Meal and snack ideas for a fussy 19 month old!

[Juliehafrancis]

Hi all...

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas for meals and snacks as Briony (my little girl) and I are getting bored of the same thing. She doesnt eat any fruit except bananas unless its in yogurts and pureed and is opposed to veg apart from cucumber, tomatoes(chopped tomatoes in sauce) and carrots (sometimes in sauces) and potato so I would really like some ideas to introduce some veg and fruit into her diet and also any other quick healthy fixes.

Hope someone can help.

Thanx,

Jules x

How about using fruit (e.g. apple slices, grapes, pear slices etc ) to dip into fromage frais as a sort of "fun" way of doing it? I put fruit into those ice cream cup cones as well. Can't promise it will work mind you - my DS1 seems quite happy with his limited diet but sometimes likes things done in a different way! Good luck

I make up a huge vegetable soup that all the kids eat. I literally pile whatever veg I have in the house into a big pot add a little water and then cook until soft. I puree it up and that's it. It's generally very thick so I water it down as I take it out of the freezer (in batches) to whatever consistency I want. I also add some of that soup mix but you might not want to if she is that fussy. My ds is not fussy but he has a friend who only eats toast and cakes and his parents give in to him all the time so he doesn't feel the need to eat anything else but whenever he is here he polishes off the soup and generally has seconds.

I make up a lot of ice cream out of fruit from the bowl. Once again I just use what is in the house and generally use it because it will go off if I don't do something with it. I add diet lemonade sometime to give it some fizz. The kids love these too and they don't have sugar in them like my soup I don't add salt or flavouring too figuring I can do that for the adults individually.

What about dried fruit. You can get all types now see if she'll eat that too. How about cheese sauces or other things for the vegetables. I know it might not be ideal but using things like cranberry sauce, apple sauce etc may help her start to eat it things as you are effectively smothering the veg and meat in something like jam. Most of my sons friends are fussy eaters so another thing I do is make honey carrots which is just to drizzle a bit of honey over the carrots for them. I don't know how keen you want to be about natural and healthy and whether these ideas will work.

How about smoothies of fruit made with milk and/or yoghurt and/or ice cream too. Hope some of these ideas help.

Sorry the ice cream I make is not actually ice cream it is just all the fruit thrown into the blender and blended until smooth and then put into those ice lolly containers you buy. Therefore, no real work required.

Despite the limited variety of food your son eats, he has at least chosen a good balance of nutrients. His diet doesn't sound the least bit like it is severely lacking, so don't spend time worrying about that. Instead, concentrate on working on expanding that variety to further ensure he is getting a nutritionally adequate diet.

A diet of cheese sandwiches, cereal, milk, bananas and orange juice includes fairly adequate protein from the cheese, a generous supply of carbohydrates from the bread and cereal, a source of vitamin A from the orange juice and the milk, a great source of vitamin C from the orange juice and lots of B vitamins and potassium from the banana and grains. The one nutrient that I would be a little concerned about is iron. At 20 months, your son still needs iron from his diet. If the cereal he is eating is iron-fortified then he should be OK.

To get your son to eat a larger variety of foods you will need a lot of patience. He is deep in the midst of toddlerhood, which is characterised by a dislike or fear of new foods. Familiarity is the key to acceptance. The foods that you think he would like and are child- and age-appropriate you should serve at family meals over and over again. At each meal you should include at least one thing you know he likes and will eat. You wouldn't dream of serving a dinner of only things your husband doesn't like and your baby requires the same consideration.

found this info, don't know if it'll help

However, beyond those one or two items, do not cave in and prepare a separate meal for him. You will need to be matter of fact about that. If he ends up eating little or nothing, you know he won't go hungry since the next meal or snack is not too far away. When serving, include on his a small bit of the food you want him to try. He will have to take it from there. If he won't even touch it, that's OK. When he gets close to being willing to taste something, reassure him that he can take it out of his mouth if he doesn't like it.
It may take months or years before he expands his food repertoire too much. Just keep track so that no one food group is ever entirely eliminated or that another is eaten from exclusively. Continue to have family meals. That is one of the first and most important rules of good nutrition. Let him know you are enjoying his company. Keep the emphasis off what is or is not being eaten and keep it on the family. However, you do want to make it a time to share the enjoyment of good and healthy food.

Mealtime is a great time to include some nutritional education, like talking about how the milk will give you strong bones or the orange juice will give you lots of energy to run faster. Little by little your son will add new foods to his diet.

that's the next bit of it

Ooooo that ice cream idea sounds good meanmum. I'll give it a go tomorrow and may be able to sneak strawberries into my DS2