At my wits end with toddlers diet

[ReturnofSaturn]

My 15 month old son is a ridiculously fussy eater. It's actually getting ridiculous what he will actually eat.

For lunch today I made him a sandwich. Hummus with some chicken. (Not that it actually matters what was in it as as soon as it was put down in front of him he started crying without even having touched it)

He has now been screaming his head off for 30mins straight about lunch as I haven't made him anything else.
I feel awful, but it's got to the point where it's absolutely ridiculous and I need to draw the line somewhere.

He also won't eat any fruit or vegetables whatsoever. He will only eat banana if I blend it up and feed it to him like a pudding.

What he will eat:
Sausage roll
Toast
Cheese/meat pasty
Pizza/chips/potato waffle etc
Lasagne
Yoghurts
Biscuits

Help!? He's my only child and I'm exhausted with his now!

Ds lived on a predominately pig based diet and little else as a toddler. He now eats loads of different things. Just give him things he’ll eat with one other food group on the plate.

Children in Africa don’t turn down food I’m sure.

What no child, ever, in the whole continent of Africa has turned down food?
Gosh!

Colditz approach 😂.

Hell be fine. Hide stuff,be more creative... Pinterest for food pictures.

As pp said we all have day's When fancy something and don't the other. Mine taste's changed all the time, thought I'd cracked it with fail safe go to food and they'll stump me again.

Try the book 'Getting the little blighters to eat'
And honestly do try and fix this now because it is much much harder down the line. Relaxed attitude and acting like you don't care either way is the way forward.

@ChoudeBruxelles really chuckling at pig based diet.

Also how much milk is he having? Is he hungry enough at mealtimes?

@ReturnofSaturn

My son is 23 months and is practically the same...

He eats -
Peanut butter on seeded toast
Margarita pizza
Chicken nuggets/strips
Chips
Sausage casserole (but not sausages with anything else)
Curry
Cheese and ham pinwheels
Porridge with honey
Sausage roll but only if it's a special day of his choosing so I gave no idea when!
Chocolate...,
Yoghurt

He will not eat fruit/veg or anything new. We've tried ice cream he won't eat it, no to cheese, bacon, sandwiches, mashed potatoes, chicken/beef/lamb/pork/ham all refused.

For my sanity I serve what he likes - along side veg or salad and something else new - safe in the knowledge it will be left (or thrown).

I try and make as much as possible from scratch and offer fruit with his yoghurt. I let him play with an apple or banana if he seems interested in them. I always show him what I'm eating and make mmmm noises then just let him eat what he wants from the plate.

I was crying at every meal time trying to force him to eat well. Now it's relaxed - no tears no screaming.

My daughter is 10 months and will eat anything right now so I'm really looking forward to her fussy phase... 😂

Mummabear12345567889 ham, sausages, sausage rolls, pork pie, bacon. It seemed to last a long time but actually wasn’t. His favourite food now is calamari but he’ll eat most things now.

If you're on Instagram I really recommend this dietician's page. It is 'Kids.eat.in.colour'
She really nails fussiness and is very down to earth and non judgmental.

My DS will eat raspberries if you stick them on the end of his finger like a little hat. He’ll also eat super sweet blueberries (I get them from Tesco).

Yes it was awful Midnight. But seeing as I usually do give him something else straightaway, I wanted to see if he was just being a bit stubborn this time and see if he might actually go back to the lunch.

No need to make someone feel so terrible, half an hour of crying won't scar him for life.

Gosh I must be an awful mother. I just feed my toddler what he will eat and occasionally expect him to try something new. I figure he will eat more stuff eventually, why get stressed about it?! He's so stubborn he would rather not eat than eat something he doesn't want.

I stress about it. As the only stuff he will eat is junk. And surely eating junk every day for every meal is really really unhealthy?

My DS is very fussy. I let him mostly eat what he likes. I offer "safe" things like toast, but also things like green beans or pear or whatever that mostly get rejected. So he is never hungry, but also getting a variety of tastes and textures. Food is not a battle when I relax about it. So I try to fix my attitude, and go from there.

In fairness mine will eat fruit. But no meat and peas only as veg. He eats a lot of cheese and carbs. You know what, he's a healthy weight and a happy kid. There are worse things in life than fussy eaters.

Have you tried eating in front of him and allowing him to try stuff off your plate?

This seems to have worked a charm with my little one. Our dining table is in the conservatory at the moment and it's way too hot to stay in there for less than a minute. So were currently eating on the sofas.

Not ideal I know but it means DS can come up and inspect our plates.

Yesterday, he helped himself to broccoli... several times. Hes 22 months.

Can you make yourself some dinner, add a little extra for your little one and see if he'll peck at yours?

Don't let it become a battle. Serve up what he will eat for now, this phase will pass but trust me the more you push it the worse it will get.

I speak as a mum to a child who went through a year of only eating tinned macaroni cheese, sausages and bananas. The anxiety this caused me was ridiculous. I eventually just let it go and I know have a strapping 14 yo who loves salad, steals my butternut squash and buys his own extra hot sauces.
Please don't let it stress you out. It's really really not worth it. Offer what he will eat with a side of something he won't normally eat but don't worry if he leaves it. He won't starve.

Sorry meant to add - I gave my DS a daily chewy multi vitamin while he was going through the fussy stage. Certainly helped with the worries about him not getting enough nutrients m.

At that age DS ate:

Scrambled eggs
Baby bolognaise (Spag bol blended up)
Apple sauce
Biscuits

That was it

Sounds like you're doing well!

When ds was small he was very fussy and I just made half the meal something he liked then half the meal something of our choosing. This basically meant the usual home cooked dinners with veg served with slices of bread and butter and chopped up fruit (his preferred foods) as time has gone on and he's more able to understand negotiation we've step by step requested more involvement with the other foods. A taste, then a spoonful, then two etc. He's not an "eat anything" kid now at 6 but he's fine, healthy and eats a balanced diet. The people who say put down one meal and let him go hungry. I do get the logic of that but you have to be pretty strong to power through it especially if your toddler is strong willed.

Meal times should be fun it mine are upset at tablet I just remove them and try again later - find DS2 eats best when has the same as us but cut up small to feed him self - have you tried plain spaghetti with grating of cheese / toast with cheese spread / home made pizza with sneaky veg/ sweet corn - when they were 15m sometime we had to give then tiny yoghurt to start with then go on to main by swapping over without making a fuss - they all have phases don’t let it upset you or them x

I have been through this in many different forms for years with step children, my 4 children and as a foster carer.

The best method I found is a combination of what has been said already.

1. Honestly, don't let it stress you out or worry you. They will pick up on it. Give the food and act like you couldn't care less. I PROMISE you... every single fussy child (Some only eating 1 food or extreme sensory issues) grow into strapping teenagers and adults who eat a wide variety.

1. Give foods they like (Change to healthy option if acceptable such as homemade) AND give new foods with every meal. One child would not eat potatoes in ANY form, I ALWAYS gave them a small amount.... for over 10 years!! One day... they tried one and now they eat potatoes !!

@ChoudeBruxelles the wee willy winkie sausages are a winner in our house for DS. Pasta is a current favourite but only penne... and only served on the ends of his fingers so he looks like Edward Scissor Hands. But at least it guarantees he always eats at least 10 pieces of pasta...

Sausage roll
Toast
Cheese/meat pasty
Pizza/chips/potato waffle etc
Lasagne
Yoghurts
Biscuits

Just been thinking about the foods he will eat... if he likes pastry and you tried buying the pre rolled pastry and making your own bakes? I often use this and put a tomato sauce made with hidden vegetables and cheese on. If you hid tiny bits of chicken on you've got a chicken pizza style pasty! I've also made chicken tikka style pin wheels with this too.

If he loves toast, with he have it with peanut butter? That's a good way of getting fat and protein into him and it's also filling. Or what about eggy bread?

Will he eat wedges/potato fritters if he likes chips and potato waffles? You could make potato fritters and hide sweetcorn in them.

I made a pasta sauce that has passata, sweet potato, red peppers, onions, carrots, courgette and parsnip in it. It's just a really tasty sauce that can be used for lasagne/pasta etc. You'll see in my last thread that my DS eats his pasta with it stuck on the ends of his fingers, maybe encourage stuff like that? I'm not saying to encourage him to treat meal times as play times but to try to make them more enjoyable?

You can add mashed/pureed fruit to yogurts. Serve them in peppa pig pots or whatever hes into? I make overnight oats for my DS. He went on a porridge strike but started eating it again like this.

With biscuits, theres so many you can make with fruit and oats etc. Have a look on the baby led kitchen app.

Just trying to think of alternative ideas based on what he will already eat.

I'm definitely no expert but one thing that works for us is I provide a meal at dinner time and we all have the same thing, don't worry too much what they eat of it and then I offer supper before bed which is Weetabix so it is a completely different meal but at least they aren't hungry before bed. Lunch I tend to make things I know they like or when a bit older I ask what they would like usually it's a cheese sandwich or toast then I just add something like cucumber on the side or something I want them to try. And breakfast I pretty much do porridge every day because they like the routine of it I think! My dd is older now she's 5 so she sometimes asks for a dippy egg for breakfast but my 2.5 year old will eat a huge bowl of porridge which then means if he doesn't eat much lunch it doesn't matter too much.

Hope that makes sense and I appreciate your dc is a bit younger but that's the way I've always done it since weaning.