so bored with preparing meals for 3yo dd whose range is getting very limited...advice?

[titferbrains]

Have a new baby who has long feeds, doesn't much like being put down, am using sling but haven't much time for preparing food for myself let alone DD.

Really have such a CBA feeling when it comes to her meals these days, because she isn't eating a massive variety of food and I am not keen to take a gamble on making new dishes to add to the "range" in case she rejects and I'm left scrabbling for something and she's grumbling for food.

She likes:
pasta, sausages, fishfingers, smiles, rice, chicken, pork, stirfry, noodles, pb and j sandwich, most fruit, peas, carrots, corn, fish pie sometimes, beans sometimes, peppers, tomatoes, tuna, mash sometimes, cucumber

She doesn't like
couscous, cheese of any kind except parmesan and cheddar in fishpie sauce, baked beans, sandwiches, burgers, wraps, anything spicy, omelette, scrambled eggs (will eat but only a tiny bit), all pulses

Just wonder how to get motivated past pasta, dry brown food, and pb and j sandwich. Really wish she enjoyed more easy foods like ham, eggs, cheese, sandwiches, jacket potatoes. Kicking myself that I didn 't offer these foods more and now I've missed the window....

That actually sounds like quite a lot to me! I have a fussy dd who hates to try new things. Things that have made a difference are:

School dinners at pre-school. She has asked to try a few things that her friends have eaten there.

Absolutely no pressure whatsoever. And avoiding comment when she asks to try somehting unexpected.

Having meals you can divide up so there is something she will eat and something she can try if she will. E.g. when we have chicken stir fry she eats the rice or noodles, an chicken withthe sauce and vegetables apart from it on the plate in case she is feeling brave.

She will soemtimes try something and like it but refuse it the next time. e.g.she stunned us all by trying ham last week. We mad eno comment excpet vaguely interested ones. The next day she refused it. No comment excpet for vaguely interested ones.

I hold out hope that this will mean eventually her range will be wider.

OK first off her diet doesn't sound too bad at all, I've heard of kids that eat much less than that, you've got all the food groups covered which is great :)

Secondly, when you've got a new baby you are allowed to do anything you need to survive, which includes giving the other DC meals you know they're going to eat!

DS1 is a limited/fussy eater but from around his 4th birthday has got much better at trying new things. I aim to try one new thing a week - usually a variation on something he already likes, rather than something completely alien to him. Or something he likes with the new thing on the side. I know it's frowned on here to use pudding as incentive but I do offer DS1's absolute favourite pudding (chocolate custard) as a reward for days when he's tried a bit of everything on his plate.

That sounds quite a lot to me too and a similar amount to DS who until recently was very unadventurous and wouldn't touch half the stuff he eats now. (Probably why it seems like a lit!) Don't be silly about windows etc, I think all that is a load of rubbish anyway. DS used to eat loads until he turned one and then it all went on the floor.

You will probably find that she just one day announces that she wants to try a ham sandwich, because X is having one or whatever. I'd just keep serving her things you know she likes but make food for yourself which you like as well, so that she can see. Don't necessarily offer it to her but at some point she will become curious and ask what you are having.

Do you have a DP in the picture? Can he help out making some meals or starting off some stuff at other times of the day so there's minimal preparation required for lunches/dinners/whichever meals you're finding hard at the moment.

TFB I could have written your post. My dd is fussy. I would love for her to eat mince (lasagne/bol /cott pie etc but she won't (although used to when weaning). She won't eat onions,mushrooms, peppers, fresh tomatoes. if i put sauce on her pasta it has to be completely smooth. She won't eat stir fries or noodles unless "plain". I have had some cold roast beef a couple of times and I can see she is bursting to try it but just won't. I will keep referring to this thread and borrow some of the ideas. We already had a discussion at dinner tonight regarding trying new food and reward chart. I am going to get one tomorrow so will post progress. Apologies for typos,posting from new phone and keyboard hides much of screen!

I have a wonderful DH who works way too hard so isn't around for meals

Meant to say that I like completely different things to her and tend to eat at different times so feel like I have to try and step into her brain to decide on meals. She is also eating less and less at times, tho every so often she will blow me away and eat tons... the other day she ate leftovers of a special meal my DM made for us - pork tenderloin stuffed with sausage and spinach, creamy mushroom sauce, potato dauphinoise, and cabbage with fennel seeds. She ate a good portion of all these things!!!! I was like

I love pulses, soup (always makes me nervous to give toddlers soup, never seems like enough calories, my DD NEVER stops moving), spicy food, and a lot of more complex foreign foods.

Also what pasta dishes do people make? I am stuck in a tomato sauce rut! Either tom and basil sauce, or tomato tuna and olive iwth peppers, or spag bol. Any unusual faves? I keep meaning to make a nice mac and cheese to see if she'll like it now, but no time...

Way more stuff than DS eats and he is 5! I'd make whatever you fancy and then either she eats it or has bread. I wish I had been a bit more hardline with DS. I wouldn't worry about her not having a hot meal, its not going to kill her.

Have you tried her on pesto pasta? DS doesn't eat it, but it only takes a second to add some to the pasta so if she doesn't like it then you haven't lost much.

I make up a batch of tomato sauce for pasta which I put loads of vegetables in, blitz it and then freeze up ice cubes of it, means can make DS pasta with sauce if we are having something more adventurous.

oh yes she eats pesto, and I always add extra veg to her tomato sauces - forgot to add

Mine love spaghetti and meatballs. Also I batch cook and freeze cheese sauce (takes about five mins) which can be thrown over pasta, veg or anything really.

It feels liek a big disapointment to me that DD isn't a voracious omnivore as I am and a very good cook to boot. Then I remember all the things I hated as a child, many of which I like now, and that my favourite thing for years was cubes of cucumber slathered in salad cream.

There's plenty of time I hope.

My ds1 ate only scrambled egg, spaghetti hoops, tortelloni, toast and fruit when ds2 arrived, for three months. Eventually he started eating most things. Don't sweat it, it sounds like you are doing fine.

also shd add that my baby bro almost lived off cereal and spag bol for a few years, he was incredibly fussy for a while and it made meals a misery for a few years. Not sure my mum handled it in the best way but she was a busy working mother. I think my reaction to this is worrying about keeping enough variety in DD's diet.

BTW mummybookworm, you might have success with new fruit/veg by letting her cut up her own. Let her explore texture, and you can peel cucumber for eg. and then let her cut it with a normal cutlery knife. She might then taste it? I let DD "chop" veg alongside me and she often eats it, the other day I gave her a pepper to cut and she ate almost the entire thing ! She also ate some raw carrot, spat it out as she couldn't chew it enough to softness, but at least it's been in her mouth etc and she's used to the flavour, plus I think the familiarity with veg is very healthy. Let her cook with you as much as poss, just putting things in and watching things change colour etc has been helpful for my DD.

I totally agree about the thinking about things - why not make it simple? Monday, pasta, tuesday, fish fingers, wednesday, stir fry, etc? Toddlers really love repetition and it won't matter to her at all if there is not much variety in her diet.

Probably not something to try when you have a small baby, but I find DS is more amenable to trying things if he's helped me cook them, even if that's just chopping as you say or transferring chopped stuff to pan.

I do soups for lunch sometimes, I just give DS loads of bread, he doesn't really use a spoon to eat them. Butter the bread to add more calories too. If you make your own soups you can add cream and stuff, but I think they're pretty good really, especially if they are home made from vegetables etc.

Thanks TFB I will give the raw veg thing a try. She loves cucumber and likes different fruits so I am not too concerned about that.

Bertie you have made me feel less guilty. I think I have put so much pressure on myself that she has a varied interesting diet. I was worried she would be bored with me trotting out the same old stuff each week/fortnight. I think perhaps I have been over egging the pudding as it were. I am feeling a bit more confident now.

Will also post from the pc in future as new phone is pants for mnetting!

TFb I meant to add that I make a red pesto pasta sauce for us which we both love.

Sweat red onion in a leetle olive oil, add rosemary to your taste (fresh or dried). I usually then add a dessertspoon red pesto with same again half fat creme fraiche. Throw in some cooked chicken (dd won't eat this). I then usually sieve it for her and enjoy the unsieved version for me. I sometimes add a bit of pecorino or whatever but not always. It is yum.