Worrying about toddler eating right things

[LunaNova]

Firstly I'll preface this by saying my views on food are skewed. I grew up with ARFID and it's taken me a long time to get to a point where my food intake is less restrictive but it's still an everyday challenge.

DD is two and I've always been of the mindset of "I offer the food and she eats what she eats" and it's worked well so far. She eats a great variety and amount of food and it's not often she refuses something. We cook most things from scratch so I can adjust some recipes accordingly for myself and then add things in after serving myself for DH and DD.

Recently, I find myself obsessing (possibly not the right word but I find myself worrying about it a lot) about her fruit and veg intake day to day.

For example, it's fine if we have a pasta dish, curry or cooked dinner for our main meal but she seems to be completely averse to fruit at the minute. She won't touch anything like grapes or strawberries and if I give her a banana she will nibble the end and that's it. A few months ago banana and grapes were a solid favourite.

In terms of easy lunch veg, she won't eat raw carrots or peppers, she might nibble a piece of cucumber but rarely more than that. Tomatoes are a no go.

Unless she has leftovers from pasta sauce/curry, it's difficult to get lunchtime veg into her. She will eat peas, which are quick to prepare, but she's even been off them a little recently.

I think my main concern is that I feel a lot of pressure to make the evening meal super nutritious and sometimes it just feels impossible without eating the same things all the time.

I'm probably overthinking it because of my own relationship with food, but do others feel this same pressure?

I try to get 2-3 types of fresh fruit a day and veg at dinner but it doesn’t always happen as he’s not always interested. I feel it’s my job to offer and let him decide if he wants it. I think food choices come in waves and two years can be the start of the picky phase. I would go with the flow and the not to worry about it so much, just keep offering and she’ll probably come back around eventually

As long as you're offering a good range of fruit and veg then it's fine.

You could try smoothie/juice to add in some fruit.

You can try steaming the carrot sticks, but the offering cold at lunch, some kids just find them too crunchy!

Make up a tomato sauce with lots of veg and use as a base for pitta pizzas, a really quick and easy lunch.

Try cucumber in different shapes and with dips (houmous, soft cheese, peanut butter).

But don't stress about it. Just offer and see what she eats.

Could you add veg but cut it super fine so she won't notice?(

The best thing to do is continue to offer it, she might surprise you one day

If you think she needs it, give her a daily vitamin x

Thanks all! This is really helpful.

I think I've been lucky so far in that she's been super easy with food, but I've just found it difficult recently with her sudden fruit refusal as that was such an easy way. I've continued to offer her lunchtime banana as usual and then if she doesn't eat it all I've been blending with some milk and getting it into her that way 😂

In proper meals she will eat veg no problem. I just find it awkward on days where we're not eating meals that are loaded with veg (for example we've had a few nights recently where we've had burgers and salad because the weather has been nice and she's just ignored the salad). It's nice to have some options for lunch to balance those kind of days, the veg loaded sauce is a great idea as she loves tortilla pizzas or quesadillas for lunch. Will try cucumbers in different shapes too in case it inspires her!

I think I just need to go with the flow a bit more and not stress. I'm so laid back with everything else but food is just such a huge trigger for me I struggle to not obsess!

i do think fed is best though, i grew up with ARFID and so did my sister it didn't really matter what i ate, honestly my mum just gave us vitamins and cod liver oil if we hadn't had many veg/fruit that week and you say she's a good eater so really i wouldn't worry about it especially because you offer food and don't force her to eat things she may not like

Give yourself a break. My toddler has done this. His preferences seem to change every few months! Preserve with cooking what you’d like her to eat and don’t sweat it if she won’t eat it. E.g. offer her what you know what she’ll eat for breakfast or lunch, then for dinner cook the stuff she’s turned her nose up to. She might start eating it again after a while. Don’t put pressure on her, just eat the same stuff and don’t comment if she hasn’t eaten anything. Another thing that helped has helped my toddler during these phases is that I offer dinner as the last meal of the day, so he understands he gets nothing afterward if he doesn’t eat it. Eating it is his choice though.

just remember that she won’t suffer any malnutrition form not eating all of her 5 a day - you’re doing a great job by just offering them.