Would you give in and just continue feeding your 2 year old baby jars?

[Wills]

I have 3 children and my youngest is proving to be the most stubborn when it comes to food. ds1 has been a nightmare so far! Basically he's the most classic male eater I could possibly imagine and its been a big shock. He wont touch fruit (to the extent yesterday that he sucked the chocolate off of the banana chips and spat out the banana! ). He doesn't like potato, bread (unless toasted with either jam or marmite), pasta or rice and will only eat veg if covered in gravy (the beef version not the chicken!). I dropped jar food ages and ages ago (about 15 months) and its been a constant battle ever since. Lunchtimes are particularly hard. Then yesterday he found a jar of food that I'd obviously not used up (still in date) and handed it to me and when opened ate the lot. It was chicken balls in rice and tomato with veg! It just seems a backward step to return to jars!

Don't give in!!! Rod for your own back etc etc He won't starve himself. Just keep on feeding him whatever the rest of the family is getting (which has got to be better than the bland gloop in jars) and it will get better.

PS: Not insulting you for using jars btw. I did too, but the stuff in them is a bit rank

It is a backward step Wills and I think you know that you shouldn't! Are lunchtimes hardest because his sisters aren't around? Could you give him the things that you know he likes at lunchtime - would he eat something like a beef and vegetable type stew that you could cook ahead and freeze, then try to work on variety at the other meals. Then as long as he's eaten something at lunch you could adopt an 'eat what everyone else is having or go without' attitude at teatime - easier said than done I know.

would he eat your own stuff if you mashed it up a bit so it was like jar food? or could you do that and put it in a jar so he thinks that's where it has come from?

No I wouldn't give in.

I make one meal (I will avoid certain things if I know they really dont like it because there are certain things i dont like and will never eat like sprouts for eg) but other than that they can either eat what I put in front of them or go without if they eat enough of their dinner they can have pudding if not they go without. No child will starve itself as long as he's drinking I'd be happy with that.

Could you make you own version of the food in jars that he will eat and take it from there?

I totally sympathise btw. My ds became a super fussy eater at 18 months (but refused to touch any baby jars from the word go!)

thre is NO WAY id give a 2 year old jarred food

but then i wouldnt give it to a 12 month old either and would be very unlikely to even give it to a baby!

Good for you nannyL