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Too many fish fingers?!

17 replies

Happybutknackered · 02/07/2010 21:22

DD is 2.4yrs and has become a really fussy eater. She has cereal or porridge for breakfast and will eat fruit but lunch and dinner are becoming a real problem. The only foods she'll eat is fish fingers and chips or mash. Sometimes she'll eat the veg but mostly not. I make my own chips in the oven with olive oil and I give her salmon fish fingers but I worry that having them too often might not be good for her?
I've always given her a variety of foods since weaning her but lately she's just become so fussy.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

OP posts:
RuthChan · 02/07/2010 22:06

Have you tried giving her whatever you're eating and telling her there's nothing else on offer?
My 3 year old DD would love to get fussy, depending on the day, but the food I put in front of her is all that's on offer. If she chooses not to eat it, that's fine, but there is nothing else. She rarely goes hungry for more than one or two meals at a time.
Not everyone is comfortable with allowing their child to eat nothing and many people prefer to offer something they know their child will eat, even if it is repetitive and not necessarily healthy.
However, I have found that my DD will eat something from almost every meal offered, even if she doesn't always like everything on her plate. She has also surprised herself in some of the things she has found she likes.
Of course what she will and will not eat changes on a daily basis!
Personally, I prefer this system to giving things I know she will eat at every meal.

Mayron · 02/07/2010 22:22

At a similar age DS (now 5) also started to refuse to eat anything other than fishfingers. I'm afraid to say he's still eating them every day for tea now! I really don't know how I fell into this trap with him and DD (2.5) is a great eater. I've made sure of that!

SO everynight for him its 3 fish fingers and tinned spagetti, with waffles/smiley faces/ oven chips/potato slices.

He always has a good breakfast, packed lunch and gets plenty of fruit every day and loves his dairy (milk,yoghurts,cheese)so I try not to worry too much about it. He's doing great at school and very active - loves his sport. I just hope that eventually he grows out of it. He keeps telling me when he's 6 he's going to try Pizza. Will believe it when I see it!

Don't think I don't try and introduce new foods - I do - but he just seems to have a phobia about anything new! I'm also pleased he chose to like fish fingers rather than chicken nuggets!!!! At least there's Omega 3 in fish fingers!

winnybella · 02/07/2010 22:29

Yup, and lots of mercury, too, depending on where the fish come from.

Stop offering it, kids are supposed to have varied diet. I bet he'll eat whatever you put in front of him after a couple of meals when he'll realise you have stopped pandering to him.

LouAnnVanHouten · 02/07/2010 22:33

Girlsshouldn't have more than 2 servings a week of oily fish so yes, its to many.

www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/nutritionessentials/fishandshellfish/#elem516830

winnybella · 02/07/2010 22:35

Oh, sorry, you have DD, not DS!

onepieceoflollipop · 02/07/2010 22:36

Would it be worth gradually changing things. e.g. alternating between salmon and cod fishfingers, sometimes give veggie fingers? (I don't mean long term, I mean over a few days)

Then move on to offering the same accompaniment (mash or whatever) but a different meat/fish option. Chicken or something? Home made nuggets? mini omelettes.

FrameyMcFrame · 02/07/2010 22:40

I really think you need to break the cycle before this fussy eating habbit becomes ingrained behaviour.
Have you seen that TV programme 'Freaky Eaters'? Adults who refuse to eat anything but jam sandwiches or chips and beans etc.
Very worrying

toccatanfudge · 02/07/2010 22:42

DS1 got like this at around that age too - on a very limited diet of food. I resented cooking something separate for him, so on the advice of many people (it was before I found MN) who all had sucesss with the method I simply stopped cooking the extra stuff for him and gave him only what we were eating...

I gave up after a week of him not eating

I think in most cases the "this is what you have to eat, eat or go hungry" DOES Actually work though.

toccatanfudge · 02/07/2010 22:43

oh - and FWIW - I kept on offering what we were eating alongside what he was having, I can't remember exactly what age he was when it happened, but one day he suddenly started eating what we were eating and now at 9 1/2 will eat anything I put in front of him.

winnybella · 02/07/2010 22:49

Child will not starve. Really. Worst case she will go hungry for few days.
I'm not a nazi btw, I remember too well hating liver and spinach when i was little, so the few things my kids don't like, I don't serve to them.
Try a few different things, by all means, but don't give up after a day or two.

toccatanfudge · 02/07/2010 22:51

a few days winny - lol - it was 7 days with wheetabix for breakfast, and a cheese sandwich for lunch, and then nothing else at all - for DS1 (and then I gave up as it was far too stressful as he was in a foul mood, I was worried sick that he was going to continue eating nothing indefinitely).

deleting · 02/07/2010 22:55

dd is a fussy eater, but we cook a meal and she either eats it or doesn't. She always eats some, complaining all the way and with a bit of bribery will even eat some veg. I definitely wouldn't offer an alternative to what everyone else is having. Explain to her it's not a cafe and there's no choice. If dd really hates something I try not to give it to her or give her a tiny portion (I'm thinking peas). Limit the fishfingers to once a week and you can all eat it so it's still a family meal.

winnybella · 02/07/2010 23:17

I don't think he would, though, toccata. I do understand though that it must have been difficult to witness your kid going without dinner for a week!Quite a strong character, then, eh?

toccatanfudge · 02/07/2010 23:20

he's STILL a very strong character, and given that a few months earlier we'd had a similar episode over trying to get him drinking water rather than squash, and he'd gone,over a week with no more than a couple of sips a day I didn't dare push it any further.

He's incredibly strong willed and incredibly stubborn even now at 9 1/2yrs.

Thing is if he ate a decent lunch back then, or a decent breakfast I wouldn't have been so concerned, but I figured it wasn't really healthy to eat a cheese sandwich (just one slice of bread) and 2 wheetabix and nothing else for a prolonger period of time

Thankfully he quickly outgrew his fussy food habits and is not just strong willed in other areas lol

clemetteattlee · 02/07/2010 23:25

Would she eat homemade fishfingers? You could try mashing some salmon with a bit of potato and then a few peas or sweetcorn kernels, breadcrumbing them and frying. If you get her involved in the shaping she might be more tempted?

CoinOperatedGirl · 03/07/2010 00:10

My ds1 is 3.8 and going through a similar fussy phase, after eating pretty much anything for the first 2 years. He would eat sausages/chicken nuggets/chips/mash/beans for every meal if he could.

But we only do one meal most of the time, it's usually stuff that we want to eat too roasts/stews/mexican/curry etc etc. For 2 days of the week Dp works late and those days the dc's do get fish fingers or very simple meals, theres no way I can cook something complicated with 3 of them to contend with.

We don't pander to them really, everything with the meal goes on the plate, if they don't like they don't eat, but nothing else is offered. Some times ds1 will eat nothing of the evening meal, but tbh I'm not bothered, he's obviously not wasting away. We don't engage in yuck or I don't like it conversations, just allow him not to eat it but we do say "big boys eat dinner up/try new things" etc, he's very into being a big boy.

Often they will try, and like the most random of things that you would never guess they would. Dp likes to make soup (which I can't stand bleurgh) but the dc's will lap up onion soup with bread.

Dd went through a similar phase and now at 6 will try anything. I would really really cut out the pandering to her, especially as she has essentially the same meal every night. She is controlling you, it's not a good lesson for her to learn. Cut it out now before it becomes too ingrained.

Happybutknackered · 03/07/2010 15:41

Thank you all very much for your advice. I think I've been too lenient with her recently as she's been suffering quite badly with eczema and is prone to getting upset easily. I really need to change things though before it gets out of hand. I'm going to try the 'if you don't eat what we're having then there's nothing else' approach.
I did wonder about the mercury and fish fingers - thanks for the link Louann

Will let you know how we get on!

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