Picky child eaters?

[colby]

We are shifting to the method in the latest picky eating kids thinking with my daughter (2 in 3 months). After we did baby-led weaning (and she ate more "human food" than "baby food" while learning to eat), she is still settling in to some toddler habits (she would eat mac and cheese for every meal, I swear, but she also loves steamed edamame, blueberries, and some spicy foods). The BLW helped with not having to feed her ourselves from the ground up (we do sometimes shovel in yogurt to keep things clean), and being at "school" she only self-feeds there, too, from what's put in front of her.

Here's the book: http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Your-K.../dp/0915950839
Another link: http://ellynsatterinstitute.org/dor/...yinfeeding.php

Summary of the thinking is: "parents are responsible for what is presented to eat and the manner in which it is presented. Children are responsible for how much or even whether they eat." As a part of it, you generally include one food you know they will eat with foods they may or may not eat. Sometimes it's mom's favorite food night, sometimes dad's favorite food night. They learn to feel a little less stressed out about the food in front of them and end up more likely to try different things. As an example, for Christmas the family had roast beast (I had a stuffed pepper) with sweet potatoes and green beans, on my daughter's plate we put roast beast, sweet potatoes, a sample of my pepper, a side of mac and cheese, and green beans. She ate all of the mac, a couple green beans, a bite of sweet potatoes, and some pepper, but no meat (normal for her). One night she put a BUNCH of crinkle cut carrots in alongside some of her staple foods, which I haven't seen her do in a while. It also takes a few presentations for a new food to become a comfortable food, so you can't take turning their nose up at it once as a forever no, or a reluctance to try new things to mean forever no.

It's hard because sometimes she's a snacker (eats small meals and wants snacks), so we have to think defensively and plan ahead a little.