My 3 year olds won't eat... Anything !

[Stinkygirl]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any pointers for me with regards to my 3 year old twin girls. I can't get them to eat anything apart from yoghurts, crisps and the occasional ham and pickle sandwich !!!!

Breakfast - Cereal, toast, fruit and yoghurts, they only eat the yoghurts
Lunch - Chopped up veg, cheese, crisps and sandwiches, they will only eat the crisps
Dinner - Fish, meat, pasta with various sauces followed by a yoghurt. They will only eat the yoghurt !

Now I know they aren't going to starve and I have tried cutting out the yoghurts and crisps the two things they always eat to no avail, they just won't eat anything. Please has anyone got any suggestions or fail safe recipes !! Thanks for your time.

Not probably what you want to hear but I would cut out the yoghurts and crisps. If mine were offered cereal, toast, fruit and yoghurt at breakfast time they would faint with the choice. They get offered one, if they eat it all they can have something else. If they don't eat it, they go hungry. When they are hungry, they miraculously aren't as fussy.

Can you get them involved with the food shopping and prep? Do you and DH eat alongside them? Can you invite round some friends of theirs that are good eaters so they can see them eating well?I find these things help for us.

I have just seen lots of improvement with surprisingly little hassle with my DD (2.4, so the behaviour will be different, though). I expected to have to do more but all I did was this.

Give more 'challenging' food at lunchtime, e.g. something she probably would like but would normally refuse. If she doesn't eat it there is no fruit or yoghurt and no snack in the afternoon.

Give something she will definitely eat at dinner time. Again, if she didn't eat it, so snacks etc.

I was going to gradually get stricter and more challenging but after two days, she pretty much toes the line. She certainly believes that I mean what I say. I couldn't believe it. And now, when she refuses something, she knows there is a consequence she doesn't like for being fussy and / or I know she is really not hungry.

We are yet to try even more challenging food but it has led to her trying things, like roast beef, that she normally never would.

Oh, and I do my best not to get wound up by it / not to show her I am if we have a difficult day. I simply remind her that ther ewill be nothing else until the next meal. Several times!

My 3 year old eats a real mix of stuff. I try to get her to eat well but she eats a fair amount of junky bits too.
I agree however with cutting out the yoghurts, DD1 has one at one meal not two. I also cut one pack of crisps into two (I use a little pot) so she is not eating loads. This works very well in packed lunches at nursery

Flat bread (tortilla type) is popular here, with chopped veg, cheese and sometimes scrambled egg. Sometimes I make wrap type sandwiches and sometime just rip it up. Infact different breads can just make a bit of a difference. pittas, french stick etc

DD really enjoys 'dippys' for lunch too, either a party pack of dips or hoummous I chop lots of crudites and sometimes toast and a few crisps and we dip away. We share this and it usually lasts us two days.

Tea time, what about Jacket potato and cheese or a pizza made with the above torilla DD has recently started eating Fish pie and shepards pie too and does eat better when we eat them too. She however really turned her nose up at some lovely macaroni cheesey pasta I made recently.

On the unhealthy front. Dare I suggest .... (whispered in hushed tones) Sausage rolls?? DD has recently started eating Fish pie and shepards pie too and does eat better when we eat them too.

I do admit trying to be imaginative (and by this I simply mean thinking of a variety of meals, not cutting food into mad shapes) can be hard and she does eat a lot of the same things. DD2 has just started weaning and DD1 watches me make food for her and I'm hoping this will help me find some new things for them both to eat.

We also bake quite often, which can be trying! but this could give you another option for pudding.

I didn't intend this post to be so long but I hope it helps.

Soup is evry good with DD. She'll eat practically any vegetable as soup. Practically none otherwise.