[Signal]

Hello All

My wife and I are at a point whereby we just dont know what to do with our little girls eating. Its getting so limited, we think it has become pregressive worse, that we arent sure if we should take her to see some one.

So, our little girl has turned 2 and I wanted to publish this to see if it has any similarities to what other parents might be or are experiencing.

Breakfast : Toast (only with Vegemite), raisan toast, yoghart and various juices.

Morning Tea : Some times Banana, Watermelon, Apple, Cheese and biscuits and any form of cake or sweets.

Lunch: Vegemite sandwich, sausage rolls (removes the pastry), sausages, above mentioned fruit, yoghart

Afternoon Tea: pretty much the same as morning tea

Dinner: Same as Lunch basically. Checken nuggets, grilled chicken breast.

So, they are the fundamentals. Anything sweet, chips, chocolate, cake, lollies, bread, cheese and ice cream are the things she wont even question. She will just eat it. And, we can give her this stuff any day of the week, any time of the day and it will get eaten.

We are getting concerned because thats all she will eat now. My wife is a very good cook (and im not just saying that) who cooks alot of grilled stuff with steamed veggies etc. What we always do is, wahtever we get for dinner (wife and I) our little girl will get also, just a smaller serve. So anyway the response is "No daddy, i dont like it'. We have tried to force her to eat it (that ends in 45 minute odd tears and crying) ignoring her and eating our own dinner (she just tips her plate off the high chair) and then, just making her a sandwich or something - basically giving her what we know she wil eat. My wife and I got her onto come vitamin supplements as we are concerned that shes isnt getting enough of them. BUt getting her to eat would be the ultimate.

Can i pin it to anything? Well, prior to her being 6 months old she was eating anything and everything. Veggy blended ice cubes mostly, all different types, meats - and loved it. Then she got sick and it really hasnt change the habbits since.

We have tried different doctors with them all saying the same thing : "She is 2 years old, she is going to do that." But, I dont know. On top of that our regular doctor has always said that she looks healthy, in the right weight range (she is very tall so she is very lean) and brain development was all fine.

While ever other child out there is eating strogenoff, veggies, lasanga, pies etc, our little girl just doesnt want a bar of it. We are running out of options to try now and serious, we have read that much stuff out there and tried that many different things we just dont know what to do. I remember my wife even trying to hide sweet potato mash in tonamto sauce - well, our girl worked that our real quick and flat out refused it. It stems to day care too- everyone is eating lunch and our girl just refuses....

Is there anyone out there who has been through this? Is there any out there that saw a specialist at all?

Any help, comments, insights would be fantastic. If anyone has seen a doctor or specialist in Canberra - that would be even better... obviously we live there.

Thanks.
Signal

This post has been edited by Signal: 01/08/2012, 07:56 PM

[amabanana]

Sounds like my kids. Frustrating, isn't it.

To me, what your little girl is eating doesn't sound too bad - so long as she isn't given too many cakes/biscuits etc.

Some unsweetened yoghurt, a sandwich and some fruit isn't exactly a bad meal. Sure, it could be better but she's hardly going to starve.

If she likes sausage rolls/chicken nuggets you could try grating some vegies into them/adding vegie purees.

Kids pick up on stress so relaxing and just having a nice meal together would be a good start. Please don't force her to eat.

I know many on EB would say things like, just let her starve but I don't go for that.

Best of luck.

[Guest_Lilybird_*]

We have tried different doctors with them all saying the same thing : "She is 2 years old, she is going to do that." But, I dont know. On top of that our regular doctor has always said that she looks healthy, in the right weight range (she is very tall so she is very lean) and brain development was all fine.

While ever other child out there is eating strogenoff, veggies, lasanga, pies etc, our little girl just doesnt want a bar of it. We are running out of options to try now and serious, we have read that much stuff out there and tried that many different things we just dont know what to do. I remember my wife even trying to hide sweet potato mash in tonamto sauce - well, our girl worked that our real quick and flat out refused it. It stems to day care too- everyone is eating lunch and our girl just refuses....

I agree with your doctor .... if kids get a taste for the "good stuff" chocolate etc, then they start to wonder if refusing the bad stuff will mean they get something better.

My 2 yr old eats about half of what your dd does, and she is perfectly healthy according to our child health nurse.

I heard the saying once "start where you want to finish" so keep offering the healthy meals, and she will eventually eat them.

Kids are just massively fussy at this age. I've also tried to make meal times really fun for dd to get her eat more. If she doesnt like something, I go and get her teddy and me and teddy "eat" some of dd's food with lots of funny talking and sound effects soon she feels like she's missing out on the fun and wants to eat some too.

[tanyak1]

I posted almost exactly the same thing about my 3 1/2 year old last night - I don't know what to do anymore, his diet is very similar to your little girl's, except in the last week he has cut out sausages (and has never eaten chicken breast) so the only time he eats meat now is twice a week at daycare for lunch. He just refuses to even try things at home, even things he eats at daycare. Although it has taken his daycare carers many months to convince him to eat what the other kids are having, for awhile they just gave him sandwiches instead of the hot meal.

The advice I got on the 3 to 5 years board was to not give him any other food if he refuses his dinner and let him go to bed hungry, which I'm not comfortable with, but thinking I will have to try as nothing else is working.

So I'm not much help but you're not the only one, hopefully someone out there will have some advice we can both use.

[kerrie23]

My son is 7. He eats bread, potato chips/pommes, lemons, custard, non lumpy yoghurt.

He eats no cheese, no meat at all, does not drink milk, drinks water though, no fruit except for lemons/limes, no veg aside from potatoes and only when they are cut into chips and oven baked.

My son has recently been diagnosed with Aspergers, it is all texture/tactile issues with food as opposed to behaviour.

I wish my son ate more variety. He is currently under the care of a psychologist and an OT and we are working on his eating problems.

My son has a terribly limited diet, shocking actually and it is frightening at times but he is a happy and healthy child physically.

[Daisy violet]

Sounds normal. My child refused all meat and would only eat breakfast cereal and things that were white (yogurt, cheese, bread). He is slowly getting better at nearly 6. He still won't eat meat but will eat a bit of fish. No veggies really. Limited fruit. Loves juice though. He is still growing and I am over worrying about it. Chill out, kids can be a massive PIA when it comes to food. She won't starve. Just don't give in and feed her sweets as she will end up fat. My son is skinny but healthy and I am not going to let him eat lollies and sweets and nothing else, he can eat what I give him or go without.

[Preg_in_RSA]

Sounds like my 2.5 yo. I dish up whatever we are having and make sure that there is something he likes (plain Pasta, rice) on the plate too. He often wont eat any protein but does have milk at other times.

Its so frustrating. I hope he grows out of it soon.

Good luck.

[steffijade81]

I think its fairly typical toddler behaviour. My 2 yr old basically eats the same things your daughter does. Our Gp and Pead and child health nurse have all told us the same thing, that its a normal phase and the bigger deal you make out of it the less they'll eat. My advice is stop worrying so much about it. Find the things she will eat (obviously dont feed her heaps of treats) but for instance my daughter eats 3 tubs of yoghurt a day because she loves it. She has toast with vegemite and a yoghurt for breakfast, vegemite sandwich and maybe a dora cheese and couple of pieces of mandarin for lunch and sausages for dinner or chicken nuggets. She loves milk so my doctors have advised using a toddler formula or toddler milk and also giving Incremin if you like or another child multi vitamin. As long as she is not losing weight I think your ok. Try not to compare your child to others because it'll just do your head in. I also have several friends with 2 yr olds that eat anything, I know its frustrating. My doctors assure me its a toddler thing and as soon as they reach 4 or 5 they eat you out of house and home. When your really worried remember a human will not let themselves starve... I had to remind myself of this. Since relaxing somewhat about my daughters eating she has tried a few new things and I make a point to never force her to eat. Also remember toddlers like to graze so maybe try a few things on a plate in bite size pieces and let her play and eat as she likes. Goodluck, hope this helps

[Eloueraview]

try not to stress too much
Its fairly typical actions.. and the best you can do is try to hide veggies into her food.

My DS nearly 2 has had quite a limited diet due to food allergies.. he has great appetite, but at the moment he has gone off anything green..
even green rafferties gardens fruit packet which i have for emergencies.. nope.. its green! Haha

His never had lollies, chocolates etc.. chips and nuggets yes, and fried fish is about as adventerous as we can get - oh and a plain hamburger & cheese from maccas, which is a godsend if we are out now, as NO one caters to a salicylate intolerance.

She wont eat that crap for ever, and just keep perservering, offering, and try to make it as fun as possible. Stop stocking anything naughty for her, which i doubt you do.. but just incase

You can look into alternatives - chirpractics, music therapy, etc etc.. but ultimately i think its just that age behaivour!

Good luck, and dont be too harsh on yourselves

[Gonewiththewind:...]

Honestly, she sounds totally normal for a 2 year. Old. Fussy is when your child only eats 3 or 4 foods or they only eat one texture or one EXACT temperature. We've been through all of those & in our DS's case it did signal that something was wrong.

What your daughter eats I wouldn't consider "the MOST" fussy eater. I think it's totally normal. She's eating a fantastic quantity & reasonable variety.

In terms of snacks, see if she'd take an interest to dips. Avocado (home made), Homes etc You could even try carrot sticks or strips of capsicum.