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How do I get a 6 yr old VERY picky eater to stop fighting me @ dinner time?

When cooking barely begins he is in the kitchen letting me know what he don't like from sloppy joes to bbq ribs. The child refuses to eat most foods, takes 45 minutes to eat, we have set timers for limited time to eat, promised dessert, gone to bed hungry, you name it, we have tried. Even Holiday meals are a struggle. He is now on Pediasure just to get some calories in him some how.

Our 4-year-old doesn't eat most things. He has been diagnosed as having sensory integration disorder -- textures of foods feel very differently to him than to most people, creating a lot of fear and anxiety about eating.

If your child is particular about sticking to one type of texture -- smooth, soft foods, especially -- he may have the same thing. If he is only insisting on eating favorite foods, it's probably just a power struggle.

We have been given about a billion books on this disorder and on picky eaters, and a common theme is that it is your responsibility as a parent to provide food, but NOT to make your child eat it. Eating is his responsibility. Don't get into a trap of fixing him special foods or different meals if he's just a picky eater; not only are you creating problems for yourself, but for him, too, down the road.

If there's a lot of anxiety about this issue, either for you as the parent or for your child, discuss it with your child's doctor to see if an examination from a specialist is in order. Some kids don't want to eat because of acid reflux, difficulty swallowing, sensory integration, and other reasons.

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