them to my kids. Since they are already pretty thin. But not sure now.

@yessie why not chia seeds?

My kids like carrots with peanut butter. Also I wouldn't recommend chia seeds for a small child. A bit of flaxseed should be fine. Buy the seed form and you can grind it at home. Seeds are better as fresh as possible and once grinded start losing some of their properties. Does he like almond butter? Or avocado? Full of healthy fats. You can also make waffles at home and use glad eggs instead of real eggs. I make them at home. If you want the recipe I will post it.

My son is not allergic to anything, but so picky. Veggie burgers (plain, cut up in small bites), breakfast bars, and cheese have been his go-tos lately. We've been mixing Amazing Grass Kidz Superfood into his milk in the morning. It has a bunch of vitamins and minerals from all sorts of fruits and veggies (i drink it to, since i have been picky while pregnant). It's basically a waiting game with toddlers though. Keep offering different things and eventually they'll try it.

Check out protes protein chips 15g of protein

You've already been given some great suggestions so I'll just add a couple of things that work for us.

1) dips and spreads. My picky eater loves to dip. So while she'll turn up her nose at beans, guacamole and cheese, she'll dip homemade chips in "brown dip, green dip and yellow dip." Hummus comes in a ton of varieties (even chocolate dessert hummus) and she'll happily dip carrots or fruit into it. She'll say NO to a sandwich very loudly but will eat soft cheese that she can dip crackers into. Also, green pea and spinach dip is a hit.

2) look for creative ways to use protein rich veggies (kale chips, green smoothies etc.)

3) some pastas (barilla in the yellow box) have added protein

4) on a bad day, I throw some protein powder into her milk and call it chocolate milk (not my favorite bc of the added sugar but you gotta do what you gotta do.)

I know it's frustrating, good luck!

Green peas are high in protein. You can make green pea houmous with carrot and cucumber sticks.

Definitely try meats different ways. Instead of just chicken try the rotisserie chicken, chicken wings... Maybe he likes hotdogs? Turkey hot dogs? Pepperoni? Salami? My 5yr old is quite picky — won’t touch veggies and is very slowly coming around to meats. I get him pouches with fruit mixed in, snacks with extra servings of protein, fiber, fruit, etc. I buy Ovaltine for his smoothies. Adding spinach makes it HULK green and you can’t even taste it in there. He gets vitamin gummies, I hide veggies in muffins because he loves muffins. I also try and get him to be more adventurous when he’s at our family’s home for dinner. He’s slowly coming around :)

Thank you all for the great suggestions! I have so many new things to try!

Saving this post for later, so many good ideas.

Something I made last night gave me an idea for you. I did quesadillas with cheese, tomatoes, spinach, chicken, and salsa.

You could purée the spinach in with the salsa, (to sneak extra protein in) and chop the chicken really small (season first with taco, fajita, or something) and wrap it all in a wrap, toast or grill. If you put the chicken beside the cheese it’s more likely to melt into it and hide ?

Also we do ground chicken sometimes. You could cook some chicken, and lentils and chick peas on the side. Blend them together with some water and garlic, ginger, salt. It’s like a dip but still has all good things in it. We do this with beef too ?

ETA: CHICK peas, not chicken peas ??‍♀️

@mama no problem. Glad it can help.

@yaya yeah i wasnt sure about the bar cuz i cant always remeber which nuts are tree nuts. Ive made homemade ones before and they were a hit and easy to make.

@kbbay I just SS your comment so I can save it for my grocery trip this week. Thank you!

Thank you all for the suggestions! Larabars unfortunately have nuts in them. I haven't found a protein bar yet that doesn't use nuts. Sometimes I make my own with oatmeal, raisins, seeds, and peanut butter. I should make them more often. Or I could teach my 10 year old to make them...

Ok this might be long. Vegetables with protein: peas, spinach, kale, broccoli, sprouts, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, artichoke, asparagus, corn.

Those are the top 10 vegetables with protein

Top 15 fruits with protein:

Dried apricots

Raisins

Guava

Dates

Prunes

Avacado

Kumquat

Grapefruit

Jackfruit

Currants

Raspberries

Bananas

Peaches

Figs

Cantaloup

I dont know if he can have larabars but they have like 5g protein in some of them

My 6 year old is in a very similar situation. I offer her quite a bit of dairy because she actually likes it and isn’t allergic to it. She drinks a lot of Lifeway Kefir. And she loves Noosa yogurt, only a select few flavors though. Have you looked at various veggies? Some have a decent amount of protein. For being as picky as she is my daughter will eat cauliflower. Please pm me if you need support. It’s so stressful having a child that doesn’t like to eat and can’t eat lots of things due to allergies. We are going to see a dietician because my daughter is slipping further and further down on the growth curve for weight. I understand exactly what you’re going through.

My 6 year old is in a very similar situation. I offer her quite a bit of dairy because she actually likes it and isn’t allergic to it. She drinks a lot of Lifeway Kefir. And she loves Noosa yogurt, only a select few flavors though. Have you looked at various veggies? Some have a decent amount of protein. For being as picky as she is my daughter will eat cauliflower. Please pm me if you need support. It’s so stressful having a child that doesn’t like to eat and can’t eat lots of things due to allergies. We are going to see a dietician because my daughter is slipping further and further down on the growth curve for weight. I understand exactly what you’re going through.

Im in the same boat. My son is allergic to milk soy and shellfish. What about peanut butter, oatmeal, wheat thins? Making the meat different ways like meatballs or meatloaf, natures bakery fig bars, yogurt with added protein. Protein granola?

ETA: i saw you said he likes oatmeal. They make oatmeal with extra protein in it

Iris, I'll look into that. Thank you!

Mama, I'll get protein and seed powders. I think I'll be able to sneak them into more meals in powder form. Thank you!

You can add a little protein powder to any type of smoothie.

Would you consider a nutritional drink? Komplete/Kate Farms makes a gluten, nut, and dairy free nutritional shake that is high in protein. They are completely plant based and make a kids version.

He does like fruit smoothies.

I'm having a similar issues with Wyatt because he doesn't drink whole milk or eat cheese very much. So I'm trying to find other sources of protein and calcium. I use the powdered form and just mix it in with his oatmeal or yogurt. I don't really taste a difference. I just feel like the powder is less noticeable. You could do one of the natural peanut butters and celery as a snack? Will he drink tastey smoothies?

He sometimes eats peanut butter. I do have chia and flax seeds that I put into his oatmeal. Does the powder work better than the whole seeds?

Does he eat peanut butter? Chia and flax are good options that you'd be able to hide in other food.

I need help! My 4 year old has food allergies and he's such a picky eater. He's allergic to eggs, tree nuts, and shellfish. He's decided that he doesn't like to eat chicken, beef, fish, or pork. He doesn't like beans at all. I have no idea how to get more protein in his diet. He loves cheese and yogurt, but I'd like some non-dairy options.

I don't force him to eat. He'd rather go hungry than eat what is offered. I'm afraid he's going to start losing weight if he keeps this up much longer. Does anyone have any suggestions for foods he might like or gentle techniques to get him to eat what is offered?