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3yo getting increasingly fussy about food - any tips?

6 replies

Stroan · 29/05/2019 10:05

3yo DD ate everything we put in front of her until a bout of illness at 13 months - we did a mix of purees and BLW, mostly fed her what we were eating and weaning went well. Once she recovered from being ill she suddenly refused almost all of the foods that she had previously eaten.

She started nursery at the same time and I hoped that would help, but over the last 2 years the list of acceptable food has slowly got smaller - now she only wants to eat bread, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, chicken fajitas, plain pasta and plain rice. She'll occasionally eat egg or pizza, but it's hit and miss. She does eat fruit and some veg and is fine with breakfast cereal.

If we put something in front of there that is new or not from the list she just insists she doesn't like it and won't touch it. Nothing can persuade her to even try food - she says she'll try it when she is 4!

She starts school next August and I'm concerned that she'll never eat! Has anyone got any experience of a fussy child and school meals?

We've asked Nursery to stop making alternatives for her - she's previously been happy to eat pasta with a tomato sauce or curry and rice at home. At nursery, she refuses it so they make her a portion of plain pasta or plain rice and now she expects the same at home. We have repeatedly asked them to stop but the cook feels that she is going without so keeps doing it. They have breakfast, morning snack, lunch with dessert then afternoon snack. She is not going hungry!

We all eat together as a family. DH is a little fussy too (brought up on meat and two veg!) but hides it from her well! I'm pregnant with Gestational Diabetes so I try to eat the same food but with some adaptations.

Frankly, I'm frustrated at planning meals around 2 fussy eaters and can see our meal plan reducing to a cycle of tomato pasta and chicken curry. Is there anything else we can try?

I strongly suspect that it's about control rather than actually not liking the food as she won't try the food to find out if she likes it or not!

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
SeaToSki · 29/05/2019 10:32

Three yr olds are notoriously fussy but it sounds like it has been deteriorating for a while. I used to play silly games at dinner time to get them more interested in eating.

We pretended inside her body was a water park and each bite was going on a different ride in an arm or leg. Lots of happy food noises riding on the water slide etc. Questions of what the next bite is going to do.

Tell her that the food doesnt want to be eaten as it ‘will never be the same again’ after it is all chewed up. Then do mock screaming when they chomp.

Say that the food wants to go and play with its friends that are already eaten, it will be crying and lonely if its left on the plate on its own

Seeline · 29/05/2019 10:41

Give her her usual meals but just add one new thing each time. Tell her she has to try it, but doesn't have to finish it if she doesn't want to.

We made some progress with the 'just give it a lick' approach. Doing that a few times with a new item seemed to lead to her being more willing to eventually trying just a tiny bit.

Also putting all the components on the table and letting her help herself sometimes worked. A little bit of reverse psychology - telling her that she couldn't have something, it was only for the grown ups also worked sometimes.

It was along haul and to be fair she was never a good eater. She survived on fishfingers and plain spaghetti for a long time. She is 15 now and still fairly fussy, but is happy to try new things now.

Seeline · 29/05/2019 10:42

Oh - and I know it is really hard, but don't show how cross/worried/upset/frustrated you are Smile

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Stroan · 29/05/2019 10:48

Thank you, all good tips.

We are very good at not letting her see how frustrated we are. DH doesn't really care, but the food we eat is already limited by his fussiness and I just can't bear the same food over and over again!

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ukSupermum6 · 29/05/2019 20:09

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timeisnotaline · 29/05/2019 20:12

Keep offering and remember they aren’t 3 forever? Best I’ve got sorry!

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