My 3 year old is becoming a fussy eater!

[Fightingtobepositive]

Please help. I’m at my whitsend my ds turned 3 in April and since then he is becoming absolutely awful with mealtimes. The things he will actually eat are becoming less by the day. It’s driving me crazy. We’ve always cooked as fresh as possible and we’ve managed to get good foods into him depspite being particular from the start. But now it’s just ridiculous I’m so so frustrated. I spend ages cooking new and tasty things for him to have a bit (if that) and then just act like a goat around the table until he can escape. Please tell me I’m not alone!!

What is he eating? My children have both gone through phases. At a similar age my eldest went through a toast and peanut butter phase, both went through (and my youngest is still in) a phase of wanting porridge for every meal. Just make sure that you don’t start leaning into crap and roll with it a bit. The more stressed you get the more of an issue it will become.

Have you tried swapping mealtimes around too? I find my kids are more likely to eat well at lunchtime than tea time when often they are tired, hungry and just want something familiar.

It sounds like you’re going through a tough time with your 3-year-old’s eating habits. Despite your efforts to cook fresh, healthy meals, it looks like he's becoming more resistant to mealtimes, which is frustrating for you and totally understandable by me being a mother.

You’re putting in a lot of work to prepare new and appealing foods, but he’s either eating very little or behaving rashly at the table. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and wondering if others have faced similar challenges, you’re definitely not alone.

Many parents go through similar struggles as their children navigate changes in their eating preferences and behaviors. I assure you this is a phase and that with correct communication and efforts this will be solved. Wishing you luck!

@MallikaOm is that AI?

Does he go to nursery etc and how does he eat there?

My 3 year old is similar but I just refuse to give into the thought of fussy eating, I just keep serving up what we want with fruit and yogurt to keep up their exposure to lots of foods. I try to:

When they say they don't like something (without trying) remain nonchalant "ok you're not sure about that today"
Do some gentle persuading to touch / smell / lick a food if they don't want to eat it.
Offer a boring snack outside of the meal if they've really eaten nothing - e.g. oatcake and nut butter.
Involve them in cooking, mines definitely more likely to eat a raw pepper or tomato etc than when it's cooked.
I know they eat better when there's been no/minimal snacking but it's a tricky one when they're hangry when you're out!

Nursery tell me they're a great eater and they'll consistently suprise me with some of the things they'll suddenly eat after protesting for weeks. Hence why I'm trying to ignore the idea of fussiness, I don't want to be a year down the line and serving up plain pasta every meal.

Like yours mine wasn't a good eater from the start, my friends with "they love their food! They eat everything!" babies are really struggling with their fussy 3 year olds. I just try to remember they've grown ok so far so it'll likely be fine!

I think lots do around this age, they love repetition.

I've never read such an AI post 🤣

I thought it was AI too and then saw your posts so I'm not alone in thinking that.

Reminds me of how Megan Markle speaks. Lots of words but no actual substance.

Thanks all. Yes tried swapping meal time in the past but not recently. He will eat pasta lasagne pizza (Italian) 😂 maybe mash and gravy only veg is carrots and peas, cereal and nut butters on fruit or toast. Fruit is down to apple grapes and melon and banana.
I know it sounds a lot but 7 days a week 3 meals a day it’s really not!! He’s even gone fussy over which yogurts he’ll eat.

when we go to my mums we both weigh just for a bit of fun, he’s been 2stone 4 for a while but this week he was 2 stone 3 and I think it’s tipped me over the edge. I need to stand strong on the mo replacement if he doesn’t eat and no snack in between. But now knowing he’s going down in weight has made it worse!

he went to day nursery but finished in July (starting school in sept) she said he was getting fussy there towards the end to.

@Chickadeep @MallikaOm @Plimsoll73 @SunQueen24

Yes it is. What I don't understand with these AI posts is, is someone putting this into chat GPT and then answering with it in response to OP, or is there a bot that can make Mumsnet accounts and answer questions itself?

It's fucking weird. I'm seeing more and more of these on Mumsnet recently

I have a DS (now 14) who has autism-related food issues and a 12 year old who does not.

They both went through fussy stages at about 3. I was at my wit's end. But my understanding is that this is a normal developmental thing at about this age. It's when children start to test boundaries and develop a stronger sense of taste. FWIW my younger one it lasted only a year or so. My older one lasted until- still ongoing.

I've read loads of books about food and children and my only top tips would be to not get frustrated. Keep putting food on the plate so they get used to seeing it there (it took my older DS about 3 months before he would eat cucumber). maybe experiment with textures - neither of mine like 'soggy' food like mashed potatos but the older one will ONLY eat raw fruit and veg... the younger one eats almost everything.

I also found that using food trays with separators in them (normal toddler trays but I got adult ones for DS1) helped as sometimes the issue is they don't like food to be mixed together.

But don't worry too much. Give a vitamin to cover the bases, keep experimenting, remain calm and if you really are worried see your GP. We got a referral to a paediatric dietician and that made a big difference to my sense of calm- she pointed out he actually ate about 25 foods so it wasn't too bad.