3 Year Old will only eat chicken f**king nuggets!

[ninenicknames]

It's not even fussy eating I'm dealing with here.

DS 3Years will literally only eat chicken nuggets & chips.

Breakfast is either an egg or 1x wheetabix.

He used to eat, spaghetti bolognaise. Now no longer.

I am truly lost what to do.

Today I have taken away toys (I already do not offer any chicken nuggets) so he genuinely would rather starve than even try a mouthful of anything other than chicken nuggets.

I'm stupidly emotional about this today, surely a diet of chicken nuggets and chips is not normal.

Utterly failing here and I don't know what to do other than starve him!?!?!!

I'm doing it all wrong aren't I?

Just don't give them chicken nuggets and chips every night?

Get him to write on a big poster a meal plan for the week. Chicken nuggets can only be had on a Friday for a treat night.

He won't starve. Promise.

Don't take toys away either. Don't punish if he doesn't eat anything for dinner, just don't offer anything else. He'll soon eat something else when his hungry.

Does he have SN? My ASD son has a horrific eating pattern but the advice will be different for a child with SN than what I would do with my NT toddler.

And my son with autism would actually starve himself rather than eat a food that was 'wrong'. His issues are sensory.

Yes, have them once a week and then he will know they are coming.

I don't want to sound all lentil weaver but if you made some yourself it might make you feel better about what he's eating. Buy some of those chicken tenderloins and some panko breadcrumbs. Dip them in egg then the panko. You can freeze them spread out on a chopping board.

Could you do other things with Chicken nuggets? Burgers with the chicken tenders in panko. Lemon chicken and rice.

No you're not doing it all wrong. He is 3 with a realisation that he can have some say in the world. Like all 3 yr olds though he isn't going to make sensible choices always.

Would he eat homemade chicken nuggets...ones he had a help in making?. I used to do this with DS ....dip the chicken pieces in egg and cornflakes then bake them. He thought they were fabulous.

Likewise any other food that he can make with you might help him to try other stuff.

It's a phase....he won't only be eating chicken nuggets and chips at 25 (hopefully) but it's hard when you are going through this with them.

My DS is autistic and won't touch gravy but other than that is thankfully a fabulous eater now he is a teenager. I well remember that 2-3 yr old stage when he would only eat baked beans though.

Personally I would be overjoyed if my son (4 with asd) would so much as nibble a chicken nugget. All he eats is bread, plain pasta and ice lollies. Literally that is it. No fruit. No veg. No meat. No cheese. Ever. He is under a dietician and has a vitamin supplement. She has told us to let him eat whatever he likes without a fuss even if it's chocolate biscuits for breakfast and lollies for dinner. Sometimes he has had a whole 4 pack of calippos for dinner. That's it. But the main thing with a child with a restricted diet is to make it fun, not to make an issue out of food at all and to encourage them to eat something, anything. So that's what we do... Maybe eventually he might try some new foods! We always offer what we eat as well but he never wants it. For dinner he eats his before everyone else (with me sitting alongside him) as he hates even being around the smells of normal dinner.

I think you need to relax a bit, as long as he's eating something that's fine. Egg and chicken nuggets and a bit of weetabix isn't actually that bad at all really.

When I was 3 (25 years ago) I would only eat cocktail sausages. My mum took me to the gp for advice and was told it was a phase and I would get bored soon enough.
I'm now a very adventurous eater with no ASD. My 3 year old won't eat meat. She'll grow out of it and so will your son, I'm sure.

Just so you don't think you're doing it wrong see this article

Thank you all - this really has reassured me & you're all right I never wanted meal times to be a battle ground.

I will make my own, I think that's a good idea.

I don't believe he has SN, it's never been brought up at any health checks for childcare setting.

Love the "lentil weaver" comment

4 Pack of calipos for dinner, hmmm I actually could do that to be honest. That must be tough but as you say I NEED to relax, I lost my shit yesterday & I was more cross at myself for that.

He's only 3. I need to chill out.

Ok - new day, new tactic. Food shouldn't be an issue & should be fun & enjoyable .

I can do this phase!!

I wouldn't buy chicken nuggets and not would I take things away to try and make him eat.

Just keep serving up what he liked before every now and then and eat with him. Ignore if he doesn't want to it.

My dd is incredibly fussy and she will say she doesn't want something but she does come back to it.

This is hard as my ds is nowhere near as fussy! He did go through a phase though and I mostly ignored and would give him something plain before bed.