Parents of reformed fussy eaters...how long did it take?

[BentleyBelly]

17 mo dd has been fussy since weaning. She has never really shown much interest in food and always refused to be spoon fed. She hates anything sweet including fruit. She now has various staples that she will definitely eat, cheese, sandwiches, pasta, porridge, ham, sausages, peas and sweetcorn. She will try anything you put in front of her but pulls disgusted faces and spits out anything nshe doesn't like. We ignore and just give her time to eat and take the plate away without fuss regardless of how much she has eaten. She is pretty good with a spoon and fork now and likes using them normally. She really enjoys her milk and she has Abidec vitamins to fill the gaps her poor eating leaves.

Today was a particularly bad eating day and I am feeling demotivated and don't enjoy cooking knowing that it will prob be rejected.....its so tempting to just give her cheesy pasta every night! When did your fussy eaters turn a corner?

Bump...please tell me there is such a thing as a reformed fussy eater. My face is trying to look like it doesn't care but inside I'm screaming!

Don't scream, it's all normal.

Your DD isn't a "fussy eater", she is 17 mths old. In fact, if you think about it, what is a toddler? At little creature who is both hyper conservative about novel situations and also desperately trying to attain control over their lives. If you think about it that way, you realise it is miracle any toddlers eat anything but Petit Filous (I have yet to meet one who didn't like those!)

I also have my own (completely unscientific) theory that nature has designed toddlers to be hyper cautious about eating foods. Think about it; imagine we are living in the rainforest and your DD is mobile young human with no knowledge or discernment about what is safe or not to eat. She'd be picking up the first deadly mushroom on the forest floor if there wasn't a built in "no way am I touching THAT!" at this age.

Each time you offer something and she refuses, it's not wasted. Its getting a bit more familiar each time. Even if she pokes it with a finger that counts for something.

If you can keep the emotions out of eating, don't let it become a battle (because short of force feeding this is not a battle you can win) and keep your expectations VERY low (if she just picks up a pea that is not a wasted meal time) then you will find as she gets older she will become less cautious.

By the time they are three you can start to use bribes gentle encouragement. Eg "two more scoops and then you'll be able to have your pudding!" but at this age she is too young for that.

Gradually by the time they are 5/6 they are generally much more open to trying new things and finishing what's on their plate.

The trick is to not turn it into a battle but always gentle persist and encourage - with little ones like yours, keep offering new foods, with three and four year olds gently setting some easily achievable requirements about what they eat and how they behave at the table.

Good luck.

Ps the fact she will try anything you offer is GREAT at this age!

Thank you. I am very emotional over her eating but I know I should try not to be and do my best to hide it. She slipped down the percentiles a bit when I returned to work and I felt incredibly guilty.