My toddler's diet is awful, please help!

[sureitsgrand]

Hi, I've got myself into a bit of a situation with my 2.5 year old ds. He was breastfed till 1, weaned on all different types of food and really seemed to enjoy his food. My Mum and Dad give free childcare 2 days a week and they thought I was very uptight about his food and encouraged me to relax and give him pouches/ jars of baby food etc which I did occasionally when out and about. I realised it was pretty much all they were giving him, and as he got older they changed it to porridge for breakfast, spaghetti hoops for lunch and fish fingers with beans/ mash potato for dinner type of thing. Because he snacks on fruit and yogurts, and I don't give fizzy drinks/sweets they think he's really healthy.
In creche and with me he ate healthier, so I figured with them helping me it was best not to go on about it.
However as he's got older he now refuses anything different, except porridge for breakfast, toast, waffles, sausages, chicken nuggets, rice, some types of pasta, crackers, sweetcorn and beans.
He refuses all other meat, potatoes, all vegetables, cheese, sandwiches etc.
Is it a phase? I feel he has so little nutrients and it's really frustrating cooking and having it handed back with 'that's yucky'.
I spoke with dh at the weekend and have decided there is to be no treats until he starts trying a bit more but I really feel I don't know what I'm doing here :(
Am I over reacting? The kids I read about on mn seem to eat everything! I just want him to get a bit more variety and nutrients into his diet.

[Fueledwithfairydustandgin]

I think it's a phase. I wouldn't worry too much. DS 3 basically lives on pain au chocolat, baby fruit pouches, smoked salmon, pasta and sandwiches. I've given up stressing. He's fit as a fiddle and we encourage him to have different things but mainly he eats the list above.

[Ecureuil]

I know the feeling, my just 2 year old is similar. It's frustrating as my 3.5 year old eats like a dream and they were weaned in exactly the same foods.
I'm putting it down to a phase and just keep persevering with new foods.

[sureitsgrand]

Thanks, great to know I'm not alone! Yes DS is very well built, with loads of energy. I am trying not to focus on it, but it seems the less I focus the more rubbish he eats!

[thethoughtfox]

Everyone's child I know - bar one - has become picky at some point between 2.5-4 ( none are older than that yet so I don't know how it turns out!) The trick is to not keep really unhealthy things in the house so they cam't eat it i.e. nuggets and junk type food. If they limit their diet but it's mostly ok stuff, I'm sure it doesn't matter too much. I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to says nuggets aren't too bad but they have become a symbol of what you shouldn't feed your children so we never fed the to dd. However, she does get homemade chicken chunks dipped in egg and rolled in panic breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese. This could be an option for you to try.

[thethoughtfox]

*panko breadcrumbs!

[wheresthel1ght]

Don't stress is the advice I keep being given.

When weaning dd (will be 4 in a few weeks) ate anything except egg and lamb. From 20 months all she will eat sausage (thankfully any meat as long as sausage shaped) McDonald's chicken nuggets and isn't fooled by home made equivalent, jam sarnies or violife fake cheese spread (dairy intolerant. Amongst others). She will not touch a vegetable but will Eat any fruit you put in front of her

All hcps have told me as long as she is eating and putting on weight to let her get on with it as she will grow out of it.

It sucks, it stressed me out, causes massive rows and I hate it. But she is a stubborn sod like me and nothing will make her eat something she doesn't want t to

[OuchBollocks]

I know exactly one child that didn't go through a fussy toddler/pre schooler phase. I remember 2 years ago visiting a friend, DD was just 1, recently weaned and in that 'small baby, eats everything' phase, her 3 year old would eat pasta with butter and I think that was about it. Fast forward to now, DD eats sod all and her DS will happily order off the menu in wagamama, eat veggie stir fry etc. Just keep calm, don't make an issue of it, model healthy and varied eating blah blah blah.

[OdeToAutumn]

My son went through a phase like this but he's 4 now and things are a lot better. At 2-3 it's hard to reason/explain/convince them to try something different, but as mine got older he became more willing to try. He doesn't have to finish it or even like it, just at least try ! Half the time he enjoys it and it's added to the list of things he likes.

Maybe just small changes to start with, like a variation of something he already eats or an additional ingredient added to a sauce he's having for example. Does he eat yogurt or would he drink smoothies ? I blitz up fruit and mix with natural yogurt and we also make 'banana milkshake' basically bananas and milk in the nutribullet and then sometimes add other fruit/veg. Dh tends to have a smoothie in the morning and he wanted to copy. It's a good way to get some fruit and veg into them and he likes helping by adding the ingredients in.

We also would encourage him to try different foods from our plates, for some reason it was more tempting and appetising when it came from someone else's plate !

Another thing we did was make sure every weekend we would all sit down together and try a new meal. If he tried it then we made a big fuss of him.

Worst thing I did was become obsessed and stessed with his eating. I used to sit watching him and it just made it so much bigger than it was. He is still funny about trying something completely new and it takes time to encourage him to taste it, sometimes he won't but it does get better !