2.2 year old suddenly a picky eater?!

[inconceivableme]

He eats most of what he's served at nursery still - goes there a couple of days a week - but has gotten really fussy at home the past month or so, after previously being pretty unfussy and with a good appetite. But now, previous favorites get refused (cheese, scrambled egg, fish fingers, slow cooked stews, tuna etc) and he just wants pasta with pesto, crackers, cucumber, tinned carrots, avocado, cereal, yoghurt, fresh fruit and bread / toast.
He's always preferred carbs and dairy to everything else and is not a fan of uncooked veg / salad. But I'm worried about giving him an unvaried diet and I'm annoyed with the food that's getting wasted. He's never liked houmous, ham / cold meats,
anything spicy.
Today for tea he's had a slice of buttered and a small tin of carrots!!
Is this just a phase and how can I encourage him to eat more / more variety? Thanks!

Stay strong! My almost 3 yo is now really fickle about food. He had been fab which really suited me as i love food and qe used ro have such fun trying new things, going out to restaurants etc. He started getting a bit picky and I llet things slip a bit for an easy life (other kids etc) and it is getting worse. You've got to just keep offering a variety of food. The main thing I go is try and incorporate different things into foods he loves. So macaroni cheese has a rotation of different vegetables in, pizza with courgette and aubergine. I font try and hide them but do cut everything small. Then when he's had it a few times I draw attention to it 'you love courgettes, you always have them on your pizza'. He then accepts he likes it and will eat it other ways.

That said, you also really mustn't beat yourself up about it. It is likely a phase and it sounds like his diet is not at all bad so don't fret. I think if you are really keen to get him eating a big variety (and it doesn't matter at all if you're not) then you have to not worry about waste because that will stop you trying.

Don't panic.

DC usually go through this phase at around 2 years of age and then grow out of it.

It's part of them testing boundaries, and gaining independence.

Yep. 2.3 dd has been doing this for about 4/5 months now.
Super frustrating.
she had such a healthy wide variety of food and would eat like an inmate!! But then bam... She wants to live on a diet of crackers, babybel and olives.
It even houmous anymore which she loved!!!
I keep offering other foods, still try lasanga, cottage pie, curry, salad, veg etc... Today she ate an entire bowl of chicken and apricot curry. She just happily ate it all.
Next week she will refuse it cos 'I don't like it mummy. I need my breadsticks'.
It is hugely frustrating and the wasted food!! Oh my gosh! So upsetting. But I do believe it is a phase. Boundaries. Testing you.
My DH will give in to her in a flash of she refuses food and get her something else where as I dont. If she refuses it then she goes hungry.

Good luck, stay strong. They will grow out of it, just no idea when!

We are ignoring this phase - DS gets what we are all eating. If he doesn't eat it, that's fine but there is nothing else on offer until the next meal. Same with snacks. Yesterday he refused his favourite lunch. He ate the most enormous amount of dinner later on though - veg, meat and rice. It even out in the end.

*evens

It will pass. It's partly independence but also at this age their taste buds develop so they go from just having sweet and sour (I think) to a whole range of flavours (same as adult so spice etc) all of a sudden so everything will be like a brand new taste explosion in their mouth. This is a pretty odd thing to happen to a person so it will take a while for them to get used to it that's all.

This happened to ds, so frustrating. The only alternative offered is plain toast at teatime as I don't want him going to bed hungry. At lunchtime if he doesn't eat it gets taken away and that's it. He's now 2 1/2 and things are slowly improving...

pasta with pesto, crackers, cucumber, tinned carrots, avocado, cereal, yoghurt, fresh fruit and bread / toast.
This is actually quite a wide variety of foods for that age, relatively speaking, although it might not seem that way. I can't really see any glaring nutritional gaps either, or foods that are particularly unhealthy.