fussy children

This is an idiom which just doesn't travel across the Atlantic. It always makes me uneasy when I hear children described as fussy.

In the UK, if someone is fussy it means

a) that they are constantly rearranging the doilies on their perfectly clean nested occasional tables

OR

b) that they will only eat steamed vegetables, rice not pasta, and drink wine only from the Loire Valley

I know it doesn't mean the same in the US, but I wonder whether it carries the same perjorative connotations? If so, then my unease is justified... more on why later, maybe