I have a 15 month old who is a picky eater. She does not eat meat and her food staples are grapes, raisins, corn and all things BREAD related! I want to expand her options but she refuses to try new foods and throws anything different off her high chair at first touch. I worried about her not getting the right vitamins too. Any suggestions on how to deal with a picky eater? Also, should a child this age be taking a daily vitamin supplement? Thanks for your help!

My 18 month old is a picky eater too. Almost every night she has pasta which worries me sometime but I tell myself at least she is eating something. She doesn't care for veggies so I have to sneak them into the sauce which usually works. Have you tried yogurt, cheese, bananas, pancakes? Those are mainly the things in my daughter's diet. I have also found she likes lunchables jr. They have the meat and cheese cubed up with crackers. Maybe she will eat that. I think the main thing to do with picky toddlers is just keep offering them other options along with the food that they like. They might surprise you and eat it. But I wouldn't force it because that might make them dread mealtime.

I was concerned about my daughter not getting a balanced diet and brought it up at her 15 month appointment. Her doctor said that toddlers can be picky and not like something one week and then like it the next. He also said if I was really concerned there were vitamin supplements that I could give her (I chose not to though). I don't remember what they were, but I would defintely talk to your Dr if you are concerned. Hope that made sense and helped a little to know others are in the same boat.

Glad to hear there are others struggling with this! Our youngest turned 2 in February and is pretty advanced. Right now he's in this "phase" where he won't eat. It's a complete power thing. He's doing the same thing with potty training, even though he was almost there at the beginning of the summer.

What we've started doing is we lay out in front of him on the table what he HAS to eat. Our kids get a "treat" (i.e. yogos, a mini frozen yogurt cone, a piece of licorice, etc.) if they eat well after dinner. This has proven to be a good motivator….when our little guy sees his sister (who is an incredible eater) getting a "reward" for being a good eater that usually spurs him along to eat what we've laid out for him. But it's always a battle…each night we start from square 1 it feels like! Someday I'm sure we'll be complaining about how he won't STOP eating!