Picky eater with food allergies

[drmccleary]

My son was 9months old when we accidently found out he has food allergies. Daddy was thinking the soothing cool of a spoonful of butterfinger shake would help ease our little ones teething woes, instead it landed us straight into the emergency room. CM's lips and eyes swelled shut while mom and dad freaked out. Come to find out he is severly allergic to peanuts, soybeans, eggs(in and out) cow milk, wheat, tomato, casein, bakers yeast, sugar cane, coconut, chocolate, and a couple other things! He can have some of those things without breaking out, except peanuts and soybeans make him blow up like a balloon. Anyway long story short, ha ha, he's three years old now and i can't get him to eat anything let alone do i feel comfortable giving him something out of our safety foods. We've found he mainly sticks to mac n cheese but outside of that he puts on a huge show of "I don't want to!"

So if anyone has any food ideas or ways of getting him to try new things, I'm up for suggestions.

[HikingCountryMomma]

The biggest things that worked for me when my kids went through their picky stages (and all three of them have at least once!) are....

I always put a little of something new or something they don't like on the plate. They have to take ONE BITE of it, at least. Hey, I used to hate peas, but now I love them.

Second, at home, I would put out the dinner plate and if they didn't want to eat what was on it, fine. I covered up the plate, put it in the fridge and when they wanted a snack, popped that plate in the microwave, viola, snack is ready! This is the one I use the most with my 5 year old right now. She tends to want a snack right after dinner, so the snack option I allow is...more dinner.

I am fortunate that my children don't suffer with allergies, so I don't have much advice on what you can & can't offer or how to make yourself feel safe there. Outside of your Allergist, perhaps make friends with a person at your local whole foods market, they might be able to point you toward some new and interesting items that you didn't know where out there.

Good luck!