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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

A wide ranging diet doesn't really matter...

4 replies

Bomblesofbimbledon · 25/02/2024 20:12

For young children?

Serious eating issues aside I just don't think it matters if young children have a more restricted diet than adults. I think most of us ate less of a range of foods when we were children and then our tastes widen in adulthood. I didn't try either olives or humous til I was an adult for example, and now they are staples in our house.

I have a 2 and a half year old toddler. He's not the worst eater in the world, not the best eater in the world. I think he's fairly typical, perhaps slightly on the fussier side but I'm not concerned at all. Another mum was going on and on recently about how bad it is for children not to eat a wider range of foods as though there's much that most people can do to force a change in their children's eating habits 🤷🏻‍♀️ She made it very clear that fussy eating is the fault of the parents and her child eats well because she is exposed to lots of good healthy food. She's very proud to have a "good eater" which I think is simply down to luck. I have and continue to expose my child to all sorts of food but he simply likes what he likes.

My son gets a multivitamin every day and we put food down with no pressure to eat it. He eats what he likes and leaves what he doesn't. If he's hungry before bed he has a supper of either toast, porridge, a banana and a cup of milk.

I think it's perfectly fine that he doesn't like avocado, salmon, eggs, sushi or pasta dishes (all things this mother's child eats). I can't force him to like them and I'm sure he'll come round to some or all of these things when he's older. I only liked eggs done one way as a child and I definitely didn't like salmon let alone sushi, now I eat salmon at least once or twice a week and eggs most mornings.

Things my toddler likes to eat are soups (nearly any kind), bananas, strawberries, blueberries, humous, rice cakes, French toast, fish fingers, bolognese (just the mince without pasta), sausages, porridge, cheese, yoghurts. He doesn't have a massively wide range of things he enjoys but we continue to serve up a wide variety and let him try things at his own pace. He finally enjoyed a tuna toastie for the first time recently. He does not like any veg served on its own but I don't worry as he gets it in his soup and in Bolognese and we mix flax seeds/chia seeds and grated carrot into his porridge.

AIBU to think it really doesn't matter, even for children with a more restricted diet than my son's, and that most children grow up just fine and eat a wide range of foods in adulthood?

OP posts:
MissyB1 · 25/02/2024 20:18

I think the most important thing is that they are offered a wide variety of foods, and that they see their parents eating a healthy varied diet. So even if the child doesn’t take to lots of different foods early in life they will see trying out new foods as normal. That gives them a better chance of having a healthy diet with lots of variety as they grow up.
I think a lot of parents think because their child has rejected a certain food a couple of times that they shouldn’t bother offering it again. They reinforce the idea to their child that they “don’t eat that” .

Dacadactyl · 25/02/2024 20:20

@MissyB1 I agree

Bomblesofbimbledon · 25/02/2024 20:21

MissyB1 · 25/02/2024 20:18

I think the most important thing is that they are offered a wide variety of foods, and that they see their parents eating a healthy varied diet. So even if the child doesn’t take to lots of different foods early in life they will see trying out new foods as normal. That gives them a better chance of having a healthy diet with lots of variety as they grow up.
I think a lot of parents think because their child has rejected a certain food a couple of times that they shouldn’t bother offering it again. They reinforce the idea to their child that they “don’t eat that” .

Definitely agree but I can understand getting stuck in that cycle. Young children can be so up and down with their eating and it can get wasteful. Feeding children is so fraught with emotion, I've had to work hard myself to just put food out and accept that not only will some things not get eaten, they won't even be tried.

OP posts:
MyBigFatGreekSalad · 25/02/2024 20:22

I think as long as their nutritional needs are being met with as many whole foods as possible then a somewhat limited diet in comparison to adults Is normal.

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