Running out of ideas for different meals

[gingerbabe]

My 2 year old is a bit of a fussy eater. I have to admit that I am quite fussy, but have tried really hard to encourage her to eat everything. However, I often struggle to get her to eat the food I prepare for her.

I am trying to get her into sandwiches at lunchtime, as they are quick and easy, but she just eats a bit of it and then doesn't want anymore. Sometimes I can get her to eat her dinner (usually some sort of meat or fish) but I do worry that she's not eating enough. I don't let her snack on junk foods. Between meals I try to give her fruit (sometimes she wants it, sometimes she turns her nose up).

Having read endless books on this sort of thing I am not making a big deal out of it with her. I just take her plate away and don't force her to eat it, but it's a constant worry to me. Is this just a stage?

Gingerbabe (I seem to be following you around the board this evening!) - my DS is the same, I found it helped slightly to change to the 'main' meal at midday and a light sandwich type meal in the evening but sometimes he is just totally uninterested. Last night for example he only had an apple for his evening meal. I really don't worry about it, I have read so many books that say children will not deliberately starve themselves.

I do not prepare 'special' meals, he has the same as we do, but sometimes I'll make up a batch of something & freeze it so that there is always something available.

gingerbabe, have you tried baked potatoes with different fillings? she could maybe help you mix them (!) or sprinkle on the cheese. making faces out of food (pizzas or mini ones made with bread/crumpets you can just pop under the grill) helps sometimes if dd's being fussy (she is normally a really good eater - sorry, not bragging!) or maybe trying something I fancy that's less 'formal' eg a boiled egg mashed up in a cup with butter & soldiers for tea instead of meat/fish. and then there's ketchup...many a sprig of broccoli has been helped on its way by this
I've also realised that dd doesn't like things to be too sloppy - eg if I give her pasta I try to only put a bit of sauce on, or put it on the side, or just do pesto and let her sprinkle the cheese. when she eats with us I usually put the salad on the table so she can see that we have green things/tomatoes with all sorts of food and she loves that, even olives!

I offer a picnic lunch quite often, bits of cheese, sandwiches and bits of apple and often put quite a bit of it in the bin. I think if your dd stops eating she's not hungry. Unless she is very underweight I would honestly not worry and carry on asyou are. If she is thin, then up the snacks. Give bits of cheese and the odd cake or biscuit unless you are really opposed to this. My ds eats muffins but it doesn't stop him eating fish pie! (not smug or boasting, honest!0

My dd has about 6 mini-meals a day - I do the breakfast, lunch and tea thing - and she usually eats some of each but a lot of her daily nutrition comes from snacks, like babybel cheeses or cheese triangles, snack-a-jack crisps, ordinary crisps, apples, satsumas, biscuits, those mini-pancakes, even twix.

I find that this way she eats a lot more than if she only gets her proper meals and we are all happier. I remember reading somewhere that this method of eating - "grazing" I think it was called, was healthier for adults too ! Clearly not me though as I now need a major diet !!!

Hope that helps ?

Thanks for all your advice and tips. I will give some of these a try and let you know how I get on.

This website is fantastic - I'm really glad I found it. Much more useful than just reading ideas in books.

Gingerbabe, my DD is only 1 yr old, but I have found I am already at a similar stage. She really likes a mini-yoghurt for a snack, which I think is healthy. That and cheese, as others have mentioned. I agree with the small snack theory, as long as the snacks are healthy. DD seems to like pastas, mini tortellinis, etc. also. My big problem is that I can't get DD to eat any green vegetables. Any advice on green veggies?

DS is a "four meals a day guy"; he's 17 months and is always interested in lunch but he is much less interested at the other meals with the exception of milk at teatime. His favourite lunches are omelette (with any filling - great when you're in a hurry); meatballs, meatloaf, rissoles and quiche (all of which freeze really well), beef bourguignon and coq au vin (he was born in France and I think they give them a secret injection that makes them like anything French - he would only eat French baby food when he was tiny!!), rissotto and anything Indian!! Unfortunately he hates pasta, is a bit iffy with bread (he picks out the filling of sandwiches and plays with the bread); he won't eat fresh fruit although it's OK if it's cooked (pureed fruit is his favourite - compote, it's that French thing again). Also as he has got catarrh and a nighttime cough we have had to cut out cheese, cut down yoghurt and milk which was a major pain in the neck as cheese and yoghurt was his favourite snack food.

Meatballs, meatloaf, rissoles and quiche are the best options for us as you can "disguise" all sorts of good stuff in them; they can all be made in advance. They freeze well. I do a lot of stuff in foil trays which makes the freezing easier. HTH

Tinyfeet - have you tried broccoli with cheese sauce? Or mixing the green veg into something else? Pureeing it in a pasta sauce?

NQWWW, no, I haven't tried that, although I did mash brocolli and bits of cheese, which DD didn't like. For cheese sauce, do you just melt cheese or is there a cheese sauce that you recommend? Obviously, I'm no cook, and usually try to do easy things.

I do a cheese sauce as I would for adults - ie make a white sauce and add grated cheese to it, complete with lemon juice and grated nutmeg. It is fiddly, but makes veggies much more interesting.

Thanks, NQWWW. Sounds too complicated for me. I've never made a white sauce. If you have any links to recipes, please let me know.

If you want to cheat with a cheese sauce, bisto do a cheese granules mix that you just add water too (a bit like the gravy). I still tend to add my own grated cheese in though to make it more cheesy. Probably not ideal as obviously it's more processed but for the odd occasion where you haven't got the time/don't feel that culinary it's really handy to have in the cupboard!

White sauce - melt a bit of butter and add soem flour so looks like brown paste. Slowly add milk, bit at a time, stirring all the time, on a low heat. It will thicken up into a sauce.

My children took a couple of years to really start eating meat in any quantity and they've never taken to fish. I think they had trouble chewing meat. I kept the protein up with milk. They love pasta with things in - ham, sweetcorn & peas with a few tablespoons of creme fraiche or cream is one of their favourites; tuna, chopped toms and mixed beans (all in cans) is another. Both very easy to prepare and nutritious.

These sound good to me. Thanks for the advice - Georgina - I don't have the time/energy to do everything from scratch, so processed is fine if it gets DD to actually eat the good stuff. Thanks again.

GeorginaA, be careful about the salt content of the dried sauces for very little ones. The fresh sauces are great, I freeze a small quantity of the cheese ones in fromage frais pots and just defrost it in a pan by reheating gently, takes very little time.

Good point Alibubbles. Ds is 22 months now, I tended to not worry so much about salt content (well, I still try and give a sensible mix of processed and prepare from scratch foods - so he gets a sensible diet) once he was over a year old.