Toddler and picky eater

[ToddlerMum312]

I am getting desperate here ☺️ and I am aware there are so so many posts about toddler and food . I am just really after advice and experience. I have a 27 months old girl and boy !!she doesn’t like food .. I will give you an example of what she has and please tell me if this warrant any investigation or it is just simply pickiness and if you have come out the other side .

1. breakfast: warm cups of milk 4ounces . 3 pieces of dried bananas and nuts yogurt and refuses everything else until 10 snack : entire almond croissant and nectarine Nap plus milk (4 ounces ) lunch : a couple of squares of peanut butter and butter sandwich and a few bites of carrots snack : half of a banana and half of peanut butter bar Dinner : pasta with broccoli and tomato sauce and cheese plus little treat

She isn’t bothered if the food is mixed together or if fruits had skin or not, veggies are not blended just cut in pieces and she is fine with them but she is definitely against trying new food .

Sounds fine?

I thought you were going to say she only eats 3peeled grapes, a slice of ham and the chocolate from a KitKat...

Just put a different type of food next to what you know she likes, she'll pick it up eventually.

I wouldn't give her a peanut butter bar with a peanut butter sandwich personally. One or the other seems fine.

Try her with a cheese sandwich and the half peanut butter bar or something.

Honestly that sounds like amazing eating compared to my picky toddler!
At least she's hitting most of the food groups each day. Good range of textures etc.
I imagine that in time she'll have an interest in other foods, just keep offering things on the side of what you know she'll eat and eventually she'll probably try them.

Is that everyday or does it vary a bit from day to day? Sounds fine to me - though my autistic 9 year old is very picky and wouldn't eat that much variety. I think you have a variety of textures there so can expand into different things and variety of fruit and veg. What about meat or fish? If you are looking for tips think about changing up things based on keeping something she likes but changing texture or flavour like a different flavour bar or nut butter or changing texture of the tomato sauce

I don’t see any issue with the food itself. Snacks are quite large though so maybe she’s just not that hungry for meals? An almond croissant is about a third of a day’s calories for a typical 2YO. Half a peanut butter bar and half a banana is possibly quite calorific too. Cut those down and she might be more adventurous at meals. But lots of toddlers are a bit fussy, the vast majority out grow it. She’s having fruit, veg, good variety of tastes and textures. So no I wouldn’t be concerned! But may seek to cut back on the snacking a bit.

She varies every day but it is limited to me xx she loves lasagna and I manages to sneak in spinach or courgettes , also pasta pesto and broccoli . Saffron risotto ( sometimes) egg noodles with broccoli and macadamia nuts , fish cakes the Aldi ones with cheese in it , meatballs , burger/ sausages in a bun with cheese , aubergine bits with pasta . This is in terms of main meals . Lots of carbs I know but she is too keen on soups or just fish alone .

she also likes all treats and bread types .
she doesn’t like eggs at all if not mixed with curry rice and cauliflower x

she won’t touch eggs alone and chicken is very hit and hiss

I personally wouldn't give the bar or croissant but the rest seems fine. Mine will barely touch vegetables! I have to blend them up into soups or pasta sauce if I want them to actually eat any, so you're a step up from me currently!

I think I fell into the trap of “ please finish your toast/ food “ kind of mantra

Why do you think she's fussy?

at times I have to reminder to finish her food as I am worried she is not getting enough 😣

You shouldn't be telling her to finish her food. She should be eating until she's full. She doesn't sound fussy at all

She doesn’t sound remotely like a fussy eater.
also I wouldn’t push her to finish everything, they need much less than adults often estimate and you don’t want to give her bad food habits so that she can’t regulate/listen to her own hunger/fullness

That's not being fussy.

That's just you thinking you know your child is full of not. You have no way of knowing, so should let your child decide if they're full.

Just like if someone told YOU to eat one more bite of sandwich or come on, eat up the rest of that banana ... You'd know if you have had enough.

Is she not putting in weight or something?

That’s not being fussy. The variety of foods you’ve listed is great. Is she underweight and there are concerns about her growth? If there are you might be better asking for a referral to the paediatrician dietitian than on here. But if not then just let her be. Teaching her to carry on eating past the point of being full is the exact opposite of what you want to be doing. Cut down on the snacks if you’d rather she have less croissant and more broccoli pasta.

Sorry I should have said she is slightly above the average weight and quite tall for her age . I was more concerned about her stubbornness when it comes to new food and trying it . Also I don’t think I am given her too much milk throughout the day( 450 ml in total ) and I don’t understand why she is not more hungry

It’s really normal for toddlers to be suspicious of new foods and you often have to serve it multiple times before they will try. But also keep in mind that the milk (presuming it’s whole milk) and the almond croissant combined are half her daily calorie needs. So chances are she just isn’t hungry.

Gotcha you ☺️ yes it is whole milk .. thank you

I wouldn’t worry with that eating. My DD is 3 and she is actually fussy all her life. I would be happy if she agreed to eat what yours does (minus peanut butter).

Is now not the millionth thread you've posted about "fussy eating" when in fact all you do is list completely normal behaviours for a toddler and nothing that indicates anything out the ordinary.

If I recall correctly, you've already been told by multiple health professionals nothing is wrong so I'd listen to them instead of this intense obsession on getting some sort of ASD diagnosis for your daughter.

Because she's eating enough...

Simply because she if I don’t give it to her she struggles with utensils .. I thought that if if a child is hungry ( with the exception of health problems) he/ she will eat what’s given but it is not the case with mine if I just leave the plate and let her do it

That's entirely normal behaviour for a 2 year old. Most of them struggle with cutlery and 2 year olds generally don't have big appetites. Trying to force her to eat and physically giving her food is about the worst thing you can do. As long as she has food on her plate she likes just leave her to get on with it and she'll eat if she's hungry. You've already listed she does eat during the day so I'm not sure what the problem is.

You continually look for problems where there are none. As demonstrated by the other 1000 threads you post, you don't actually seem to have any knowledge on child development or what actually true fussy eating actually is. Have you got any help yet for your obsession on an ASD diagnosis for your daughter or are you just going to continue to post thread after thread of non-issues?