What to give my 23 month old son for dinner?

[stinkymalinki]

My 23 month old has recently become very stubborn and will no longer eat main meals that have to be fed into him, despite previously eating everything (with gusto!) before (he has not mastered the cutlery fully yet!), so all my lovingly home-cooked organic bolognese, shepherds pie, chicken casserole etc is going cold and uneaten whilst he eats the carrots and peas that he can just pick up with his fingers.

So far, for finger foods, i've come up with pasta and pesto, homemade fish fingers with potato wedges, cut-up sausages, quiche, and mini-pizzas all with either fresh vegetables or salad. He will not eat potatoes in any other from than wedges / homemade chips, despite previously loving mash.

As he usually eats with us, and we all eat the same thing, can you suggest some more ideas, as i'm sure he's getting bored with the limited choice, and i know DH and i definitely are! (i usually resort to the old faithful pasta and pesto if we want a 'night off' and have a lovingly prepared meal occasionally)

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will he not eat the mash as finger food? My 10 month old has a go at everything with his fingers e.g. mince and potatoes, haggis tatties and neeps, cheesy pasta with veggies, spaghetti bolognese, rissotto, etc. Most things can be turned into finger foods if your lo (and you) are willing to get his hands dirty. I also second getting a bib to catch the falling debris - we use the tommee tippee roll and go bib.

yeah i also let my son use his fingers but left a spoon with him to experiment with he ate all sorts and eventually copied what every one else was doing and used his spoon properly even now at 2.4 he still uses fingers at times

you could roast vegetables and sweet potato this makes a nice picky dinner and just keep doin what you are doing as this is how they learn

it wont matter to much if your dinner is different to theirs as they will probably still eat theres and taste yours too my ds has always eaten different and eats great and enjoys having some of our food put on his plate i find he eats more

they also pick up on anxiety so make meal time fun let him use his fingers and make a mess and encourage him to try using his fork and praise him when he does but dont worry about him making a mess you might find he is steering clear of the foods that make him messy as he is anxious introduce them again and allow him to make mess with it and praise him for eating it

my son done the same as i wanted him to use spoon or fork and didn't want him using fingers and he syopped eating alot of things and i think this was because i made him anxious so i intoduced it again and played with the foosd myself and didn't stress about the mess he soon ate it again and gradually learnt the use of fork and spoon by watching but i still let him use his fingers as long as the food is going in i'm not worried anymore

plenty of praise will go a long way try just have one spoon opf mash and then make a fuss and say i cant believe you done that well done he'll soon want to suprise you again they thrive on it

to OP my dd is 26m and has become more fussy about food.
she has her main meal in the evening and we all eat as a family which seems to help, she eats whatever we eat and if unwilling we just supplement afterwards and try not to stress.

also during the day she just grazes and i try to vary what she eats. humous is a winner as well as sandwiches, homemade flapjacks fruit etc.

must say pesto pasta peas is a favourite
it's hard work

forgot to say she likes soups (messy messy eating)
rice with whatever; quinoa; couscous roasted vegetables etc.
when i see she fusses i mash the veg/ mince lentils etc and she just spoons it with a good sprinkling of cheese

Thanks for all the replies. I have no issue with him picking up casserole and things, he just won't do it! Also, he has his own little cutlery set, which is supplied at each meal time - most of the time it is ignored completely, and on the few occasions he will use it, he spends hours picking up things with his fork, only to then take the food off and put it in his mouth with his fingers anyway! I guess i'll just keep persevering, and let him suss thing out at his own pace. (pasta-pesto again for dinner tonight)