To ask if my toddler is destined to become a picky eater? According to in laws, yes!

[TheLetterOfTheLawTheLetter]

If everyone says it happened to theirs, I'll say no more.

But I'm tired of perfectly nice, well-meaning in-laws reminding me that my 18 month old's (by the grace of god) amazing eating habits wont last. It's constant. And I'm hardly gloating over it, or dancing around clapping my hands, so I dont need the reality check they think they're providing. It's made worse by sister in law, who has frankly terrible eating kids (ie they eat nothing), who will chime in saying things like "oh you think they will eat organic goodness forever, well you've got a surprise ahead". Again, I don't discuss toddlers eating habits with her, it's just said when we're around table as a family group. I just find it highly patronising. For the record, by good eating habits, I mean he eats a lots, and pretty much anything I give him. I've basically given him what we eat from early on,lots of different flavours and veggies. And ref SIL organic comment, i'm hardly precious, he also gets a little tiny bit of cake, chocolate, ice cream or whatever I'm eating, if I'm feeling generous

I know that moan was mostly unnecessary and I'm over sensitive/easily annoyed, but my main q is whether anyone had a toddler who DIDNT refuse all food at 2.

Who knows, maybe they'll just keep moving the predicted food refusing back

My kids ate everything. Fish, oysters, escargot, veg, all kinds of shellfish. Literally everything. I would have saved a lot of money if they were picky because then they might have eaten off the children's menu. No such luck.

Not at this age, no. My brother was a struggle to feed up until he was 6, he would not eat certain things, would barely get hungry and so on. Now he's in his late 20's and he eats everything, in fact, he's always willing to try new things. It's a complete turn around to the young boy I once had to try and feed weetabix, ha.

Just disregard their comments, no one knows what the future holds. Your little one is still new to this world and adjusting, let him adjust how he wishes. Best of luck.

My dd started out as a great eater. She ate veggies, meat, fruit. For a treat she got rice pudding made with breast milk. Her absolute favorite was gnawing on a piece of steak. I took to cooking small ones just for her. I was the queen of baby led weaning.

And then one day it was like a switch flipped. She started gagging. She started crying. She started losing weight. The problems remain at 10 years old.

I no longer believe parents can have any influence on if a child turns into a picky eater.

We did BLW with my son, (2.5), he was fab with eating everything we gave him from 1-2ys and has become decidedly fussier since then. I’m trying not to sweat it, some meals he eats like a hero, other meals he’s having none of it, my strategy is just to put a variety of food in front of him, not be too outcome driven and not offer alternatives. I hope things will stabilise when he’s a little older.

Don’t listen to your in-laws your child may go through a fussy phase (I’m told it’s normal) but equally they may not. Sounds like you are doing a great job with feeding them a variety of healthy food.

I don’t think it’s possible to say. Many children go through a picky stage then come out if it sooner rather than later. Some take longer to come out if it. Some are never picky and will eat a good amount of most things on offer and some kids can be picky all the way through childhood and end up picky adults.

I’d think though it’s most likely that if your DS has been offered and eaten a wide range of foods of different textures and flavours and hasn’t had too much sweet stuff, he’s very likely to be a unpicky eater even if he does end up having a period of only accepting a limited range of foods.

DD was a nightmare right from the start but as an adult isn’t picky at all. Same with my oldest brother who for a year apparently only ate chips, biscuits and orange squash. He has an incredibly healthy diet as an adult with very little sweet stuff.

I would say that extreme fussy eaters are likely to have some sort of food intolerance or allergy or a sensory issue eg strong flavours, different textures to have such an impact on the relationship food. I. Can imagine that if they are extremely fussy then she is possibly sensitive about it.

Thanks all, good to hear your words of advice and experiences.

I guess we dont have a crystal ball so anything is possible. I just want to enjoy the now (without being blind to the future) rather than constantly being put on edge about how its going to all come to an end, but I guess that reaction is my own issue and I could choose to ignore!

Next one is on the way, maybe it'll be a food refuser from the start

My 2 dc ate everything as babies and got fussy around 2.
Ds 10 is quite fussy but eats a good enough range of things by this point that you probably wouldn’t think he was fussy if you spent a week with us.
Dd7 is much less fussy, but is also not into trying new things, just has a wider range if things on her “foods I like” list.
Neither are problem eaters but neither would eat a bowl of veggie chilli or salmon with couscous, for example...so not amazing.

I do cringe when My friends who have under 2s saying about their babies “I’m so lucky, she eats everything!” And I think “Yeah, you’re not lucky, you just haven’t got there yet..!”. But I wouldn’t be so mean as to point it out.

I have a DS with serious food avoidance issues, i.e. when left to starve himself he does just that. I am involved with a wonderful support group that tries to use evidence based ideas to help DCs with food avoidance issues.

In many case she there is a reason for the difficulties. Some DCs have physiological problems to do with swallowing or digestion that prevent them. Some DCs have sensory issues that make them very sensitive to certain textures or the mixing of foods, some of these sensory issues often go hand in hand with other SN. Some DCs have had a traumatic experience with food either through an illness or chocking.

Having said all that my DC used to eat everything until 18mo and then started refusing more and more food so until he was down to 23 very specific foods for no discernible reason, so some DCs do not follow an obvious pattern.

But, most commonly, most toddlers go through a picky phase and then get over it. Try to ignore too many discussions on eating habits, don’t allow your relatives to discuss food preferences as achievements, battles, worrying events, etc.