Anyone elses 2 year old have a limited diet - will it change?

[milkyman]

My ds only really likes bread, pasta, cheese, all fruit, hummous and biscuits! No veggies or meat unless in a Little Dish ready meal!

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My DD is also 2 and has become a lot more choosy about what and when she eats. Often eats a couple of bits and says finished, or takes one look and says don't like it, but will then, if I distract her with general chat, start picking at and then properly eating her meal. She'd never just pick up and much a piece of broccoli now, much to my dismay, as I have always given loads of veg/fruit - she's offered a good diet. Thing is she's growing fine and seems very happy to eat the majority of the time...I try not to worry too much. Is your DS growing and happy with plenty of energy? If so just keep offering a variety of food and try not to get too hung up on individual mealtimes, if the general direction is toward occasionally trying to eat a but of everything rather than just the bits he likes then it's going the right way.

My Gks believe veggies are the work of the devil. I buy frozen carrot and swede mash and stir it into the pasta sauce.

Ds will eat fruit, bread/toast with spread cheese or jam, pasta, fishfingers, chicken nuggets, sausages & chips/waffles.
A year ago he'd happily eat shepherds pie, fish pie, curries, stews.... I have no idea how he's still growing as seems to eat next to no protein or iron. I hate serving him up frozen food (every day - once or twice a week would be ok) but that's what he'll eat. Anything else gets pushed aside without being tasted....

Yes! Just persist with putting other foods on the plate. My first was like this. Now aged 10 she'll eat most things. DS was not as limited but still a bit and he eats everything in sight.

Yes. Veggies are really difficult to sneak into her and fruit is very limited. I just keep offering healthy food, every meal, every day. She will eat porridge, cereal, toast, pasta, couscous, rice, toast, houmous, fish, sausages, bolognaise, macaroni cheese. Cutting down her milk intake seems to have upped her appetite slightly. And Ella's kitchen fruit pouches are her "treats" which she has on a daily basis - I refuse to give her any other snacks. Not quite sure what else I can do.

It will get better. :)

My dd was very fussy at 2yo, and I worried endlessly about the lack of variety in her diet. Now she is 9, and she eats really well - almost any veg (bar sprouts!), fish, beans and all things healthy. The only thing she turns her nose up at these days is McDonalds!

Yes DD ate everything (almost!) up to the terrible twos, then cut back drastically, from about age 5 she started branching out again. Now age 6 eats pretty much everything she's faced with (and DH is French, so she's faced with some challenging stuff when we are in France!). DS (now age 4 has always been pretty much accepting of anything edible however).

With DD, acceptable vegetables reduced to only broccoli for a really long time. We started 'vegetable Wednesdays' when she was 5 - every Wednesday a brand new vegetable, if she ate it she got a favourite desert, and if eaten once, it was then in the daily repertoire. I ran out of new veg after a while....

I think most children have a period where they revert to a limited range of preferred food, then eventually get to an age when you can reason with them, and you can introduce more back in. As long as they are eating nutritious food, nothing to worry about. Their body/instincts make sure they get what they need. Key is for them to see the variety and enjoyment you get out of different foods, restaurant settings, cooking etc...

DS is on pretty much the same limited food. It is so tedious! I seem to remember DD was the same & she now eats a decent rrange of things even if the stronger tastes are eaten whilst pulling a face.