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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

all my 3 year old will eat is beans

57 replies

firefly78 · 31/01/2015 22:33

or pasta. im slightly at my wits end.
he will have tuna, sandwiches, ham, fruit, cheese, jacket potatoes. he wil eat some dinner like shepherds pie, fish pie but generally he is so limited! my 7 year will eat anything. we did homemade pizzas today. he made his own yet still barely touched it, just cried cos the cherry tomatoes had been cooked. so again he hardly had any tea. i gave him some weetabix so he didn't go to bed hungry but still despair!!

OP posts:
littlesupersparks · 01/02/2015 14:54

His range sounds AMAZING!!! I was so so pleased when my son started eating pasta and rice (he won't eat anything in a sauce though- including baked beans) - his diet is so much broader now.

stopgap · 01/02/2015 15:00

My 3.5 year old was just diagnosed with HFA. He won't eat anything runny, apart from yoghurt. He eats pasta, all fish, chicken and beef, broccoli and kale, potatoes, most fruit, all all varieties of bread and crackers, and muffins. I consider him fussy, but to be honest, I'd put your son in the same bracket as mine: choosy, but eating well.

Original poster
firefly78 · 01/02/2015 15:18

he wont eat rice!!

OP posts:
tinkerbelletigger · 01/02/2015 15:29

Sounds pretty good to me! When my DS was three he would only eat tomato soup and yoghurt. XDH. used to make a terrible fuss and it ruined dinner time for everyone. I took him to the doctor who said he was fine so my advice is try not to worry or make a big deal of it as they do grow out of it. Yours sounds quite adventurous really ;-)

Mammanat222 · 01/02/2015 16:23

I'm gutted I have such a rubbish eater.

We did BLW and by the time he was 9-10 months he'd tried more foods than I had when I was 9-10 years old. He was happy to try everything and there were only a few things he didn't at least have a bit of (tomatoes, cous-cous)

I am not sure what happened although I suspect it all goes back to him being hospitalised for 3 nights when he was 13 months with a viral induced wheeze and obviously not eating much for quite some time whilst he recovered.

He is now 26 months and all he will eat is:

Yoghurt (petit filous or similar)
Porridge
Toast with butter
spicy chicken
sausages (he likes the cheap, crap ones like Richmonds)
chicken nuggets (not home made)
potato cakes
Weetabix
Cheese

He does like all the crap (crisps / chocolate) and he eats most of the bread family... brioche, naan, garlic bread, pitta, crumpets, bagels but he dislikes all other carbs. He doesn't even eat chips!!!!!!!

He eats very little meat, no salad, a teeny bit of fruit (melon, bananas, grapes) if he is in the mood and some veg (mini corns, butternut squash) again only if he is in the mood.

He eats my bolognese but only the sauce and a risotto I do

That's it.

Whilst it may sound like a lot I know its mainly crap and it drives me bloody mad

JackShit · 01/02/2015 17:09

DD is 5. She is a complete potato refuser. Even chips and roast Hmm

It's extremely limiting.

FishWithABicycle · 01/02/2015 17:59

he won't eat rice!!
have you tried different kinds? Mine wouldn't eat basmati which we normally have, but will eat long-grain microwave rice which is a much smoother and less fluffy.
A child who doesn't eat rice is not a disaster though.

Mine won't eat pizza as such, but will eat "pizza sandwiches" - put one slice of a margarita pizza upside down on top of another slice, and cut into four or five bitesize sandwiches - et voila, an entirely different thing that is totally accepted as basically a warm cheese sandwich. Totally transformed our ability to go to italian restaurants.

Goldmandra · 01/02/2015 18:25

He eats a good range of food. It seems to cover all the food groups so you really shouldn't worry.

If you don't like it, you could try offering other things and not the foods he is used to but you then have to accept that he may leave the table having eaten nothing.

The worst thing you could do is offer him the other things then give him something he wants if he refuses them.

Don't get into any bargaining or bribing. Just offer food and allow him to choose what to take.

He will get over it as he gets older.

Original poster
firefly78 · 01/02/2015 18:28

i guess he's not that bad. i just got fed up with it yesterday but now i know he wasn't well. he barely ate a thing yesterday. i do worry cos he is smaller than some 2 year old yet goes to school in September. if he was a big strapping lad i wouldn't mind as much. i rarely make a fuss about it in front of him though

OP posts:
Goldmandra · 01/02/2015 18:34

Is his weight in proportion to his height? If so, you really don't need to worry.

SorchaN · 01/02/2015 19:21

Eating any food is better than eating no food, and most kids overcome this fussy stage eventually. As long as he's offered what everyone else is eating, and sees you eating it, he'll probably come round. It can take time though. My son has ASD and will eat anything (octopus tentacles!), but my neurotypical daughter is extraordinarily fussy. However, she did eat half a Brussels sprout at Christmas, so progress can definitely happen!

Jackieharris · 01/02/2015 19:32

I think you are massively overreaction and thinking there's some big problem when there isn't.

His diet and refusal of done foods is normal at his age.

My DS was sick after eating a blue cheese pizza when he was 3 so wouldn't eat another one for several years. But it's not a healthy food anyway so no loss.

I don't think many adults like or eat stews and mince type meals anymore-that sounds very 1970s.

As for roasts, will he eat the potatoes? Any veg? Any meat poultry? Maybe he just doesn't like gravy.

Original poster
firefly78 · 01/02/2015 19:42

stews and mince are 1970s???

OP posts:
Goldmandra · 01/02/2015 20:31

I'll put my hand up to being very 1970s then because we eat stews, shepherds pie and other meals with mince in all the time! Confused

jessym · 01/02/2015 23:53

When we were children my Grandad used to say "you kids are too bloody mollycoddled. If you knew what hunger was, you would eat what was put in front of you and you'd be grateful for it".

I know we no longer live in the rationing era which formed his views, but I still think he had a point.

Goldmandra · 02/02/2015 15:25

He had a point that is still relevant today which is that feeling hungry makes food more attractive. Some, in fact many, parents seem to think that letting their children get to the stage of feeling hungry is cruel and snacks to keep them going are essential. Then they get all worked up because the child won't eat at mealtimes.

My 11YO has just started at a new school where they asked what snack she likes at break time. She told them she prefers not to eat at break time because it makes it harder to eat her lunch. That sort of awareness helps children manage their own diet and appetite and avoid over eating when they are older.

trulybadlydeeply · 02/02/2015 15:34

He's fine OP, really. You've listed a good range of foods (plus also mentioned Weetabix at the end) I would be delighted if DS3 ate all of that (he has a very restricted diet).

Let him eat things he likes, whilst still encouraging him to try other things. let him enjoy mealtimes, and see you enjoying a variety of foods.

many children at his age will want to graze on biscuits, crisps, chocolate, cake a sweets (given half a chance), so you really are fortunate he doesn't want any of that.

PatriciaHolm · 02/02/2015 15:49

"I don't think many adults like or eat stews and mince type meals anymore-that sounds very 1970s."

Eh? What a bizarre thing to say. Really? Beef stew, chicken casserole, spaghetti bolognese, chilli con carne 1970s??

Look at any of the meal planning lists people post here, they are full of stews/casseroles/mince using meals!

Jackieharris · 02/02/2015 15:57

www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jun/05/meat-consumption-uk-global-trends

We don't eat as much meat now. See above.

PatriciaHolm · 02/02/2015 17:10

So? That's a very different point.

Chunderella · 02/02/2015 18:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Jackieharris · 02/02/2015 18:26

chunderella nope! My dp is a veggie and the rest of us are semi veggie (see meat as a luxury to have on occasion, only buy ethically sourced) so no mince doesn't feature on our menus!

Neither of my DCs would eat that kind of 'wet, All mixed together' type food and none of their friends would either. I haven't eaten mince or stews since I left home in the 90s. I don't think I'm a one woman phenomenon!

PatriciaHolm · 02/02/2015 18:43

Well, given the nation's second most cooked dish is Spag Bol (according to the Good Food/YouGov 2014 poll) then you just may be ;-) Most frequent is Roast Dinner apparently.

ourglass · 02/02/2015 18:47

"I don't think many adults like or eat stews and mince type meals anymore-that sounds very 1970s."

2015 here and we can have those types of meals every week.

RitaOrange · 02/02/2015 19:53

Jesus wept !
We fight over Casserole leftovers here, are you all bonkers ?
Made with lots of root veg, beef, and topped with homemade herb dumplings .
Sometimes I do cheese dumplings