21 month old sauce addict

[strangerthanfiction]

Urg ... ever since dp introduced tomato ketchup to dd she refuses to eat any veg or bread or veggie burgers without it. I've bought a 'healthy' version from the health food shop and it does mean she eats a lot more than she did previously which was very very little. But am I creating a massive fussy eating problem?

According to one of my toddler books many do go through a "sauce" phase! I guess you just need to wait it out, I'm sure she'll get sick of it eventually...

my son going through this stage to, but its mayo, barbecue sauce or burger relish

hes having mayo with potatoe things like chips, fritters, i put barbecue sauce in beans when he has beans on toast, and relish on any cooked meat he eats almost anything now, as he went off some things he used to really enjoy when i started to feed him solids, hes 14 months old by the way

My dd is exactly the same! How annoying is it?!!! I am really worried that this is going to carry on and I am going to have to start taking out little sachets of the stuff! I like you have the healthy version but even so I don't like the idea of having to give it to her at every mealtime. Just what to do?!!!!!

yep, ds (4) went through a 'ketchup with everything' stage, and at one point preferred licking the ketchup off the plate and ignoring the food! He doesn't have it on anything now, so guess it's Just A Phase.

i had a word with my health visitor and she seems to think it could be down to his teeth and the strong flavour, she says if it makes him happy, but limit how much sauce i allow him to have at each meal

now I feel like I am depriving my child, she is 21 mths and would not know mayo,ketchup, sauces, burgers or relish...
eeeks

lol, my son loves going to macdonalds once a month for his chips and barbecue sauce, he dips his chips on his own to, makes a mess but he thinks its fun

Hi everyone with sauce-loving kids.

I think it's partly the dipping in and eating that appeals though I've tried giving her things to dip into that are better like homous, cream cheese etc. but no, it's just sauce she wants.

Jodie, yes dd too, she'll just put her little fist in the sauce and lick it off with no interest in the food it's supposed to go onto at all! My dp was eating a cheese salad the other day with some branston pickle on his plate. He looked round just in time to see dd ramming a huge fistful of branston straight into her mouth. She ate it all and went back for more!!! YUK!!!!!!!

My friend had a fussy eating dd and gave her ketchup to encourage her to eat. It very quickly got to the stage where she wouldn't eat anything without it. Even now, aged 8, she's very reluctant to try anything without it being smothered in sauce. My friend said it was the worst thing she'd ever done

That's what I'm worried about SN. Oh dear, what to do ...

I suppose you've got three choices:

a) let her have it with whatever she wants but limit the quantity

b) only let her have it with certain foods but she can have as much as she likes

c) go cold turkey and throw the sauce bottle out for a bit

or even:

d) give her her own bottle for Christmas

I'm soo glad this has come up - my dd is addicted totally!!!

She has to have either "dunk" (ketchup) or "sauce" (bbq sauce) with everything - she has even been known to pick her plate up and lick off evey last bit (only at home obviously!!!)

mine like the hellmans 'curry' sauce!!! i wouldnt worry a little sauce wont hurt them imo

Well, that's what dp says. But I remember as an incredibly annoyingly fussy little girl having a salad cream addiction that went on until I was at least 6 and drove my mum potty. On the other hand, via sauce, we've got her to eat all sorts of things we've been pulling our hair out trying to get her to eat up til now. So maybe I should write a thankyou letter to heinz ...

Tomato ketchup has positive health benefits. Recent studies show tomato ketchup can be a powerful tool in the fight against cancer and heart disease. Does this help?

Ooh yes, thanks daisy. I should eat more too then I guess

STF, tomato sauce is ok nutritionally, in fact it's good for you since tomatoes are a good source of lycopene, as daisy says. More here. I buy organic and we get through about a bottle a week (eek, that looks a lot written down doesn't it?!). I detest the stuff, I really am practically phobic about it but let my son (nearly 7yo) have it with quite a few things since he likes it and it's good for him. I won't let him have it with everything though so if I've cooked say, a veg curry, it won't be on the table whereas I don't mind him having it with pasta (yuk!) or chips or even vegetables. So I think in your position I'd go with it!

My dd will only eat certain foods with honey on it, even potato waffles!! Sometimes I brush her teeth after every meal!

Honey waffles?! That's a new one ... though nothing would surprise me totally.

www, cheers for that. We've decided to go with it for now as dd is such a small eater and at least this way she downs a bit more.

You've just got to be prepared for the embarrassment factor when you go round to someone's house who's cooked a lovely meal e.g. a roast and your dear d or s refuses to eat it unless it's smothered in ketchup. Hey ho, could be worse...

Yes, I've already imagined my mother's face when I next go to stay with her ... Dd sitting at the table demanding sauce and giving big messy red grins ... ...