in worrying about how much junk food my toddler always seems to want?

[loveroflife]

Ds (2) is of a normal weight but is always wanting junk food. I don't give it to him, but that doesn't stop him wanting it.

Today, he threw a tantrum at a toddler group because I wouldn't let him have another digestive biscuit. He has one once a week at the same group. However, whatever group we go to he always hangs around the biscuit tin shouting and pointing at them and quite frankly it is becoming an issue.

I do try and hide the biscuits but that's not fair on others who want one!
One biscuit for him is never enough, but my theory is if I totally deprive him he will go beserk when he has them at friends etc.

He also throws tantrums in shops grabbing packets of crips and chocolate bars (even when in his buggy, damn those till point displays!) and it's a real battle to grab them off him and say no.

He also always makes a beeline for other children's snacks but ONLY if it is crisps, biscuits, crackers etc. He would never try and steal a grape or a piece of apple!

DH and I can't eat anything 'naughty' in front of him because he gets so upset and wants a crisp, piece of chocolate etc. We don't have junk food on display and make a point of eating fruit in front of him and sticking to healthy choices.

Yesterday, I met a friend and her ds for coffee and and ordered ds a sandwich - however, friend and I had cake and again he was shouting and pointing at it until I did on this occasion cave in (ashamed) and give him a bit because so many people were just staring at us in horror.

This is what he had today and is pretty typical of his diet.

Awake at 7am - Milk
8am - Small bowl of shreddies and fruit smoothie
10am - box of raisins
12pm - 3 Fishfingers and peas (ignored the peas) and half a slice of wholemeal bread
3pm - Cereal bar (low sugar)
6pm - Lasagna and veg (ignored veg) followed by plum fromage frais.

He will have some milk before bed at 7pm...

Am I doing anything wrong? Feeding him too much or little? He doesn't like fresh fruit and veg despite enjoying it when we started BLW'ing. I now have to give him his fruit via a smoothie every morning and sneak veg into spag bol etc.

Does anyone have any advice? We can't go ANYWHERE without it becoming a real issue....

I find DS1 only likes raw veg, and has only just started eating lettuce at 5yo. If I cook a veg, it's rare he'll eat it. No sauces allowed. He'll eat nuts nuts for snacks, boiled eggs with salt, and also seaweed. I've found raspberries and strawberries and good standby for fruit when he refused other types.

DS2 will eat anything if he has a dipping sauce. So raw veg with hummous, or mayo, or sometimes mustard. He likes spicy things.

I get the tube yoghurts for them, the pouches of apple puree (some mix in strawberries), or the little organic tubs of apple puree. I do a little ploughmans plate type thing for them, with crackers, cheese, apple, meat.

You just have to keep at it, mixing it up, trying different things, try presenting his meals in a little bento box maybe for interest or one of those face plates. With DS1 who is very picky, I tell him he must eat 5 spoons of whatever dinner I serve. DS2 seems to eat more if we feed him, although he is quite capable himself to do it!

My 2 LOVE junk and sweets. We have instigated a bon-bon weekend, so no sweets Mon-Fri. If I have crisps, cake, cupcakes, chocolate, I share it with them. Everyone likes treats now and then. I've found not restricting them (apart from the sweets, as that was OUT OF CONTROL), they don't overindulge, they will only eat until they've had enough, not until whatever it is has gone. unlike me, oink

Occassionally at the supermarket, how about letting him choose a small treat to have? Maybe alternate between sweets/crisps one week and a fruit/veg he wants to try the next.

Both mine were BLW, DS1 would only it brocolli after a certain age, and DS2 practically ate no veg at all.

DS2 will spit out his food, thankfully now onto the plate rather than my hand or floor, if I so much as try to sneak one tiny pea into a mouthful of pasta for eg.

They drive me bonkers . I've learnt to relax about it, apart from trying to get them to eat b/fast faster. I remember as a child food being a big issue and being forced to eat things I hated

I also think toddlers go through stages of liking different fruit & veg, also coinciding with how contrary independent they're feeling

The important thing is to keep offering, and especially for them to see you eating it too. You can hide veggies in sauces etc but that doesn't really solve the problem. Fruit & veg needs to be normalised in your diet.

for now if he still won't eat the fruit then still give him the smoothy.
but then offer him fruit and veg throughout the day.

I find with dd that she mainly wants to eat what I'm eating so mayvbe try that.sit him on your lap and nibble at some veg sticks in humous or fruit and see if he tries some that way.
i'll eata bit then go "do you wwant a bit of this?"

I don't know how much this would help, but I made up these oat and fruit bars for my snack-obsessed DS: biographiadomestica.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/fruity-oaty-bars/ They went down well with him and his friends, as did the savoury cheese ones linked to at the beginning of the post. Oddly, he didn't fancy vegetable-y muffins, though I liked them well enough.

I'm not sure if this will help, but I have a really good NO sugar flapjack recipe that my DD loves. It's basically just apples, oats, raisins and seeds (only a few raisins). Easy to make and much better than cereal bars etc. PM if you want the recipe.

A couple of digestive biscuits is hardly the end of the world. It's not as if he wanted a deep fried mars bar washed own with irn bru. Of course he will want some choc or a crisp if you're having it, and nearly all 2 year olds have tantrums,it's what they do. He sounds like a perfectly normal to year old.

If he liked fruit before, it's probably just a phase. If you are having a piece of ace, just give him a tiny bit, it won't hurt him.

He could be craving the carbs. Cut right down on the sugar (fruits too) and get a pro-biotic into him.

No way mummy gets to eat something dd doesn't get some of.

Just 2 unfortunately. My dd is the same. I give in 50% and am strict 50%. Depends really. Just the way it is. Can't say I'm analysing her food intake though.... Necessary really?!

Probiotic? For a child? Nuts. Not needed. Don't work on adults and full of sugar!!!! Give him a digestive probs better....

DD2's second word was CAKE! She is obsessed.

My DS is the same, we allow him a couple of treats every now and then but 99% of the time his diet is very healthy, though if you ask him what he'd like for breakfast, he will always say chocolate cake or biscuits...
I think they've just picked up on how lovely little treats can be and unsurprisingly want them all the time! though I have to say I wouldn't stand a hope of getting away with eating cake infront of my DS, probably a good thing as if I want a snack at home I'll always have fruit and DS insists on sharing that instead, healthier all round!

Can you make the muffins listed upthead? I think courgette muffins are delicious and you feel like you're eating cake.

You need the book "My Child won't eat" by Carlos Gonzalez

Snacks: plain popcorn, breadsticks, cheese cubes, hummous and raw veg, mini sandwiches, crackers & cottage cheese, peanut butter on toast, boiled egg, tuna from a tin plus outcake....

You have to offer the same food to a child a gazillion times before they try it and then ultimately like it. Keep persisting with offering fruit, but don't make a big deal if it's refused.

Modify your diet to limit your intake of unhealthy food to the frequency you'd like his to be.

Learn to say no and mean it. Accept that tantrums are normal and inevitable. Caving in won't help, but you can respond empathetically "I like cake too, but not now. Would you like a breadstick?"

This. Too. Will. Pass.

One option would be to sneak the odd bit of veg into the fruit smoothie? Some carrot, for eg, would be lovely and sweet but would reduce the sugar. Or even something that you might not expect to be nice (beetroot, eg) but in relatively small amounts so you can't really taste it over the fruit flavour...

I struggle a bit with my DS because, although he isn't particularly fussy, he is constantly moving the goal posts so something he ate all of last week, for example, he might not eat next week. He's back on apples this week after about a month of spitting them out, but he's refusing his yoghurt (after fannying around with it for 20 minutes and spreading it all over the table) which he loved last week!

The one and only thing that he has always consistently eaten (even when recovering from a stomach bug!) is hummus. And so I have taken to whizzing up other things into a pot of hummus (I have never been able to make my own) like roasted peppers, roasted carrots, sweetcorn etc, and giving him breadsticks/oatcakes/pitta/potato waffle and getting him to "dippydip" which he finds fun. So if we've had a day of most things ending up on the floor, he tends to get that as an evening snack.