[Signal]

Thanks Natttmumm.

This whole discussion has given us a much better perspective on things, but its only come through posing the question and people being cool to chat about it. So thanks to all.

You could have a very good point and that might be we are expecting a bit much of her. I totally agree with you. Thanks again. :-)

[ausmumof2]

Sounds like normal toddler behavior...

My DS5 was terrible at that age he basically lived on porridge toast and apples... and he is still a normal size normally developed 5yo. His diet is slowly improving


Things that help....


keep them too busy to snack

trying veges straight out the garden

make it fun

offer what you are having and try to make sure there is something of what you are having that they will like so they can just eat that if they want, rather than getting a separate meal. Because otherwise they learn that if they don't eat it they get something else, but by doing that they don't go to be hungry.


And no kids don't necessarily eat when they are hungry, there are kids out there that end up on a feeding tube because they refuse food. We did try this technique and DS went 24 hours without food... not something I would ever do again!

[Signal]

I read once that food has to be presented to a toddler ten times before it's familiar, so try to repeat a few tried and true meals and don't bother with endless variety. It's overwhelming and doesn't give her time to get to know it.

Relish,
Thanks for your comments. I guess that we are wondering when her 'library' of food will grow or change. We have been feeding all this stuff to her for about 18 months now and just a bit suprised that she hasnt tried anything different.

I shouldve been a bit more careful with 'force food' comment... by that i mean that we sit with her for a period of time and just try to get her to eat it. Not physically, but encourage her etc.

I think that we will try out a picnic or something on Friday night and see how things go. Some nights we have a 'tv dinner' fairly chilled.. but 95% of the time its at the dinner table. We just thought that the routine of her knowing 'this is now dinner time' would help her to try something... know what i mean?

We are keen to try all sorts of stuff, and thanks to people on here, we have a few other ideas now. Thanks again for the reply - very much appreciated!

Signal

[JoIsMe]

Hi

DD is a great eater but we found that she went through phases of only eating fruit or only eating veggies - and they are different textures and different tastes and I think at 2 they are still developing what they like etc. We did have success hiding veggies in mince with pasta but we didn't try to hid a lot, only a little so it was still mostly mince. we also tried a variety of veggies cooked a variety of ways and time - she now loves broccoli heads but they have to be mushy (which I personally think is yuck, but hey she likes it). she also likes to dip things - so she will dip veggies in tomato sauce or gravy, or egg, or mayonnaise. I figure the small amount of sauce is worth it if she eats lots of veggies. due to growing carrots at my mums, she will now eat carrot. peas are a good and easy favourite too. but she won't eat salad.

also, there was a thread on here a while ago that suggested getting the toddler to just lick the veg or new food and thats it. we tried this and it was a success. sometimes a lick became a mouthful other times it was a lick over several dinner times before it was eaten. and helping to prep the food also helped. but remember it won't be instantaneous - it still might take a few weeks to introduce a new food.

DD is now 2.5 and its at this stage where we can reason with her (eat one more piece of broccoli then you can have yoghurt or we have carrot eating races). and I still think she is too young to go without but then i don't load a plate full of stuff she doesn't like either, usually just a small amount of something new along with what I know she will eat, one meal a day. otehrwise it would be a constant battle and I don't want her to have issues with food or start to dread meal times.

good luck with it all. its rather stressful isn't it!

[lsolaBella]

I will be honest and say that over 5-6yrs we have produced the same meals many times (generally a weeks rotation of meals so 52 times a year on average for some meals) and DS1 has not eaten a bite, despite being 'exposed' to the same meal over 300 times. The '10-20 times' exposure does not work for us.

[seepi]

One thing that worked amazingly well with my Mr Fussy was letting him wash blueberries or grapes in a little bowl of water for dessert. We did it at the table after dinner, and I thought he might eat one or two, but he polished off half a punnet and kept on saying 'wash another one' 'me wash another one' til they were all gone.

Mine is less fussy than most here though, but doesn't eat much fruit beyond bananas and sometimes apples; or much veg beyond raw carrot and cucumber, and potatoes and corn.

[trillian42]

It is frustrating, isn't it - but honestly I don't think your daughter is too bad. Fussy yes, but don't kid yourself that every other kid will scarf down lasagne etc. Mine won't at least! She'll eat plenty of things, but often only with particular vegies, ways of preparing etc.

Couple more ideas to add:

- Others may disagree, but I don't think you need to give her exactly what you and your wife have every night. Kids do have different tastebuds and often like plain, familiar foods, as I understand it. If you know she will eat chicken breast or whatever, why not give her this with some of the vegies/sides that you eat? That way you know she will be eating something, but also exposed to new foods that she sees you enjoying.

- Frankly, she's never gonna eat the meals she doesn't like if she knows a sandwich will be forthcoming. I'm not a fan of the 'go to bed hungry' thing, but we have a routine where my daughter (2.5) almost always has 'dessert' of fruit or plain yoghurt with berries. It's not conditional on having eaten dinner, she can have it regardless. So she doesn't get a whole different meal if she doesn't eat much of hers; but she does have fruit so we can feel reassured that she's eaten something. Since it sounds like your daughter likes various fruits, why not make them part of the meal routine?

- I notice she likes cheese, is she mad for it (or is there anything else she's mad for?)? Mine loves cheese so we put plenty of it on pasta, have sprinkled it in things like pumpkin soup and she'll eat it in order to get the cheese.

- Does she like omelettes/scrambled egg? Just one more thing to try maybe, with lots of cheese.

I think she'll be fine: if you've clearly got a healthy, growing, active kid then don't sweat too much!