Almost 2 and still not eating very much

[Denmark]

My DD is 22 mth and is SO fussy and I have no idea what I should do. She has allways been fussy but she is a big girl now and I would like her to join us in the family meal, but nooooo she might put it in her mouth or stick her tongue out but it come right back out. She does not eat any veg no carrots (maybe a few bites if they are raw), no carrots (unless it ias crips), no beans, broccoli, sweet potato etc. She eats apple, pear, melon, banana, one kind of sausage, danish salami, sometimes ham, weetabix, some kind of cereal bars, scrambled egg and that about it. I sit down with her at the dining table, switch off the TV, I have my lunch, dinner with her but she talk more than she eats. I praise her all the time even when she just smells the food. I take the food away without making any comments, still not working. I have a DS who is 6 mth and I thought that when she saw him eating that she would like to taste etc. but she smells and says mhhhhhhhh and walk away Any ideas ??????

my dd1 is the same she hardly eat all her dinner she 3

my dd1 do like a tin of pasta shapes in tomato sauce like teletubbies and simpsons shapes
my dd2 whos 11mths eat more that dd1 do

she seems to be eating a variety, however I know what you mean - my dd (2.11 yrs) goes through stages. The experst say that you have to introduce a child to a new food on average 20 times before they will eat it. Just persevere. Don't make a fuss when she refuses just take it away. She will eat when she is ready.

Denmark, I would second what Helsi said - persevering does pay off in the end although it is hell at the time and a lot of food is wasted. My dd1 (8) eats more or less anything. She has a few dislikes, but most important, is willing to try things. My dd2 (4)sounds a lot like your dd and her range of accepted foods looks similar. She got bronchiolitis at 8 months, just when she was getting into solids and was ill for most of the next year. This really put her off a lot of food and she would eat hardly anything for a long time. I once made a list of what she would eat and it was basically fruit (which she has always eaten well)plus pasta and yoghurt. She was never really willing to try new foods and held her face away and gagged. We went for the 'you can't say you don't like it if you don't try it' angle and got her to try a minute amount. She got a lot of praise for trying and if she didn't like it we'd just thank her for trying, make no further comment and leave it for that day, maybe trying it again but served in a different way some months later. She's still fussy about food and it is difficult to have family meals where we all eat the same but her range has expanded a lot and some of the foods that previously made her gag are now gobbled up (sweetcorn being the current success - she ate 5 babycorn tonight with fish fingers and pasta). She's obviously not wasting away as she is on the 75th centile for height and weight (if you measure these things) so she must be getting some nourishment somewhere! Will your dd eat pasta? I used to make pasta sauces (usually tomato based) with hidden veg - grate up courgettes, mushrooms, onions etc so once they're cooked they're not distinguishable. If your dd likes it you can gradually increase the size of the veg. Tuna can also go in a sauce like this. Other suggestions: sandwiches with fruit spread or marmite and philadelphia. You could use 1 slice white and 1 brown to make chessboard sandwiches, tortilla wraps with shredded ham and cheese, try those frozen 'farmhouse veg' where there are little bits of carrot/beans/sweetcorn kernels, coloured pasta (you can get red, green and plain dried rice/veg pasta from supermarkets).
Good luck - stay in there!

Hi Tobim
Thank you for your advise, my DD does not eat pasta right now and does not really eat any kind of bread. If I am lucky she will take a bite of my sandwich. But I will give a go anyway at some point she must chang her mind

Hi
My DS is just the same. He eats banana and custard, mango and strawberry smoothies scrabled egg (sometimes!!) toast (plain), tinned spagetti hoops and yoghurt.
He watched us eat proper spaghetti last week - we pretended to make a right mess and sucked up te strands separately making loads of noise. He was fascinated and wanted a go. Now he eats spaghetti willingly with lots of different sauces - athough he won't eat the sauce separately he licks his lips after sucking a strand so happens to get some sauce.
I have done tomato sauce (with hidden carrots or brocalli), bolognaise, carbonara etc and it all goes down well!!!
I know some may say that food should not be a game and that this does not encourage good table manners but the way I see it is that he is eating food!!!! manners can come later.
Hope this helps
Cheech