Is Fussy Eating now an acceptable phase?

[SpacePuppy]

Ds nearly 2 eats a very restricted diet of fruit, weetabix, porridge oats, toast with marmite or jam or peanut butter, cheese, yogurt pancakes, biscuits and sometimes oven chips. I cannot get him anything else, he pushes it away and refuses to try anything. He will lick something new once and that's it. I don't want to start a battle around food, he is on his curve weight wise. He does not try to eat meat at all, I'm concerned that he might not be getting enough nutrients, vitamins etc.

Does anyone else have this dilemma or had and do they eventually start eating or do you have to follow the "starvation" method (nothing else to eat except whats on the plate?)

TIA

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What is it with peas and sweetcorn? They're the only veg my DS will touch, too. I once tried cutting up all his veg into tiny, pea-sized bits. He just looked at the plate and then at me like something very weird was going on...and still didn't touch it. See, I can't be arsed with doing things like that anymore. Annabel Karmel-style hidden veg sauce is about as bothered as I get about it these days (such a bore).

DS1 is the freak who will not eat peas {sigh}.

peas and sweetcorn off the menu for ds1 as well.

His choice of veg is broccoli, carrot, cauliflower and beans ( runner, French etc)

but absolutely no other veg will cross his lips.

Does it really matter than he won't eat ant other veg - I don't think so.

I think four is good.

DS1 will eat broccoli, carrots, corn and (sometimes) parsnip and cabbage.

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One eats peas

One eats sweetcorn

One eats cabbage

Both eat raw carrot

One eats all meat

One eats ham

Yet they both eat school meals

Not at home

Does my head in

grrrrr

I don't call it pandering - I all it saving my sanity.

I have decided to give my DSs the same meal every day because I am so fed up with the stroppiness when I suggest that something else might be nice.

I don't like wasting food so if I give them what they like the I don't have to throw loads of uneaten food away every day.

Like someone else said - just because they are fussy eaters, doesn't mean they live on a diet of jaffa cakes and crisps

Its a phase. Mine practically lived on biscuits for ages but eat good diet now.

my ds lives on bread and cheese

i binned all the sweets

i felt mean but now they are gone he does not ask
and the treats mean
treats

I'm undoubtedly guilty of pandering to DS2's ridiculous fussiness. In my defence:
a) you have to pick your battles. I want mealtimes to be pleasant for everyone - if I can achieve that by serving DS2 pasta with carrot and tomato sauce EVERY NIGHT then I will. (In fairness he will eat yorkies with chicken gravy, although not the chicken and not beef gravy).
b) He won't always be fussy. I know this to be true - DS1 was fussy, is now 20 and eats anything.
c) He eats a lot of fruit, is growing, never gets a cold and is pretty happy.
In short - sod it.

Sorry Custardo you won't get my vote on this issue. I don't eat things I don't like, so why should I force ds. Why would ds like all the things I put on his plate? At this moment, he gets a plate with a teaspoon of each food that I prepared for the family and things I know he'll eat. I don't want to cause psychological issues later in life by forcing food in, I also don't want to do the starvation thing, I think I've ready enough research on the topic and have been questioning people I know and as a another resort I've now asked on here if there is a practical approach to this and I think my thread title describes it then, it is phase, I think it is probably a very important development phase and that 3000 years ago it probably saved our lives not to eat everything we found. Who knows, at least some posters on here acknowledge they have the same issues. In fact I think that's it, I have the issue with him being fussy, he doesn't give a shit, just eats what he wants.

*This is ofcourse different from not liking certain foods - we all have foods we dont like.

unless there is something medically wrong with your child then i personally do not subscribe to pandering to food choices - i cook - they eat or they dont - they then dont eat until next meal.

i think this is completely diferent from making you child food they dont like.

which i wouldnt advocate of course.

if you child doesn't like peas - fine great - wonderful - my boy doesn't like chips

he then says he doesn't like mash - which is ullhsit - he PREFERS something else.

ut he can kiss my arse.

I also have one who will eat anything and I mean anything.

One who was/is finniky.

As long as funniky bigger is getting the 3 major food groups and doesn't have scurvy I tend to ignore it, but not pander to it

A for example. we had baked ham (nice ham cod! ) yesterday with mashed potatoes, broccoli and a fantastic home make cheese sauce. Finniky bugger didn't want the cheese sause, so I didn't give it to him. His loss, it was bloody magic! He didn't get another sauce in its place.

as time goes on he is gradually getting better

I do think some children are naturally fussier than others (which explains yourtwo easy eaters and one fussy one cod).

But I think the best way to deal with fussy eaters is to use MB's approach, i.e. keep offering the same food as everyone else gets, if they don't eat it all, fine, don't make a fuss, but don't offer anything else instead. As long as there is always one item of food on the plate they like, they won't starve, and offering different food repeatedly will increase the likelihood of them eventually accepting it.

I think the worst ways of dealing with it are either to pander to them and only offer them food they like, or to make a big fuss and insist they eat stuff they clearly don't like.

I have to admit to pandering a bit - was a fussy eater myself as a child and it would have made me physically sick to eat certain things so am a bit soft on this....

Generally dd will eat pretty much everything so she generally has what dh and I are having. If the ds's won't eat that I might do something quick for them separately. But on the other hand, I might just give them a bowl of plain pasta (if we were having pasta with a sauce) and just grate some cheese for on top....

i think this article is really interesting. the clara davis stuff seems a bit tangential but it certainly suggests that fussy eating has been around for a long time

I've read about that experiment before (or one very similar). It is interesting Aitch!

It is interesting. My picky son's diet, while to my mind horribly dull, was always nutritionally OK. He always got what he needed to eat. At which point I stopped beat myself up about it

Similar here, MB. I've realised that I have to look at ds's diet over the course of a week - 10 days and not on a daily basis.

I'd sit down and all eat the same thing together. Cut out all snacks, often snacking means that they're not that hungry so pick. If the bush people can get their kids to eat witchety grubs am sure we can manage a carrot or two. If you're worried there are supplements like dinochews, but I'd concentrate on getting him to eat, My dd would only eat crisps and chocolate if she could choose.

Rebelmum1
The problem is not snacks (he will take a banana before a sweet if given the choice.) the problem is widening his diet to include more than just the said few things. For example, I give him one bottle of formula as I'm not sure how much iron he is taking in, often when he has a cold or not feeling well and his appetite goes down I will give him some vit. supplements, but I think I'm concerned that I'm not approaching hi correctly by offering new foods. Again, maybe I have the issue not him.

do you do things like shepherds pie when you can sneak things in so that they get used to the flavour? I roast veg and then liquidise with tomato to do a spaghetti sauce and dips and things like chicken in polenta with a garlic mayo. I eat the same too and make mealtimes and occasion. I don't give a sweet either until a good attempt has been made with the first course. It can be hard especially if there appetite is low. If they are off colour I wouldn't worry too much that the body's natural defences. As long as they are well hydrated. I used to pop my dd on formula when she hadn't eaten for a while.

he likes veggie muffins, but he does not eat white bread, rice, pasta or potatoes! Never has and just pushes it away and if he can he will throw it in the bin if I try too much to persuade him. Full of shhhh...t