Meals and my 2 year old

[Nosleepforthismum]

Every meal is guessing game of “will he/won’t he eat it” and it’s ruining my life. Well, a little dramatic but I spend an awful lot of time and money cooking for this child only to have half of it rejected.

So my DS is coming up to 2 and a half and is speech delayed so although he is talking, it’s mainly single words which make navigating meal times a little tricky. The biggest problem I have is the lack of consistency in what he’ll eat. For example, I’ll make spaghetti bolognaise one night and he’ll scoff the lot, another day though it’ll be pushed away with absolute refusal to even try a mouthful. If asked what he wants, he’ll always ask for a banana, cheerio’s or a yogurt which is fine for a snack but not for every meal.

There doesn’t seem to be any sensory issues going on as he’ll happily eat quite a wide range of food (anything with egg, cottage pie, fish cakes, any soup, any pasta, anything on toast, all fruit) but only ever on his terms. He will also throw a strop if we try to encourage him to eat and even lots of praise will have the opposite effect sometimes.

I feel like I may have inadvertently caused this as if he didn’t eat his meal, I’d offer something else (and still do) but I try not to do it immediately afterwards as I don’t want him to go to bed hungry. He’s just as inconsistent at preschool as at home with his lunches apparently and it’s hit and miss what he’ll eat there. Has anyone else had s child like this? Any advice to improve things gratefully received.

I think they're all like that. I thought the more effort I make, the less likely to eat it. Some like mushy food, others crunchy. In the end I used to give a portion of my food. Cut down the salt for them. Some prefer to eat with hands too. Give a multivitamin and watch the milk intake.

I think this is very normal of toddlers to be honest! If he is eating a range of food groups over the course of a week then I don't think you need to worry.

I like the book ‘Helping Your Child With Extreme Picky Eating’. It gave me practical ideas and calmed me down. My 4 year old DD isn’t what I’d call a fussy eater anymore and eats a good variety of food.

One thing to note: the book advises ‘family style’ eating with everything placed in the middle of the table and I never did that, I didn’t want to, but I did implement other things such as having safe foods at every meal.