Please tell me if I'm being unreasonable/worrying over nothing!

[sherilee]

Hi

My ds has just turned 2 and has always been extremely fussy. My health visitor and doctor seem to think its just a phase - what one that lasts from 6months to 2 years!??? Anyway for a while he would only eat baby cereal and yoghurt but after a while and lots of trying he now eats other food too. Now h eats a lot of fruit but I dont think this is enough to sustain him. Here is a list of acceptable foods

Chicken nuggets (maybe 1-2 bites)
Chips/fries
Sausages occasionally
potato smiles
scrambelled egg with cheese
cheese spread
cheddar
porridge
toast
carrott sticks- raw only
cucumber
most fruit (apple,banana, grapes, strawberry, melon,pears) No oranges or kiwi tho
yoghurt

Am I being silly? I really would love him to eat fish, mashed potato, pasta and rice and maybe some more veg but he just simply refuses and would rather go hungry. Obviously he also loves any kind of sweets or crisps- who doesnt! He has also started cutting down his milk, he normally has a sippy of milk in the morning and before bed but has started to leave most of it.

Any advice would be gratefully recieved!
Many thanks
Sheri
xxx

[jennyh]

my 3 nearly to be 4yr old only eats pasta ,smiley faces fruit and dry cereal.imo i wouldnt worry about it.imo thats quite a varied diet.just keep trying different things and one day he might supprise you.

[lilmonkey]

As long as he is gaining weight and happy, I wouldn't worry about it.  Just keep offering him new foods and eventually he will want to try it.  Here are some ideas that i found helpful in getting dd to try new foods, especially vegetables.

1.  Eat with together
2.  Invite other children who are good eaters to eat with him
3.  Let him prepare the meals with you - dd loves to wash the vegetables and will munch on them in the process
4.  Let him serve himself - we let dd decide what she would want to try and 90% of the time she will pick the vegetables and place them on her plate.

As an aside, a friend of mine used her dd's phase of wanting only fruits to start toileting training.  Apparently it worked really well as the fibers helped with the bm and she was trained very easily for poos.   

[hemz80]

Hi

I can imagine how anxious you feel... have you seen Annabel Karmel's books?  There are some great ideas for discuising food and making it look fun to eat - maybe worth a shot?

Good luck x

[mum101]

Hi,

I think you need to give yourself a pat on the back - you've extended his food from yogurt and baby cereal to this list now!

Just keep trying new stuff, make it fun, and not stressful. I think once they know they have power in refusing and only eating chocolate AND making us run around it makes it harder.  But you are doing something right to increase his range!

If the chips and nuggets are store bought or fried, perhaps you could make them yourself and gradually change the way they are made.  ie. if deep fried, change to oven fried with plenty of oil, then reduce the oil.  That way he could gradually get used to less oily and fatty foods.  Don't know if it would work - just a thought  

[mum101]

2.  Invite other children who are good eaters to eat with him
3.  Let him prepare the meals with you - dd loves to wash the vegetables and will munch on them in the process
4.  Let him serve himself - we let dd decide what she would want to try and 90% of the time she will pick the vegetables and place them on her plate.

My 5 yo nephew doesn't eat a wide range of foods and SIL is often trying to get him to eat healthier foods.  But recently a few of us were out and DD desperately wanted a Tuna Sushi Roll, a few of us ended up getting the same, and nephew actually asked for one!!  His mum got him one and he tried it a couple of times but didn't eat it.  However SIL mentioned more than once 'you probably won't eat it'   

I said 'it's alright, it's great to try new things, otherwise it gets boring' and left it at that. 

DD loves to help cook too, and has often been introduced to new foods like salmon by her thinking it was cheeky to nab food off the bench!

[Stace]

Hi Sheri,

I think it looks like your toddler has a good range of varied foods too but can understand why you would like to add fish etc at an early age.

Have you tried to disguise foods that you would like him to have but he doesn't want/like? I found the best way was to start by adding disliked foods pureed into other things he did like then slowly build up so the pieces get gradually bigger? For example - pureed fish in with the scrambled egg and cheese? Does he eat mashed potato - if he does, he may eat fish pie if you really mix it up?

We found that DS loves sauce and although he's never been a fussy eater, he will eat almost anything if he can dip it in tomato sauce?

Also what about fruit and veg smoothies or ice lollies? I normally do the smoothies with milk and his favourite fruits - strawberries, grapes & apple but you could always add a veg, what about grape and celery with a favourite fruit juice?

Hope this helps but sounds like you're doing a fab job already.

Stace x

[rinajack]

We don't have many issues about what DD will eat, but she definitely has quantity issues, and dipping in sauce helps with those too