Fussy toddler eating help!

[chant89]

Hi all,
I really would like someone to shed some light and help on this one. I have a 21 month old who has always been fussy when eating. I'm at my wits end and it's beginning to really upset me as I feel j am failing.
In the morning she will have cheerios or toast with peanut butter or chocolate spread not ideal but all she eats she has gone off weetabix.
Lunches she will have some carrots or sweet potato and like a sandwich she has gone off pasta. She will have yoghurt and fruit also.
I have been making new foods but she won't eat them. She eats so well at nursery and they do exactly the same there as what I do at home.
I don't know what else to do or try!
Please help! Is anyone else going through this!

@chant89 first question I always ask is what milk she's on and how much does she have? I ask this because the type of milk and quantity can have a huge impact on what they'll eat and when.

Can you tell us what a typical day looks like for food and milk too?

@CadyEastman yes so she will have 7.30am-8am cheerios/ and yoghurt or toast and peanut butter in the morning followed by about 160ml of full fat milk then typically no snacks until 11.30 then lunch will be a sandwich and some fruit or again sandwich and yoghurt but she may not eat it then so she will eat after her nap at 2pm. 5.30 Then dinner again will be either carrots, sweet poatato toast peas sweetcorn bit she is so fussy I just don't know what to give her as she just won't eat new foods. I have her a cheese sandwich yesterday and she spat It out and was rubbing her tongue. At 6pm she will have 150 mos of milk 🥛 before bed.
She is 22 months is it time to maybe cut the milk maybe?
She eats so well at nursery though even with the milk!

Unless she's having milk at night, I don't personally think she's having too much at this stage. When she reaches 2 there is no longer a minimum recommended amount so you could drop the morning milk then if you wanted to?

We really struggled to get DD to try new foods but we had other things going on too like speech delay.

If you offer a new food, do you put something on the plate that you know she'll like so that she at least had something?

Do you eat at the sane time?

And does she get offered an alternative if she rejects a food or a meal?

Yeah so if she doesn't eat I do tend to give her an alternative. I don't eat at the table with her maybe I will try that? And maybe constantly put stuff on her plate that is new. I just feel she always eats the preferred food and never touches the other stuff. EVER.
Thanks for the advice x

Yeah so if she doesn't eat I do tend to give her an alternative

Ok so no toddler is going to try any new food if they refuse it knowing that a more preferred food will magically appear. Well maybe some rare toddlers would but your DD doesn't seem to fit into that rare club. I'd definitely stop offering alternatives and if she doesn't eat, just assume she's not hungry and clear away. It might take her a short while to adjust and she may protest but hold firm OP and she'll understand.

I don't eat at the table with her maybe I will try that?

I'd try abc eat with her and not be too concerned about what she does and doesn't eat.

There are some great family recipes on BBC Food and Taming Twinss* has some excellent ones too.

And maybe constantly put stuff on her plate that is new. I just feel she always eats the preferred food and never touches the other stuff. EVER.

I would still put the new food on her plate but put a small amount of a food you know she will eat alongside it. Don't encourage it cajole her to try anything, pretty much blithely ignore any protests. We always had the rule from a young age that you don't have to eat any food, but it stays in your plate. Sometimes they'd pick it up and try it, sometimes they wouldn't but they always had a little of something on there that they would eat.

Is she getting plenty of exercise too? I found mine were always more willing to eat everything if they had done things like Bern to playgroup, swimming or just toddled around the park for a while.