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Behaviour/development

Help with 2 year old eating please !!!

6 replies

RachelG · 11/09/2007 08:35

I know this is a subject frequently asked about, but I really hope someone can help with with some suggestions.

My DS has just turned 2. He's never been interested in food, loves milk and would happily drink milk all day and night.

He will eat more or less anything if I blend it up and spoon it in (while allowing him to watch TV or play with trucks on his tray). He will also happily pick up biscuits, cheese, sometimes sandwiches.

But he absolutely refuses fruit and veg. The only way I can get it into him is by blending it and spooning it. This is easy enough, but I'm beginning to think he's getting far too old for this kind of treatment. I've tried sitting and eating with him but it makes no difference. I'm a single parent and he's my only child, so we don't exactly have that "family meal" that people talk about!

I'm thinking of doing a Supernanny, and just putting a plate of food in front of him, and not offering alternatives if he doesn't eat it. I know this will be hard because he'll end up hungry and crying all night for milk. But I'm prepared to ride the storm if it'll work.

My concern is that he will simply pick out the meat and leave the veg, so will end up less healthy than if I spoon blended stuff in. Should I maybe just give him a plate of veg, no meat, in the hope that he'll have to try it or be hungry?

Has anyone had success with this problem?

He goes to nursery one day a week and apparently eats OK there, albeit tiny amounts (I know this because he's staving when I collect him).

I know this is a tedious subject covered many times, but I'd be really grateful for any advice.

Thanks

OP posts:
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MamaG · 11/09/2007 08:38

Do you eat with him? If you both eat together, thats your family meal

I'd be mean and give him the same as me. If he doesn't eat it, then hard luck. He'll have to get used to it I'm afraid [mean mummy]

Will he eat icecream with chopped fruit in? Just to get him used to the texture of chopped rather than pureed?

How about letting him make a pizza with you - sweetcorn, cherry toms etc. You can buy a ready made base if you want to and put all the bits out in bowls, letting him create his own. He might be more inclined to tuck in?

good luck

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SleeplessInTheStaceym11House · 11/09/2007 08:49

idsay you have to be tough mummy, hes big enough to undertand nw. my dd used to hve huge tantrums with loads of food put in fron of her. some days i wold justplace it and ignore er (unless she ate) and other days i would take something out hr meal she liked (yorkshires, popadum, garlic bread etc) and bribe her with bits of it.

4 months on we haven't had a tantrum at dinner for over 2 weeks and she acctually eats most of her dinners now!!

good luck it could be hard work!

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ScottishMummy · 11/09/2007 08:54

hi great post god i could have written it too. same experience feeding wee one for me

im not expert but ime

Persevere with small frequent amounts
offer 3-4 times then remove dont make a big deal

we do eat together at table, let bubba share from my plate

offer sandwiches - experiment with fillings
my wee one at nursery and does anything for them. it is peer pressure of being with other wee ones

until really recently i was sending wee one in with my home made purees. until nursery related the story of stolen pastie, that bubba eat lumps and all!!!!OMG i cried the NN were so worried they thoght i was cross o feck no tears of joy


then i did cold turkeyno more purees - started really small lumps and gradually built up, sent lumpy food into nursery too

wee one continues to love milk @pint a day home and nursery

let me know how this works out - thinking about you

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Sidge · 11/09/2007 13:20

From what you've said I think it's time to tough it out.

If he drinks gallons of milk he won't be hungry. Milk is a food. But man cannot live on milk alone! Limit his milk to a pint a day, maybe split between two or three milk drinks and water for all other fluids.

SO - time to move on a stage. Chop, don't puree. Eat together - if you are eating too, then it's a family meal! When eating together largely ignore him - no "just a bit more", no "try this, come on, eat this, have some of this". Nobody wants to eat when constantly cajoled and pressured. Left to their own devices most children will put food in their mouths.

Don't panic too much at the lack of veg/fruit he eats. Just keep on offering it, and sooner or later he will eat it. He won't get scurvy in the meantime. Offer naturally interesting fruit and veg - cherry tomatoes (easy to pick up and eat a whole one!), strawberries (ditto), sticks of carrot you can dip into dips, etc.

Don't expect things to change overnight. But be consistent and praise him when anything passes his lips (don't need a huge song and dance routine, just a big smile and "well done, what a good boy you are!")

Good luck!

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ScottishMummy · 11/09/2007 13:39

yes agree with sidge - approppriate praise but no big deal - you dont want to reinforce this as an issue

move to lumps - cold turkey

when he refuses take meal away with no comment, so as you minimise the impact/stimulation he gets

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UniSarah · 11/09/2007 21:04

If hes eating sandwiches hes half way there. have you tried him on veg or apple crisps. I use them to sneak veg into boy on a not eating veg week.
Its not the end of the world if he prefers meat to veg. boy would live on processed pork alone if I let him, but when hes finished the small ammount of meat hes given he will sample the other things on the plate and sometimes surprises me by eating all the veg.
Soup can be usefull for getting veg down them once they are willing to use a spoon them selves or dunk bread.

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