To find cooking for my fussy eater 2 year old depressing

[Makeupbabes]

I'm sick & tired of making food for my 2 year old and for it to get chucked on the floor. I feel like I'm giving him the same bloody meals all the time as that's the only thing he will eat. If I dare try anything different he refuses to even put it in his mouth & pushes my hand away when I try and feed him. I feel like I'm spending my life brushing food of the floor. When does this fussy stage end :(

I had a very very fussy 2 year old. He is now a teenager and no better but I have just stopped stressing about it tbh. he is growing, never gets a cold and although painfully thin in my view I just lost the energy to keep on nagging him about it.

Well, I'm not "right there with you". At all.

When I was small, if I didn't eat my food, I got spanked. Oh yes, I howled and howled. My mother would lift the spoon to my mouth again. And if I refused again, I got spanked harder. I soon realised that I was not the authority on what gets eaten.

This method has been tried and tested down through the ages. You're doing your child a favour; they become peaceful at the table, show respect to the authority of the house and, most importantly, eat what's good for them.

You are in good company, we are also members of the beige brigade. DH does the bulk of the boys food since I found cooking for them about as enjoyable and as fruitful as jobseeking. I don't cook from fresh to feed the bin.

my youngest son went through this phase after breakfast which was cereals the only two things he would eat were slices of bacon, if i put it in bread he would take it out and leave the bread, chunks of cheese and yogurts, took about a year to get him out of this phase hes now 37 and will eat anything going except shellfish so pick your battles and give him the few things he will eat and slowly try tiny bits at a time to introduce new tastes

This stresses me out daily, I genuinely cried about it the other day. He will eat fruit, filled pasta (but not pasta with veg) and meatballs. For breakfast he will sometimes have toast, occassionally porridge or shreddies if I put some honey on it.

THAT IS IT. He wont eat any form of potato, chicken nuggets, rice, noodles, beans, spaghetti, vegetables.

I basically alternate between pasta and meatballs. It is incredibly stressful, you have my sympathy.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. Wouldn’t recomend the suggestion above to smack them
Till they eat but just keep going and some day they will try something. My ds was a fusser but at 6 he has started eating everything. He wouldn’t eat any meat at all, no potatoes, no bread, no sandwiches and lived on pancakes and spaghetti hoops. He just started trying more and more. I agree with the others who suggest service some meals family style in the middle of the table so if you have say roast chicken. Make sure there is one thing in that meal they will eat even if it’s only a bowl of plain rice and they might surprise you and help themselves to something with the rice.

This is a 3 year old thread!

BUT

Well, I'm not "right there with you". At all.

When I was small, if I didn't eat my food, I got spanked. Oh yes, I howled and howled. My mother would lift the spoon to my mouth again. And if I refused again, I got spanked harder. I soon realised that I was not the authority on what gets eaten.

This method has been tried and tested down through the ages. You're doing your child a favour; they become peaceful at the table, show respect to the authority of the house and, most importantly, eat what's good for them.

I don’t even know where to begin with this. This is abuse and terrible advice which is hugely likely to lead to a really messed up relationship with food. I have a very fussy 2 year old and I just persevere with offering him what we eat and if he doesn’t eat it then he doesn’t get anything exciting as an alternative.

Dont make a big deal out of it. Feed him what you know he'll eat. If it's spagbol or shepherds pie 5 nights a week with some cheese and a strawberry or two for afters, who cares 🤷 it's a balanced meal.

Sorry I didnt realise...

I am just really anxious about his food and jumped at a chance to talk to others about it!

Fussy eating is an evolutionary advantage. You don’t eat bitter tasting things (like green veg) because bitter could be poison - kids’ tastebuds are more sensitive to bitter tastes than adults’. You also only eat recognisable food because being adventurous was risky.

Just chill in the knowledge that your kid would have been winning at hunter gathering. They will expand their tastes as they get older.

Sorry I didnt realise... blush

I am just really anxious about his food and jumped at a chance to talk to others about it!

No worries, I clicked on the title for advice on my 2yo ds who exclusively dines on beige food. If it is colourful or might have grown from the earth there is no way he’s putting it in his mouth! I almost cried earlier when he ate his homemade wrap pizza with sweetcorn on!

My son tried that and still does now occasionally aged 4. It is the same now as it was when he was a toddler, I literally can't afford to waste food. If he didn't eat it it would keep being offered because I had no choice. I was a single parent paying for everything including childcare. He'll eat anything now so clearly hasn't caused any damage.

How's everyone's fussy eaters now?? I'm very interested to know if this has truly passed as I now have a very fussy 4 year old 💆🏼‍♀️