Crap toddler diet?

[GoBigOrange]

I've recently had a couple of people remark quite negatively on what my two year old son eats - people whose opinions I do generally value. I'm aware his diet is not amazing, but I didn't think it was so bad that I needed to worry!

I've been stewing on the comments, so recorded everything he has consumed in the last few days (besides water) and put it to MN - is it that bad? Or is he just being a fairly normal toddler?

Monday:

8oz of milk
Slice of buttered toast
A scrambled egg
A pear
Two crackers with peanut butter
Fish pie and peas
8oz of milk
Oatmeal raisin cookie

Tuesday:

8oz of milk
A pear
Refried bean and cheese burrito
Pork loin, butter beans and swede
8oz of cranberry juice
Mini carrot and walnut muffin

Wednesday:

8oz of milk
A pear
Slice of buttered toast
Some mango chunks
Two crackers with peanut butter
Chicken breast in creamy garlic sauce, sweet potato wedges
7 or 8 Cheetos puffs
8oz of milk
A banana

Thursday:

8oz of milk
Slice of buttered toast
Two pears
A banana
Bowl of chili (beef, black beans, tomato, onion, red pepper, garlic, spices)
8oz of milk
Oatmeal raisin cookie

Verdicts?

[Cupcakegirl13]

There seems to be a meal missing each day ?

[CakeAndChocolate]

Sounds absolutely fine to me. It's quite varied, lots of "real" food and fruit and veg. What did people say was wrong with it?

[GreenGoblin0]

It looks like a great diet for a toddler. don't get the issue?

[Havingahorridtime]

There are only 2 meals each day and some of those days it's just a slice of toast for one of the meals. The yyoes of goods are fine though

[Havingahorridtime]

Yyoes should say types

[Ecureuil]

Looks fine to me. Better than my fussy two year old eats.

[lovelycuppateas]

It's absolutely fine, and as you are clearly feeding him well, absolutely no-one's business to worry you. Being the mother of a toddler is hard enough without constant carping from the sidelines.

[thepatchworkcat]

I think the actual foods look fine but there doesn't seem to be much quantity wise... only two meals some days. But I know some children don't eat much, I'm speaking from the experience of my own greedy DS ;)

[GoBigOrange]

Comments were:

He doesn't eat enough veg or enough variety of fruit and veg.
That he snacks too much and doesn't eat enough proper meals.
That he doesn't get enough variety of carbs or dairy.

Probably all true to an extent.

I do offer other fruit and veg to him (the pork also had broccoli and the chicken also had green beans and cauliflower) but he just eats the bits he likes (loves meat/fish/beans and accepts a few select veggies) and leaves the rest. He literally only eats potato, sweet potato, peas, onions, okra, tomato, peppers and swede really.

He won't eat pasta, rice or sandwiches. Hates toast with anything except butter on it. Not overly keen on cereal. Dislikes porridge - though likes oat cookies. Hit and miss with eggs - guzzles them some days, looks at me like I'm crazy for offering them to him other days.

He's a total pear addict and quite likes a banana and the odd bit of mango, plum, peach or pineapple but refuses all other fruits.

He also loathes yogurt, refuses cheese unless it is melted and doesn't like ice cream. Likes milk and cream though.

He often does not eat lunch - to the point where I now tend to only prepare enough for myself. Then I serve my portion to both of us so he has the chance to eat some if he wants, but I would say five days out of seven he isn't interested and just wants a piece of fruit or a couple of crackers. He seems to prefer to fill his boots at dinner time and often eats an almost adult-size portion then.

I know his eating habits are not ideal, and I live in hope of getting him to branch out and eat better eventually, but I didn't think his diet was that appalling either. So nice to see that some people don't think it is too bad!

My mother is usually not an arse, but she really did harp on a bit about how I wasn't feeding her grandson properly or enough while she was staying with us recently and managed to really upset me.

The other commenter was my SIL - who possesses two angelic, super-advanced little children who both eat absolutely anything. She is also very passionate about healthy eating and fitness (she's a wellness coach, whatever that is) so she worries about her barbarian nephew and his crappy eating habits. She is actually very nice, but inadvertently makes me feel horribly inadequate both as a parent and a human being

[tinypop4]

Jeez I wish my 2 year old would eat that well! He eats:
Most fruit
Sweet corn
Peas
Carrots
Plain pasta
Peanut butter sandwiches
Cheese
Eggs
Prawns
Spag Bol.

And that's a major achievement! I wouldn't be worrying with your ds food.

[shhhfastasleep]

Better than mine had when she was a toddler. Is this a stealth boast? But seriously, maybe up what he gets at night a bit.
If you told me that's what your toddler had and sought comparison with my fussy and generally poor eater at that age, I would be crushed.

[BrutusMcDogface]

I'm just a bit at a two year old who likes slimy okra! Wow.

Sounds like you're doing fine, imo! Your kid eats way better than my littlest one!

[RedLemonade]

Sounds great to me OP. My 3 year old is still working through her "I don't like that, that's asgusting" phase. Give me patience!

[ppeatfruit]

More meals? 8oz of milk IS a meal. Sounds ok to me.

[Spam88]

Sounds pretty good with lots of variety in the evening meals. Only comments would be that there's a sweet treat most days (unless these are sugar free?) and that 8oz is too much juice unless it's watered down? I think the advice is no more than 150ml of juice for adults, not sure if it's different for kids.

[ppeatfruit]

Spam Er the OP said 8oz of MILK

[BumWad]

Bordering on stealth boast

[Spam88]

ppeat and 8oz of cranberry juice on Tuesday.

[ppeatfruit]

Silly me Spam I didn't notice the cranberry juice, that is a lot of juice, it needs to be watered down a lot for 2yr olds too. Maybe the op does water it.

[theothersideoftheworld]

My 2 year old eats no veg. Nothing. But he eats stacks of fruit so that will have to do for now.
I make a veg and tomato pasta sauce that I blend so he gets veg that way I suppose ....

[ppeatfruit]

Yes fruit is good, even better if it's organic or non sprayed. Think how big gorillas are, that's all they eat with some leaves and a few insects!

Our stomachs are the size of a grapefruit, think how small a 2 year old's is! They don't need much at all as long as it's nourishing

[GlummyMummy]

I would be over the moon if my three year old ate chilli, fish pie and pork loin!!!!!

Doesn't seem to be much food there over the day mind you, especially in the morning. But if he was hungry, you'd know by his behaviour, sleep etc.

[GoBigOrange]

Thank you all for your comments.

Definitely not a stealth boast as there are far too many foods that he won't have anything to do with at all, and his diet basically revolves around pears, milk and bread.

I would really love it if he ate more too, as he is very tall and very lean - 25th centile for weight and 95th for height. But despite regular offers of more food (things I know he likes) he won't have it. DH is tall and lean though, so perhaps it is down to genetics as much as what he eats (or doesn't eat).

The cranberry juice was not watered, but I will tell DH to water it in future. I generally give DS milk, but DH can easily be suckered into giving up some of his juice instead. The cookies etc in the evening are not a great habit I agree, but I just want him to eat something really, and he is more likely to scoff a cookie, muffin or piece of fruit than anything else. The sweet treats are not sugar-free, but they are all homemade though, with as much fruit/veg/peanut butter/other non-shit stuff as I can pile in.

Weirdly, slimy okra is one of his favourite things (the little freak). It is DH's favourite veggie as well (the big freak) so perhaps bad-wrong taste-buds are genetic too!

[Puppymouse]

Much better than my nearly 4yo diet! Not sure many that age eat a range of veg do they?

[ppeatfruit]

HE's 2 Glummy He's not an adult, much better for his future health and weight to allow him to eat what he wants when he wants, fruit is ideal, little and often, stop when he's full (his stomach is very small ) than 'feed him up'.