ds 19mths refuses most food-at wits end!

[ellasmum1]

ds is so stubborn,has a tantrum every mealtime.He will only eat cheese,yoghurt,tinned tomato,pasta ,bolognaise sauce,toast,peeled apple and toast.sometimes eats a bit of chicken/meat,will eat some cereal.
He refuses rice and potatoes,all veg cooked or raw,all fruits except bits of apple or raisins.He wont have baked beans/peas/sausages either.Its so annoying - I do not want to make us all separate meals!
Any advice, don't really want to do hidden veg recipes either.

I shake your hand! My DS2 at 19mo would only eat bread. Seriously. He is now 26 months old and beginning to try quite a few new things.

It'll happen. Eventually. He sounds as if he has quite a varied diet right now.

thanks for the reassurance!

The key thing is never ban any food, because one day he will try it again and like it, if its offered now and then.

This would be my plan:

Stop any spoon feeding - he's old enough to pick food up himself now. It takes the pressure out of the situation and puts him back in control.

Offer him a selection of food that he does like, plus a couple of new ones too at every meal. Put them on his tray or on the table and let him help himself

Don't give him food that you don't want him to eat - ie chocs etc. just offer a selection of healthy food at let him get on with it.

Try not to hover around him while he's eating. Get on with eating yourself, or tidy the kitchen or whatever.

After, say, half an hour, remove any uneaten food and that's it until the next meal time. no filling snacks, perhaps a couple of grapes or something if he seems really hungry.

I know its SO frustrating when they won't eat, especially when they turn their nose up at something they used to love, but you have to take the pressure and confrontation out of the situation and put him back in control.

He won't starve, I promise

will he eat things like fish pie or cottage pie? Fish fingers? DS is currently living on that kind of thing as he won't touch any fruit or veg if on his plate, but will eat things like peas and carrots if they're in a sauce (not hidden, just in a cheese sauce with fish)

Mind you.. he does LOVE fish (weird boy)

I too am impressed - my DS is 21 months and has been a REALLY fussy eater ever since I tried to get him to move from lovely purees to stuff a bit chunkier. Currently he eats no vegetables or meat at all. He'll happily eat cornflakes, shreddies and cheerios - will eat grapes, apples and bananas .....and bread. And that's it. He's not underweight and people often look at him and say 'oooh he looks like he really likes his food'....er, nope. I've tried hiding veg, putting bits of chicken in bread etc etc and he gives me a look that says, bring it on mummy! And my GP said that if I didn't do something soon he would end up obese (horrible woman). All I can say is just keep trying...and try not to worry....it is really frustrating but I've taken comfort from reading threads like this. He'll be ok :-)