Fussy eating 2 year old - help!

[Mumlifeandstuff]

So need some advice!

my son used to eat everything! Then around 16 months he just stopped and has lived off a very beige diet of toast, chicken nuggets, sausages, peanut butter on oat cakes and fruit for a long time.

I had a 27 month review with the health visitor who advised to offer new food without any food he likes and eat with him (as we usually eat later) and to not give alternatives.

tonight I did risotto with raspberries (as he likes these but wouldn’t fill him up) he had a full blown meltdown about the risotto and has not eaten it.

do you as parents not offer an alternative if they don’t eat?

and do you offer something substantial they like beside it - for example could of done risotto with toast.

just feel so stressed by it all!

Mine’s the same. Used to eat everything then suddenly very fussy. I offer her whatever is being eaten by the rest of us. If she doesn’t eat I give her some toast and a banana later.

We're in the same boat with DD. We've started eating with her at 5.30ish and serving her what we have, always with a food we know she likes (usually some sort of bread!). If she eats some, she has fruit for pudding. If she eats none, she has buttered wholemeal toast for 'supper' (an hour after meal time).

I'm a "my child eats what he's given" kind of mum. I do try and offer new things, but I tend to offer with food that he likes so that he does eat something (because I'm not making him two dinners for one to go to waste). There's no mandate to eat, just lots of encouragment. I mean I don't force him to finish the plate. If he does finish his dinner he gets dessert (fruit/yogurt), no dessert if he doesn't.

We've been there!
I was always told to offer new food on a plate of food you know they will eat.
We did eat with him, didn't make a fuss over him trying new food or leaving it.
He did eventually start eating it.

A lot of patience but they do get there.

At 27 months I wouldn't offer an alternative no. Yes he's going to be upset, it's a new thing and he's not getting what he's used to but no, don't offer an alternative.

I wasn't thinking of people who dislike a few foods, say if someone doesn't like lentil dahl or pomme dauphinoises or whatever. Nor do I care if people who live on their own eat only garlic bread and cheese, etc.

However, I feel that if it gets to the point where women - and it is nearly always women - have to cook 3 different meals to cater for different family members' food dislikes or 'fussiness', it is not asking too much to expect the fussy eaters to make an effort to at least try to learn to be less fussy.

Being fussy can also potentially deprive people of delicious foods. As a child I absolutely hated tomatoes, celeriac and Brussels sprouts. Tried them, hated them, refused to try them ever again... until adulthood when, to my surprise, I found that they are extremely tasty.