Feeding a toddler is more soul destroying than I could have imagined.

[JofraArchersFastestBall]

I've just served my 3yo a plate of lovingly prepared pork and veggie ragu with carefully separated pasta and peas on the side (as if anything is mixed there's no chance of him eating it) and he's said 'I don't like that, I want real food'

I really like food, I'm a decent cook and I really try to prepare things I think he might eat. I was so smug when he was a baby because he'd eat anything and I could make sure he wasn't having any salt/only free range meat etc etc. Now all he wants is sausage and chips or beans on toast.

He's not too bad at eating veggies (albeit a fairly limited range of carrots, peas, sweet corn or broccoli) and will eat all sorts of fruit. But he's so fussy with meat (only really eats sausage or ham) and I struggle to get him to eat anything with protein really - no cheese (unless on pizza), no eggs, not much other dairy, no quorn, no fish, no pulses. He doesn't like anything in sauce. His diet is so repetitive and beige!

Every day I cook simple, healthy things and serve them alongside the things he will eat, but it's so miserable just putting it into the bin (or, because I can't bare that, eating it myself!) His 1yo sister is also very influenced by him - so she's almost as fussy 😩

Have you had fussy toddlers who have miraculously come out the other side? Or is this it forever? Maybe I should just buy a freezer full of oven chips and stop wasting food and time.

@Glenthebattleostrich

I'll get flamed for this but I lie to the kids about food all the time.

Roast carrot sticks are orange chips (also works with sweet potato and squash)

Unicorns picked the magical carrots for them to eat (or superheroes / bing / peppa or whoever if flavour of the month)

oh you don't like omelette, lets try fritatta instead, it's like a special pizza.

meatballs are squishy sausages, eggy bread superhero toast ...

It usually works quite well

My brother told my 13 year old niece last year that the curried goat we'd ordered was actually chicken. She wolfed it down and said how delish it was I wouldn't have done it when she's 13 but I think it's absolutely fine for toddlers.

I had the pickiest of picky kids who changed aged around ten and now likes the fanciest of food and flavours always

I found it gets worse to be honest OP!
DS would eat anything and loved all types of food until he was 18 months old, then I thought he got picky but he mostly grew out of it by age 3. However I was wrong he wasn’t picky then but he bloody is now! He’s approaching 4 and in the last 6 months has been ridiculously picky and it’s in a weird way. At the moment the only fruit he will eat is strawberries, the only veg he will eat is raw carrots (but he loves them so eats a ton of them) he won’t eat any type of carb apart from roast potatoes and crumpets with no butter on (no other bread, cereal, pastry, pasta, rice, mash, jacket potatoes or chips etc)
The only meat/fish he will eat is sausages, scampi or a dry beef burger without a bun. He won’t touch eggs.
He does love cheese and milk luckily, also apple nutrigrain bars and wotsits.
Packed lunches for nursery are a nightmare at the moment as he won’t eat sandwiches (he used to love ham and mustard weirdly and would eat them everyday but in the last few weeks is refusing)
I think it’s just another phase so I’m trying not to make a big deal of it, I serve what we are having for dinner and make sure there is one thing that he will eat included in that. I praise if he tries something new but I don’t go over the top with it. For example he tried mashed potato yesterday and said it was quite nice but didn’t want to eat any more than a mouthful. For me that was huge success!
He seems to change his mind on foods everyday so I’ve found just staying as relaxed as possible about it means he does try new foods now and then.

I feel your pain op. I could take the lack of sleep, teething and colic but refusing to eat was soooo personal. First dd, the dream eater. 2nd dd got so upset. It has been a hard and steep learning curve. She is 20 now and diagnosed ASD.
Tiny portions, really separated, raw veg and cooked veg (I bought partitioned plates off Ebay) and wordlessly introduce new things.
Courage mon brave!