Am I being unrealistic?

[La19010]

Hi I am new to this and looking for advice or reassurance, pending your answers. My son is 2 years 1 month and since just before his 2nd birthday I feel his diet has deteriorated, he has pretty much overnight started refusing all the meals he ate before. My partner says I am being unrealistic as to my expectations of what a toddler will eat and he eats a good variety for his age is he right?

Foods he will eat are

Plain fish
Fish fingers
Breaded fish
Plain chicken (or any plain meat)
Bread
Yoghurt
Any fruit
Any cereal
Sandwiches with plain meat or dairylea
Eggs
Meatballs
Lasagne
Rice cakes
Potato wedges
Sweet corn
Sausages
Milk
Fruit juice
Oatcakes
Beans
Pizza

Hit or miss items include
Soup
Baked potato
Macaroni cheese

He will not eat what I think of as meals eg

Pasta
Risotto
Casserole
Broccoli bake ( which he used to love)
Meat + 2 veg kinda thing

What do you think? Although I am trying not to make a big deal about this, after our family meal I will only allow him a small piece I fruit if he doesn't eat his meals and not make a fuss. Meal times are becoming increasing stressful as he is now very confident in saying no.

Thanks

He's a toddler, they're famous for it. The list of things he will eat is brilliant

That is a huge list of what he will eat.

Your son eats more than mine will. Someone on here once said 'as a parent it's your responsibility to give your child healthy, balanced meals, it's not your responsibility to make them eat them'. Helped me a lot. My son doesn't eat a huge variety of food but it's balanced enough, he's not overweight, he's healthy & has plenty if energy so I've tried to stopped worrying about it. DS1 is 2.9 now.

Honestly, he's eating masses. Relax. If you make this into a battleground then a) mealtimes will become a hellish stress zone and b) you'll lose the war. The vast majority of toddlers get a bit faddy at some point - it's not a big deal. Keep offering the problem foods from time to time but it's no big deal if you have to bin it - let him see it is a big deal and it will become even bigger. Pick your battles - this isn't one of them.

Any fruit!

That is not bad at all, mine is 2 years 3 months and eats no fruit and a shorter list of foods than yours. Apparently she would survive on jacket potato with beans and cheese forever given the opportunity... She does like most veg and lentils luckily.

Please relax. He eats TONS!
At one stage dd2 would only eat bread,tomato soup,grapes and cereal.
She lived! She's 19 now,still a fussy eater but as fit as a fiddle

Thanks girls that makes me feel much better, I feel I put quite a lot of effort into our meals, and I don't wont him to dictate what he eats (to an extent).

Now the difficult part, letting my partner know he is right!!! Ooffft

Ok this happened to my dd at 2 and from talking to other mums it happened to theirs at a similar age. She's 4 now and is getting better, she will ask to taste things she previously wouldn't. Still won't eat veg though. Don't push it. We tried saying you must finish it all, bribery, reward charts, everything but nothing worked just stressed us all out.

One thing that has helped is letting her help with meal prep.