My boyfriend's daughter will NOT eat anything but...?

Question

pizza, goldfish, saltines, zebra cakes, and cosmic brownies. She is extremely picky. These are the only things she has EVER eaten and will literally starve unless we have only these things for her to eat. She seems relatively healthy, but he is wanting to "wean" her away from only eating these things. We only have her two days and one night every week. I feel like if we do this that she will resent being with us for the very short amount of time she is already. Is there anyone with advice to "ease" her into trying some new foods? He says he is not going to "support her habit" forever (she's going into first grade this year) and I admit it is very frustrating at times when we are out of something she eats, or worse several things and have to make a special trip to the store, but as long as there's no nutritional issues is it really that big of a deal?

Answer 1

how is she eating these foods if they are NOT in the home????

Answer 2

She eats goldfish? No offence but that is seriously disguisting. I would take her to a dietician and show her what will happen to her what will happen if she continues eating these things and/or starving herself to death.

Answer 3

oreos and milk

can't go wrong with that

Answer 4

Saltine's are probably some of the best up here. Get some low-fat Saltine's. This is an easy way to ease her into better foods. Buy some toppings(Cheese, Butter, Peaunt Butter), anything to top onto the Saltine's. Make sure the Saltine's are a different kind than what she eats. If she doesn't like them tell her "That's the only kind that was available in the store". (Buy the pizza one of the day's she is not there so she doesn't know that there is the kind of Saltine's she eats)

The pizza. Do not buy her a pizza from a pizza place example, Pizza Hutt, Papa John's, Domino's, make one homeade. Buy some toppings and sauce that are different flavored. If she doesn't like it, tell her they are spending too much money on ordering pizzas and you can't afford to keep ordering pizza's.

The Goldfish. Goldfish can actually be good for you. Do the pizza and Saltine order I told you about and add a small serving of Goldfish. While she is trying something new, she can still have a small serving of her kind of food.

Cosmic Brownie and Zebra Cake.

Junky, Junky, Junky Food. Tell her the dangers of eating too many of this. Don't keep it on the counters or in the food cabinets. Tell her teeth turning yellow, becoming obese, and whenever she whines or complains, have an answer for everything!

You may have to be kind of tough on her but if she realizes that you're not gonna play games with her, and she has to starve, she will really want to eat. You said she literally will starve. Make sure you give her something to drink so she doesn't get dehydrated (Sorry if I spelled it wrong). But if she really gets hungry, allow her to eat the way I reccomended. I know she may be stubborn but you guys are the adults and you need to make sure she understands that.

Answer 5

Well, they may not be visible now, but there are obviously going to be some nutritional issues if this is all she eats.  There is almost no nutritional value to any of that.  You may have to engage in some negotiating.... "Eat 3 green beans and then you can have your pizza".... in order to ease her into some other things.

If you had her every day, my response would be different, though.  Cold turkey.  From now on, we eat healthy.  You eat what's on the table, or you don't eat.  Kids won't allow themselves to starve.  And they certainly won't reach starvation point by missing 3 or 4 meals in a row.

Answer 6

tell her  won't know if she likes it until she tries it.

Or that you tell her that she will be really short because she doesn't eat her veggies.  That almost worked on my brother but we were too late :( haha hes like 4''5 and 13 yrs old.

Answer 7

Kids will not starve. She may not eat a meal or two but she wont starve.

I personally would give her an option of eat the food or go without. But then again i'm pretty strict on what children eat.

No desert no nothing until you eat your dinner.

My mum did that to me and i'd eat anything. Of course kids will have one or two foods they don't like, but not that picky.

Their food affects their behaviour and their general day to day activities. Food is so important for growing kids.

Answer 8

NORMAL ! ur daughter is obease or gonna be obease have her eat 1 sweet a week and more veggies tell her that she is gonna die or something scary idk it could work when i was little i was so obsessed with carrots my parents told me i would turn into a bunny lol best of LUCK

                                      ~Jessi R.

Answer 9

Go pick up the cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" - fabulous ideas. When I make spaghetti, I add a jar of baby food peas - you could try that with pizza sauce? I'd try adding the baby food to premade pizza sauce, get some whole grain english muffins and make mini pizzas in the toaster oven. Then she's getting a lot of healthy stuff. I also add mixed veggies to macaroni and cheese. I bring a big pot of water to a boil, throw in the noodles and frozen veggies, drain them and add the cheese. My son loves this. Especially the mixed veggies that have baby corn, baby carrots and peas.

Answer 10

well if that is all this girl eats, there is a nutritional problem.  there is nothing of any significant nutritional value on that list.  if you guys want her to eat better food, stop buying all the c**p food.  put some broccli in front of her at dinner and tell her that this is what is for dinner.

Answer 11

think about kids who lived during war or depressions kids will eat if they get hungry enough. now I'm not saying starve your kid to death, I'm saying set some sort of boundaries. however you only have her a short time. without the same changes in diet at her full time parent nothing will change. if shes starting school perhaps the variety of foods she see in other kids lunches will encourage her to step out of her box.

Answer 12

I don't know what his relationship is like with her mother, but I would think the most efficient way to try this would be to get her involved in the transition.  I have step children who live out of state so out of 365 days in a year we may see them 30 days.  You can't reverse 335 days of bad habits in 30 days.

If she won't cooperate in the efforts maybe try finding ways to incorporate the foods that she likes into something healthy.  Maybe let her help make pizza.  Try and use 2% cheese, whole wheat dough or organic products.  Try sneaking some veggies on top of that pizza.  Try floating the goldfish in tomato soup or veggie soup.  Put peanut butter on the saltines to introduce some protein.  Let her help make homemade brownies, I can't remember if it's eggs are oil, but you can use applesauce as a substitute.  Trade bite for bite.  Bite of corn for a bite of zebra cake.  Let her make cheerio necklaces that she can eat when she is done.  Don't know if any of this will work, but I hope it helps!  If she feels like it is a punishment she will always resist, but if you can kind of find a way to outsmart her you may start to win.

Answer 13

She might get weight and nurtitional problems when she's older. Try to introduce her to a new food everyday. Here's a food. Brocolli. Brocolli might not look or sound so good to her, but add a little bit of cheese to make it taste better and she just might like it! What U should try doing is give her healthy foods with a little bit of a tasty twist to it.

Answer 14

zebra cake are nice

Answer 15

theres somee professional advice in the article but personally this is what i think :

to start off try pairing other things with her foods if she wants pizza try puttin gsomethin like chicken or a vegetable on the pizza  Neverr forcee her into eating somethin. also you can try to disguise different foods to resemble her favorites try to compromise and say if you eat some of this you can have a brownie etc

Answer 16

make mash potatoes... and then boil carrots till fork tender, blend mashed potatoes and boiled carrots and you have ORANGE MASH.... try it with brocoli, asparagus etc... and its a good way my grandma tricked us into eating healthy.... all that pizza, cookies and c**p will make her feel like c**p in the long run....and frustrating or not, dont go out of your way to do all this special trips and stuff.... just make dinner and if she wont eat it tough!... sounds rude... and harsh... but u cant let a little kid rule your life...

Answer 17

how old is she?

Answer 18

Being that you only have her for two days  then it probably won't make much of a difference.  Try new things with her and explain  to her that these foods are harming her body but if the other person that keeps her lets her get away with this then her attitude won't change .  Good Luck

Answer 19

If you have her only 2 days a week how do you know there are no nutritional issues?

Once out of toddlerhood, we've done the "this is dinner - eat it or go hungry" thing. My daughter doesn't whine, if she doesn't like something she eats what she wants then goes over to the fruit bowl and helps herself to something she likes.  So this method does work. I imagine it would be hard to enforce if you only have her on weekends.

You need to keep offering healthy foods. Maybe just a few saltines next to a healthy plate of grilled chicken and some carrot sticks - with no more saltines if after she finishes the ones on her plate.  She won't ever try anything else if you don't offer it.  Don't make a big deal about it, just put it out, and clear her plate when she doesn't eat it.  Eventually she'll want to give it a try.

It doesn't hurt to baby it up for her like putting ketchup on her plate to dip chicken, or cutting it up for her so it's easy to eat

Another thing - once they are in grade school and can eat in the cafeteria, somehow they get interested in eating food with their friends that they wouldn't necessarily eat at home. So encourage her to eat in the cafeteria next year.

Answer 20

Prepare healthy dinners and make a two- bite rule (at least two bites of everything on the plate).  It's what we did in my house.  Maybe you should start with something similar to pizza- such as an italian dish with some healthy vegetables in it as well.  Ease her into eating things that the majority of the population enjoys and avoid things that have a bitter taste such as broccoli and brussel sprouts.

As to how healthy the child is, well that's questionable.  The child is probably deficient in all major vitamins and minerals.  Being deficient levels of vitamins and minerals in your system negatively impacts your health.  If, and when, she falls ill due to poor nutrition, she may be taken from her primary home.  

As to waiting out the child, normally I'd be all for it.  No child ever suffered from missing a meal or two and caving in when they finally got too hungry to deal.  But, if she goes back to mom and tells mom that you all didn't feed her, your BFs privileges could be revoked by the court.

Answer 21

She's a big girl.

She needs to learn how to eat like a big girl.

Let's see here...for some "taste-a-like" alternatives...

Pizza: hot pockets, pizza pockets (unhealthy, but then again, so is pizza!)

goldfish: ritz, wheat thins (MUCH healthier!)

sweets: take a juice like capri sun and freeze it in the freezer. freezing go-gurts is yummy too. They are healthier alternatives than giving her brownies!

I was a very picky eater myself. Most of the foods I ate had cheese on it! (Grilled cheese, mac and cheese, cheesy potatoes, cheese sticks...)

ooh try giving her grilled cheese (golden brown, not burnt!) or shaped mac in cheese (spongebob, s****. doo...they sell those at safeway 10 for $10)

Eventually she will grow up and start eating more foods. Maybe try making her to "eat everything on the plate or no brownies or can't leave dinner" idk

Answer 22

I think you should try similar foods. For example.... For pizza try having pizza bagles (take english muffinns spegetti sause and grated cheese and bake it in the oven) or try hot pockets. They are healthy-er for her and have pizza flavors. And for a snack try making saltines with ham, turkey, cheese or put ranch on it  or something. or try those lunchables that have crakers with turkey and such. Even make soup but put saltines in them. Its really good and she is eating something..... I hope this helped and good luck!! : )

Answer 23

honestly, pizza can be very healthy for you. try and stay away from store bought pizza. try and make home made pizza and try putting new toppings. have her help you make the pizza and at the same time make another dish with the same toppings and have her help you. then she'll see that those same ingredients are in another dish and she maybe more willing to try and eat it. Try and get her to help you in the kitchen doing things that are safe for her to do. This way she might be willing to try things because she helped make it!  But i think it's a faze she'll grow out of. try taking her out to a nice resturant with a kids menu with fun names as a treat and she what she'll pick off the menu? I'm not sure what else to suggest... best of luck!

Answer 24

Its just a phase it will pass, just gotta slow down the intake of these foods at a time

Answer 25

I am a really picky eater but one day my dad and i went out to dinner at a Japanese restraunt and he payed me 10 bucks to try 7 kinds of different sushi. I didnt like any of them but at least i tried right? If she gets too skiny take her to the doctor they'll know how to help. Also try to get her to eat pasta everyone i know loves pasta. lol ^_^ hope this helped

Answer 26

well she is like five years old right? she is the child, you guys are the adults, don't give her that rubbish she eats. she will not starve forever, eventually she has to eat something and she will once she realises you will not give her all that junk.

P.S. wtf is with eating goldfish!? that is truly disgusting.

Answer 27

Actually, [according to my mother]...

she let us eat a lot of sweets when we were younger because [according to research], it helps them as teens and adults to like it less.

i actually don't like a ton of sweets now.

she won't starve herself forever, trust me, my 7 year old sister says she will starve herself, does for a few hours, and then caves in when she thinks no one is watching. try introducing her to new foods that wouldn't seem healthy, or take her out to eat.

Answer 28

you just have to takea baby set at a time and keep trying little stuff and seeing what she will eat and not. its hard when you only have her once in awhile

Answer 29

well as long as sh is physicaly active because soon you might have an obese child

and you just simply say were not going out to get your foods when you get hungry, theres other food you can try and offere things so that she cant say you are starving her also tell her at school your not gonna be able to eat like that

Answer 30

For the time she is there - 3 days a week - don't you think you should just stock up on those items?  It's only 5 items, just make sure you have them for her every week.  Pizza three days a week is really not a big deal, as long as she is a healthy weight.  Does she eat like this at her mom's too?  Kids this age can be still pretty picky eaters.  My cousin only ate mac and cheese and hotdogs for every meal and he turned out fine.

What I do with my daughter (7 years old) is I make her try new things.  It was hard when she was younger, but you should be able to have a 6 year old do it.  Give her pizza with the meal you are serving.  Have her take one bite of your meal, before she can have the pizza.  One bite, that's it.  Do this every time.  Over time, she might be more willing to try new things.  It worked for my daughter.  I don't force the food on her, because then she will just rebel and not eat.  But I do make her have one bite.  Sometimes she likes it, sometimes she doesn't.  I always praise her for trying it.  Now she's not so picky anymore and willing to try new things.  She told me recently she wanted to try shrimp!

Answer 31

I'm not sure what you're using to judge that there's no nutritional issues, because that diet is deficient in a variety of things like vitamin C and protein. The girls father needs to speak with her mother about setting up a sensible diet, and then sticking to it despite the daughter. If she fights, then just wait her out- most kids won't be able to last very long. A couple days without eating never killed anybody, and presumably she'll break before two days are up.