Does your toddler eat loads better at nursery?

[Mia9292]

My daughter used to eat everything from weaning till about 18 months..great with veg and pretty much whatever we were having. The last few months she’s totally changed her eating habits and will generally only eat bread, banana, beans. yoghurt and any fruit. She also loves sweet corn but that’s the only veg she will eat! I can’t even convince her to eat simple stuff like tomato pasta (where I could sneak veggies into sauce) or even baked potato is a no and zero meat / fish / cheese or egg!

However...at nursery she eats everything! She’ll have fish pies, ratatouille, bean salads etc and the description of how much she’s eaten is always ‘all’ is this just because children copy each other? We always offer her whatever we are eating which is healthy meals and similar stuff to her nursery meals but then when she doesn’t eat I will make her some beans on toast just so that she eats something. Is it because she knows I’ll make her something else? She’s not even 2 yet though so I think too young for bargaining / ‘if you don’t eat this you won’t get any yoghurt’ etc? I’ve just been trying to not make a big deal of it, offer her healthy food every day but also make sure she’s fed on something!

At least she loves fruit otherwise I’d be worried about her getting scurvy at this rate

Yup! At home my 4 year old's diet is very beige but at nursery he will eat loads of things. I think it's seeing other kids ear that probably helps with that. If I offered him half the stuff at home he eats at nursery he would moan his face off. I think it's normal!

Haha beige is a good description..she eats pretty much how I ate in the first trimester (minus the Big Macs...)

Yes my 19 month old eats better at childcare. At home it can be a struggle. Constantly wants yoghurt and oaty bars!

Yes! 22 months and is very picky at the moment, especially with snacky bits, but polishes off all cooked meals at nursery and has a much better appetite to try new foods there too. Assuming it’s the atmosphere with others eating, although a couple of months ago when the weather was still warm, we had a couple of picnic play dates with other toddlers and she wouldn’t eat much there either, despite being interested in their food.

I’ve asked nursery to just keep offering a range of fruit & veg snacks (only currently eats banana and the occasional grape, and broccoli florets) so if the mood takes him, he can try.

Absolutely. Will barely eat anything at home and looks at some meals like I’ve put a plate of sick in front of him, the same meals he eats 2x of at nursery. I don’t know how they do it.

I do think there's an element of making it up/just ticking boxes due to the number of kids they're monitoring in some places. My kid always ate 'all' her food too, but she'd come home an hour after supposedly clearing her plate at lunch ravenous and saying she didn't eat what they'd said she had.

I pulled her out of that nursery (not just for that- I had other concerns). She doesn't always clear her plate in the new setting.