3 year old and bad eating habits

[Immaback]

Hi everyone,

I couldn’t find a section on children’s eating so said I would post here. I’m hoping to get some advice or tips...anything really. My 3 and a half year old has such poor eating habits and I just don’t know what to do.

He used to eat fairly well between the ages of 1 and 2 and half but I realise how this “phase” of bad return has been going on for quite a while.

He eats breakfast well- porridge with fruit and yogurt. In Nursery he can be hit and miss but I’m told he eats most things . He hoovers up whatever he is given when in his cousins house and I’m not there. Dinner at home he will only eat pasta with nothing on it, fish fingers , sausages, poached egg with toast, sometimes soup. He sometimes eats it all and other times just picks.He has cups of milk with his meals.

His one year old brother eats everything. It’s so frustrating having to make so many different meals. We have tried everything - bribery, promising desert, not giving a second option if he rejects first thing but nothing works. He genuinely doesn’t seem to get bothered by being hungry

The other issue is that I think his bowel movements are very loose and he maybe has an intolerance but I don’t know how to tackle that since he eats so little we can’t really vary it much

I’ve been to the gp who said it’s normal (he is thin but not worryingly so) but I feel like I need to do more !

TIA

[ragged]

I don't think that's restrictive at all... so you probably don't want to hear from me. Hope you get to a place you're happy with.

[boatyIII]

No advice from here I'm afraid but just wanted to say I think it's fairly normal 2yr old DD only eats: fish fingers, oven chips, omelette with cheese and smoked salmon, spaghetti bolognese, "pizza" with tomato paste and cheese only, sometimes I can get her to eat a cheese sandwich but even that often gets refused.

Can't count that number of times I've made lovely meals for her; fish pie, veg + pasta, tuna bake etc., only to be pushed away. Nothing I can do really until she grows out of it I think!

[AmelieTaylor]

Have a talk to him & explain that from now on he’s going to be given his dinner and he can either eat it or not, but there are NO other options.

Give him whatever you’re cooking for his brother, (as long as when he was eating well he didn’t dislike it).

Then no other options instead or before bed.

If he eats anything at his cousins, it’s not a sensitivity, it’s a control issue. Stop making it something he can win/lose.

...and don’t worry, he’s having a decent breakfast and usually food at nursery, he won’t starve!

[Dancingbea]

Sounds like a much more varied diet than my 3.5 year old had. I don’t know if amelietaylor actually did this with her own child, but when you have a fussy (and thin) eater you are always striking a balance between strictness and ensuring they have enough food to get by. My previous fussy eater eats quite a wide variety of foods now, but still doesn’t like things mixed up (cottage, fish pie etc)

[Immaback]

Thank you very much everyone, I really appreciate the replies.
And it’s good to know that you don’t think it’s that restrictive. Maybe I’m expecting too much from a child of his age- and his brother eats so much that it makes me worry more!

And yes I do think it’s a control thing. But then sometimes he will try what I’m giving his brother but he actually gags and it seems so genuine it makes me think that he just doesn’t like the taste

Thanks again