Written by Stephanie Elliot, the author of the young adults novel, Sad Perfect.

As a parent, you’ve most likely experienced some sort of picky eating in your child or children. Toddlers are known for – and prone to – refusing foods that don’t taste good, or look funny, or touch another food on their plate. Some kids are just naturally picky, refusing green vegetables or things that look weird to them. But when does it become more than just picky eating? When do you need to worry that maybe your child isn’t getting all the nutrients he needs?

My daughter was an extremely picky eater as a baby and toddler, and we were not initially concerned. We chalked it up to just that – picky eating. But, sandwiched in between two brothers who never refused any foods and excitedly ate lima beans and broccoli, we began to notice that our daughter’s aversion to many foods was becoming problematic. She would cry and scream, sitting at the dinner table, shaking her head back and forth, adamant that she would not be eating what the rest of the family ate. Her main diet as a young child consisted of very basic, plain and white foods, heavy on the carbs, very low on the protein and vegetables. She ate plain bagels and bread, Goldfish, French fries, pizza with the cheese and sauce scraped off, cereal, and waffles (but refused butter and syrup). She ate all sorts of sweets, and on occasion, I could coax her to have a peeled apple slice or a few raw carrots. Her only protein source was peanut butter and Carnation Instant milk. Does this diet sound familiar to you? Continue reading →