Two dishes in 22 mo's repertoire

[mumtojohn]

I know this isn't a rare problem and almost every toddler has eating issues at some point, but wondered if anyone can reassure me that their LO is the same or give me any tips...

My DS has been at f/t nursery since I went back to work in Jan of this year. By all accounts he eats very well. He is 22 months.

The problem is that he eats badly for us at home. Both DH and I worked full time for most of this year (I am having DC2 in a few weeks so just on ML now) and just didn't have the energy to try lots of new dishes. As a result we slowly drifted into just giving him the small number of dishes he would eat. Now I am off work again and with DS at home most days now (still in nursery 2 days to keep the routine), it is getting silly; he will only eat baked beans or pasta tubes with green pesto (only green pesto!). That is it. He will eat snacks, like Organix rice cakes and crisps, bananas, yoghurt, fruit pouches, Cheerios, Marmite sandwiches etc, but hot meal-wise it is now limited to those two meals. At nursery, he is still eating all sorts. It wasn't so much of a problem when he was at f/t nursery; I knew he was eating a wide range of meals. But now, I am a bit worried.

I've asked nursery for their recipes and will recreate them, as well as spending time before DC2 comes trying new stuff.

Anyone else managed to break this kind of cycle? Or have the same problem? He will eat beans and pasta and pesto until the cows come home, so I'm not concerned about weight, but it's so limited!

I wouldn't worry my ds is 22 months and he goes through fads of not eating anything at home but will eat everything at who's ever house he visits.

I find that we cook meals for the family and put it in front of him, if he eats great if not he goes without. since doing this he eats everything we do and the spicier the better.

Just persivere, he will grow and his taste buds will change but only if you try other foods.

I've always just given family meals too, straight from six months. Sometimes they don't get eaten and I don't offer an alternative or large supper later to compensate. No fuss, no comment. Neither DC has ever woken hungry in the night / lost weight.

Missing a meal or two really isn't a problem, it's so worth it in the long run. DD (now nearly 3) has had fussy phases but IME they've always had much more to do with power play than food. DS is only 16 months so his fussy phase(s) are just around the corner.

OK, so the message seems to be: keep trying new stuff but don't stress if meals are skipped as a result.

DH is a problem as he fusses about weight. So, he will just give in and offer beans/pasta at the first sign of refusal of anything new and be very 'told you so' when the new meal is refused. I know why he does it; because DS is 25th percentile and so has always been on the small side. What DH doesn't get is that DS has been on the 25th line since birth; that is his natural size and as long as he keeps roughly to that line, we are doing it right (weight-wise). Therefore, he can afford to skip meals as he isn't slipping from the line. But DH just thinks 'small kid - must make sure he eats at every meal.' Annoying but at least now I am at home I can control meals myself and keep trying.

Thanks for the advice - any more experiences welcome!

Also, it's worth bearing in mind that a new foods may need to be tasted up to 10 times before they are enjoyed...

Stress at the table is what is most likely to stop a child from eating / encourage power play around food. How about introducing new meals at lunchtime rather than dinner so your DH isn't there to stress about it? Just save a bit of what you and your DH had the night before and give him that.

You're quite right about the centile thing, DS should follow his centile for height and weight. The centiles for height and weight should be similar. How about reminding your DP that a child who is 25th centile for length and 50th for weight would be worryingly over weight?

I have 2 ways of introducing new food, one is 'showcase' in which I eat it in front of the dc several time without offering it to them. Then when I give it to them (they often ask to try it) I make it part of a meal with other things including something(the 'scapegoat') they haven't seen before (maybe a gherkin on the side or some wierd lettuce)and generally they eat the 'showcased' stuff and announce they're not eating the 'scapegoat'. We never ask them if they like anything, sometimes we say 'this is ever so creamy/nice and crunchy' and let them agree if they want to.

Is there any you can mix in new tastes with something he already enoys? I can remember when dd wouldn't eat pear puree, but loved apple. I mixed them together, gradually increasing the amount of pear, until there was very little apple. After a little while, she would eat pear on its own.

I know it's not quite the same, but it's worth a try.

Yeah, tb, that's how we got him off formula and onto cow's milk (itself only a recent thing!). The only issue with that is that he tends to swap one thing for another. Worth a try though,

I like the scapegoat and showcase idea! Very clever.

Lunch, not dinner, is also a good shout.

Thanks all.

fermina can I ask more about your approach as I do something very similar with dd who is 2.2. Do you offer fruit afterwards if very little of the main has been eaten. And is just trying the food ok or do they have to eat a reasonable amount?
I've just started weaning my triplets who are 6 months old and preparing their food is a real chore. Did you prepare all your family meals without seasoning or stock to give to the DC? I would quite like to give them our meals for convenience but we eat some quite strong tasting food.

Only just seen this, sorry for the delay.

Triplets and a 2.2 year old? Wow.

I've always just given what we're having, we eat quite strong tasting food too and neither DC ever had a problem with that at all. I just use herbs, spices, pepper etc as usual. I add yogurt to spicy food to soften it and cook without adding salt.

I've always used stock in their food TBH, I just make sure the salt intake balances out over the day, so no cheese etc on days that I'm making something with stock. An extra drink or two after dinner to be certain. Also, I did BLW so they weren't taking massive quantities of food at the age that salt intake really matters.

My DC now long strong foods particularly olives and blue cheese...

Oh, missed a bit. In my book just tasting the new food is good enough, the quantity consumed just seems to suddenly shoot up after a number of tastes.

No stress, no fussing, no hovering.

No advice but you have my sympathy. My ds is the same except he will only reliably eat pasta pesto. He's just gone to bed with no tea cos he's oissed me off so much. Oh except he doesn't eat at nursery either!! No bugger can get him to eat and frankly I can't be arsed any more.

Good, thanks. Will make things much easier for me and the traditional repertoire of dishes is very bland. DD is a good eater and we've never fussed over her. Fingers crossed for the boys!