My picky eaters

Hi Everyone. I posted this topic in the second year also, but wanted some input from parents of slightly older twins who have already been through this phase.
My girls Emma and Bella are 21 1/2 months old. And I am still having trouble getting them to eat anything besides yogurt, crackers, goldfish, etc
They see an occupational therapist once a week each and she has been working with them on feeding. It is not going well. She started by trying to add things to their yogurt and they did not like that at all! It is actually hard to get them to eat yogurt sometimes now, in fear we tricked them.
They were getting 3 bottles a day one in the morning, one at nap time, and one right before bedtime(which I didn't know was too much) My husband and I had decided when we first noticed they were kinda picky eaters that we would get rid of the bottle when they started to eat more. Well here it is almost a year and they still don't eat much. Actually, Emma has picked up a couple new things and will sometimes try something new no problem, but Bella is extremely picky still.
So Their OT said to stop the bottle completely, no more milk, which she said will force them to eat. Well I tried it yesterday and it was a disaster! Emma did ok, cause she eats certain things Bella won't like Cherrios, bananas, etc. Bella wouldn't eat a single thing. It was so sad! She cried in the highchair, but not like throwing a fit, and when I would get her down she would just lay on the living room floor with a blanket over her head, like the time she was sick for a week throwing up I couldn't do it. I thought it was wrong to make a child who doesn't understand what is happening to take every comfort away from them. They don't talk yet, so I couldn't explain to them why their favorite foods were gone and replaced by this new stuff.
I have noticed that if they're in a good mood they're more likely to at least try something new out of curiosity. But if they're already mad, forget it!
So for now, my husband and I have decided that this is not something we will commit to so why torture them. We have cut down their bottles. They get a little 4oz bottle in the morning, none at nap, and 4oz before bed. We thought that was a good place to start. I will keep offering them new things at meals, but I will not push them to try it as I believe it can cause more trauma towards meals. I have hope that they will slowly grow out of this picky eating phase as they have been very slowly trying new things.
Has anybody else had similar experiences? And what did you do about it?
Thanks so much!

 

It's possible that they will drink significantly less milk at first but that is ok as long as they are drinking water and not getting dehydrated. Kids will eat when they are hungry. You don't need to starve them to help them learn to eat, but you do need to offer them healthy meals/snacks 5-6 times per day and not give in to their demands if they want something else. My OT always told me that it was my job to provide the healthy variety of food and it was their job to eat it. GL! It's a hard transition for sure!

edited to add that I guess this is double posted. The first part of my post is in response to your second question on your other thread!

 

I agree with PP. We never made a big deal out of food, just offered them whatever and it was up to them to eat or not. We still do the same... DS is still ultra picky but DD eats a decent variety of food at least. We've found that having dressing or ketchup on the side to dip things has helped a bit too. We try to offer one thing that we know they'll eat at meals, but it doesn't always work out. They don't get food after dinner so if they don't eat that's it...

What you could do though is still give them a bottle, but with less milk in it.

 

I would not just take the bottles away cold turkey. I would start by reducing the amount of milk in the bottles if I wanted to looses the bottle but honestly I would just let them have them.. I would not stress about it too bad. I imagine the older they get the more foods they will eat. My ds#1 would only eat bits of grilled cheese sandwiches at 2yrs old my dh was so mad at me because I would cook a nice meal for us and make Tad a grilled cheese. He survived, and at 16 there is NOTHING the kid won't at least try. He is a very good eater and has been since he was 6 or so. There were days that I truly wondered how the kid survived. He would not eat anything but grilled cheese - no sweets no nothing! I just continued to offer him everything I had if he refused I did not make a big deal of it and if he tasted it I played it up! but he was close to 3 before he would even budge.

 

Thanks guys for the advice and thanks Heather, that makes me feel better!