To think this is enough food for a 2 year old?

[Dranktoomuchpepsi]

DH is a bit worried about DS's diet. He doesn't really eat very much compared to other toddlers, it seems. He's gotten fussy recently! Use to eat everything given to him.

Today he's had:

Breakfast: Two slices of toast with butter. It is usually peanut butter. All eaten.

Snack: Handful of cheese. Most ended up on the floor. Ate one bit. Some pineapple - eaten. A multivitamin bear.

Lunch: Pasta with cheese. Eaten.

Dinner: 2 Weetbix with strawberry soya milk. All eaten.

Is this enough? We don't give a proper 'meal' at dinnertime because it NEVER eats. DH is really really worried.

DS is in 12 to 18 months clothes and he's 2.5. He is being investigated for height but doctor says it just may be genetic (both my grandads jockies), yet less likely since DH is 6 foot 3.

He does also get breastmilk but they're short feeds, not frequent and don't seem to impact appetite.

He was a brilliant eater before

Things like beans, vegetarian meats, etc, all get thrown and rejected. He won't eat them and has become so so fussy!

What happens when he sits with you to eat a family meal? Does he get to serve himself from shared serving dishes? Does he have pudding when he hasn’t eaten a meal? Does he help prepare meals?
How can he eat a meal that isn’t served?

I’d stick with three meals and maybe one snack. Let him get hungry between meals. Then sit and eat with him. As soon as food is thrown, take it away as the meal is finished. He then waits until the next meal. No anger, no cajoling, no special foods.

Take any emotion out of food but give him some control. A variety of things at each meal and let him decide what he wants but absolutely no throwing food around.

He’s getting enough to survive but it’s a bit stodgy and teaching him not to behave properly at mealtimes.

DD regressed around that same age, and she used to be a brilliant eater. A period of slowly dropping foods,two weeks of eating a bag of crisps and one ice cream a day and then ages of reintroducing absolutely frikking everything..including toast. She was 3 when she first liked pancakes.

It was a nightmare and I fucked up in many ways but she's slightly better now ,even if still fussy and fairly limited. Still hates vegetables.

My advice would be to not turn it into a battle. keep trying different things,tastes(from bland to more adventurous ) and textures in small bits on his plate alongside his normal food. Does he feel hungry? Will he let you feed him?

He is 2. He isn’t a vegetarian. He doesn’t understand how to make that choice for himself unless he categorically dislikes all meats.

YOU are a vegetarian and are feeding him according to your diet. He is in no way eating enough protein.

Also, contrary to some other posters, I actually find the more DS snacks, the less he eats at meals. The meals are the substantial things with meat, carb and veg I really want him to have, so the snacks have to be worked around those. Eg his dinner is at 5pm and yesterday he was hungry at 4 so received his dinner there and a snack later. Or I make eggs for him as a snack - eggs are golden and quick.

It's enough in terms of quantity but it is a bit nutritionally lacking. But he's hit that age when kids do get fussy. Could you hide veggies in things? So instead of cheesy pasta do a tomato one with blended up carrots and peppers in. Would he eat a boiled egg and soldiers for breakfast? what about a sliced up banana on his weetabix? Keep putting small amounts of vegetables on his plate, but don't make make an issue of whether he eats it or not. Hopefully he'll grow out of this stage soon. Most kids do.

I do have to say that what he does eat is not enough in amounts or nutritionally, so his dad is right to be worried . There's definitely things you can try and add to his diet, including meat even if you are veggie.

I would spit out vegetarian meat too!
But the rest seems ok.
Have you tried letting him "sneak" stuff off your plate?

I think as he's diet is so restricted you need to offer a wider range, you might be vegetarian but something like fish or chicken could be a valuable source of protein for him. If you havent tried already then I think it's time you did

If it was just me I would try that but DH won't. He's firmly vegetarian and won't touch or have DS eating meat.

He is 2. He isn’t a vegetarian. He doesn’t understand how to make that choice for himself unless he categorically dislikes all meats.

YOU are a vegetarian and are feeding him according to your diet. He is in no way eating enough protein.

I'm not vegetarian. DH is. Agreed from the start that DS would be veggie. It is healthy. Yes things like chicken contain a lot of protein but so do a lot of veggie alternatives. But he won't eat them and doesn't like any sort of 'meat' style stuff

I'd keep giving him plenty of milk he’s not a 10 month old- he needs more food: definitely vegetables and more fruit. Don’t get me wrong there are days my 2.5yr old refuses her meals
But you keep offering Them so they don’t get used to lack of food and they learn normal habits.

Today my 2.5 yr old ate
Half a croissant/ an apple and some milk
2 slices of a baby pizza, some cucumber/ tomato and humous
A piece of Easter egg
Chicken stir fry
Hand full of berries and a custard cream

doesn't like any sort of 'meat' style stuff don’t blame him, god knows what crap is in that fake stuff

Why don’t you just give what your eating. I generally just make one meal for my family and we eat together. I sometimes adapt the meal and add hot spices at the end after I have dished out the kids meals.
If he throws his food he won’t have any left to eat he’ll soon learn not to throw it.
I then usually offer yoghurt and fruit at the end so if it’s something they have tried and not liked they will have something to eat and not go to bed hungry.
It can be hard but just keep offering different types of foods with plenty of veg, salads and fruit.
I would avoid the cereal at bed time as most of them have sugar in them.

Have you tried letting him "sneak" stuff off your plate?

Yes but no interest from him as he doesn't engage with us much at all

It sounds very low in protein - and as you are concerned about his growth, you should probably speak to your doctor about it.
The British Nutrition Foundation has some useful guidelines of the amounts that toddlers need:
www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/toddlers/249-feeding-your-toddlerpre-school-child.html?limit=1&start=1

You say he is doesn't have cows milk - does that mean that the cheese you are giving him is vegan too? That is usually much lower in protein than dairy cheese, so he might not even be getting much from that.

Why is he vegetarian/no dairy? Is it for religious reasons, or allergies?

I want to try just offering his meals and that's it, if he throws it he goes hungry. Tough love. But DH is really against this because of how tiny he is

So he's in the mind frame of getting whatever in is better than nothing

He's firmly vegetarian and won't touch or have DS eating meat.

Then he can't be that worried can he? Or he'd put his son's wellbeing above his principles.

Hell I would've let DD eat anything at her worst. I cried with happiness the first time she ate a happy meal ...it was her first full meal/real food she had in 6 months. Then went shopping and bought 3 boxes of fish fingers.

Mines 21 mths but giant 99th percentile for height and is 3-4 clothes now, and eats constantly but he's going off meals as such. He likes to dip at the moment.
So soup now a big hit due to dip. Dip with cheese sw or toast.
Dip dip snacks so fruit to dip in yoghurt.
We also do veg chips which he dip. Dips in egg or brown sauce.
He likes to cook so I find he wants to eat it more if he helped.
I blend lentils and veg into tomato pasta sauces and he likes that a lot.

Ahh suspected ASD does change things- my DS has ASD and he was a brilliant eater when we first started weaning etc until he was about 3, and then a terrible eater he became very fussy, of course we now know he wasn't fussy and it is sensory related, so do check in with your health visitor about this she may have some advice.

Does he feel hunger? This is very important.

I personally would stop giving him weetabix and milk for dinner. I know he may not eat it, but when do you expect him to if he’s not even given anything? You all need to be sitting at the table together for dinner, he needs to be offered the same as what you are having and encouraged to try some. Otherwise he has just learnt that if he refuses he will get cereal that he likes. Eventually he will realise that’s all he is going to get and will start to eat. He’s eaten before so there’s no reason he can’t now. Most toddlers go through a phase of eating really well, then a phase of eating nothing, then back into a phase of eating again. But you have to be consistent for that to happen.
I remember getting really frustrated at dinner time with mine when he suddenly stopped eating everything he always had done, but we rode it out, I always offered him dinner but I wouldn’t give him anything else if he didn’t eat it. He would then have his fruit/yoghurt etc and milk before bed. A few weeks later he was back eating dinner again and is now a great eater at 4.
Good luck, it’s really tough x

Oh, just read your update. Was your DH a vegetarian from birth? Or did he grow to his 6ft 3 on a balanced diet, and then adopt vegetarianism as an adult?

If I were you I'd discuss it with your doctor as a family. But there is no way that I would keep my son to a limited diet that he wasn't thriving on just to appease his father's ideology.

It sounds very low in protein - and as you are concerned about his growth, you should probably speak to your doctor about it

I did mention in my OP that he is being investigated for it.

He does eat cheese, proper dairy cheese. Won't eat it by itself but will eat cheesy pasta a lot of the time... I pray it continues

Op we're a veggie household too. My DC1 went through a really fussy stage at 18 months. We find eating together as a family really helped. He pretty much eats whatever we do now. Some meals that have really helped us:
Chickpea curry - throw in a load of veg. We make a separate batch for us which is hotter than his, but it looks similar so he doesn't notice.
Mixed bean chilli, again throw in every veg you can think of.
Anything with lentils - daal, Ragu, spag bol etc.

Is he having a vegan diet? Just wondering about the soya milk. If I find DC isn't eating particular well, I will give extra cows milk before bed.

Note. Me and ds are both veggie, it's very possible to get everything from a veggie diet. Lentils and other iron sources are your friend here.
Hummoud and dip. Dips Inc pitta etc are great snacks.
(the dip dip thungs irritating but ds love sit nad eats)

I’m more concerned that he is not eating what you are eating and using a fork for normal means rather than the actual food per se.

Do you do all meals sitting down together eating the same thing? In lockdown that should actually be relatively easy to achieve.

At 2.5 surely he can explain why he’s not eating

Does he feel hunger? This is very important.

I don't know. He doesn't speak or prompt me