Meal time nightmares!

[mummytasha11]

My 23 month ds has become a nightmare recently at meal times.
Won't sit down and eat, shakes his head and says no when you try to give him mouthful.
It's nothing in particular that he doesn't like but seems to be everything we offer
It turns into an hour long drama and its stressful.

I've just come onto MN to find advice on the very same thing. My 19mo is refusing to eat anything that she has decided she doesn't like, including lots that she has previously wolfed down. So I can't offer advice, but know how stressful it gets!

Ah, welcome to the toddler years! It's pretty normal. I think from the age of 2 to 4 children live on a combination of fresh air and nothing else. I think most if their development at this age is in the brain and they just don't seem to need food!

Just keep mealtimes stress free, don't freak out and turn it in to a battle. Be prepared for this stage to last a while. Try and make meal times a relaxed and social affair. Get sneaky with foods they will eat, make pasta sauces with loads of hidden veg, make ice lollies with loads of fruit blended together (strawberries and bananas work well), pizzas with veg hidden under the cheese etc.

Absolutely it will pass. Ds at 5 is only now coming out of it. He's still quite fussy about what he'll eat, but I try and make it as healthy as possible and he eats tons. Today's tea was homemade pizza with ham and sweet corn and cherry toms, peas and carrots, a large petit filous and a massive bowl of strawberries. Unthinkable only a year ago!