Very fussy 18 month old tell me it gets better

[Harvey19]

Hi,
I have an 18 month old who has always been fairly fussy but would eat a few different meals at dinner time, usually rice related such as curry or chilli. Over time he just seems to have got worse with his eating. He has gone through phases where he has eaten slightly better but this doesn’t last long. Breakfast he eats cereals and fruit lunch is snacky bits such as cheese, toast, fruit, yoghurt but dinner is a big problem. He won’t accept any new foods so would not accept me trying finger foods for dinner either. I try not to give him anything else straight after if he doesn’t eat, I wait until later on and give some cereal and fruit before bed as he’s never been a great sleeper so don’t want him creating another issue waking hungry in the night. Sorry for all the rambling I just find dinner time so stressful, eating together doesn’t help, distracting with tv doesn’t work. I’ve cut out snacking. Please say I’m not the only one, it drives me insane!

Why not ask him what he'd like to have? I have a 18mo (but true he has always eaten too well, unlike me, I am a massive fuss). I always ask him what he wants (from what we have in the fridge) and he gets what he choses. We don't do hot lunch/dinner often so mostly it's stuff he can eat himself (even if the result takes 30mins to clean up). Maybe try that.

What he eats at the moment is veggies (tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, avocado all in his own bowl and with a spoon). Pasta, baguette, pizza, mozarella, yoghurt. All fruit. All in his bowl, spoon, and loads of patience cleaning up the mess but he always finds something he will have.

Also if he says no, enough, done - OK mate, no fuss, wipe hands and off you go to play.

My DS went through a phase like this at around 18 months. I found it so stressful. He would only eat scrambled egg or fish fingers or chips. Nothing seemed to work, even if he was really hungry he wouldn’t eat anything else. Like everything, it seemed to be a phase (albeit a very long one). Now 2.5 and he is so much better, eats well and will even eat veg! Hang in there.

Just wanted to jump on and say I relate so much to this. My 20 month old is very picky and also has multiple food allergies so I’m finding it very difficult to get him to eat anything and when he does eat I feel guilty because it’s not the most nutritious

It’s nice to hear your not the only one! It really gets me down sometimes. Out of interest does anyone give them something else to eat if they don’t their dinner? I just can’t do this so now about an hour later give him some cereal/fruit/yoghurt before bed as hate the thought of him going to bed hungry. He’s got me wrapped around his little finger lol

Mines always been fussy and unfortunately at turning 3 she's the worst she's ever been. She used to always eat everything at nursery and the last few weeks she's just suddenly started being fussy there and not eating properly there either. It is a nightmare, I'm just hoping she will outgrow it eventually!

We don't give anything extra if she doesn't eat dinner, I figure she isn't hungry if she doesn't eat. If she asks for anything I remind her she can have her dinner. I don't make her eat every last bit or anything of course but if she doesn't give it a decent go then I won't offer anything else. Apart from she always gets a small cup of milk 30-60mins before bed. But it's easy for me to do that as my DD has generally always been a good sleeper and has never asked for food in the night.