20-month-old eats fruit and veg but refuses most main meals

[AlienLady]

As the title.

she will eat any veg on her plate that’s a side and fruit which I am happy about. Takes 3 spoons of her main and is done?!

I don’t know what to do. She is 20 months old.

this age is the height of the food fussiness, it’s completely normal. Serve them up three meals and two snacks and don’t make a fuss about whether they eat or they don’t eat:

Do they feed themselves? This can give control over their food and help.

Nothing to worry about, honestly.

Babies change their minds all the time about what they'll eat, and yours will, given time.

My 20 month old has decided she won’t eat a single fruit or vegetable anymore, so I’m not actually sure which is better. I just keep putting things on her plate and hoping one day she’ll come round again.

That’s fine. Mine have always cleared through fruit and veg first when offered. I would just keep snack offerings fairly protein/calorie rich (cheese and crackers, hummus and breadsticks, boiled egg, toast, etc).

Yes, my DC is a similar age and is quite hit and miss with food, doesn't eat much. I have older children too and they've all gone in and out phases of eating over the years, it's normal. As long as there are no other concerns obviously like their growth is remaining on track etc.

Its actually amazing the lack of food a toddler can survive on she will suddenly out of nowhere start eating other things just keep offering

I found feeding them from my plate encouraged my fussy eaters and they would get the taste of the food and then eat from their plate after a while.

Good your DC is getting their vitamins. Just keep putting fingers of cheese, crackers, fish etc on their plates and one day they might eat it. I can recall my eldest DS didn't really eat his vegetables very well until he went to nursery then he miraculously started eating them when he saw other DC eating them.

She eats well at nursery and she feeds herself, she won’t let me feed her and gets annoyed if I touch her utensils.

She loves egg, cream cheese, cheese, pasta etc.

She ate every single green bean on her plate today and asked for some more. Then ate 3 bites of cous cous and salmon (I mix it together for her) and decided she was done.

15’minutes later she ate 10 raspberries stuffed with peanut butter.

She is always like this and has been for about 2 months. She’ll happily eat pasta and shreddies. She’ll lick off the cream cheese on the crackers I give her. She’ll tries everything but just finishes after 3 spoons but would eat her sides happily. So frustrating!

nice to know I am not the only one with a child like this and hoping it is a phase!

Is she filling her weight and height centiles? If she is I’d just let her get on with it.

Having said that, if you’re mixing together things like couscous and salmon for her I’d be tempted to leave them separate and see if she prefers her food like that.

Look up portion sizes for her age / they are 1/4 of what a portion size is for us (and remember many of us eat too much)

https://healthforunder5s.co.uk/sections/toddler/whats-a-healthy-portion-for-your-little-one/

I remember this stage with my first, as a baby he ate everything in sight, loved to try new foods. Became very picky around the time my daughter was born so would’ve been around 19 months old. He’s now 2y 8m and for a while now has reverted back to being an absolute foodie. During his picky stage I just gave him whatever the meal was, no pressure to eat any of it but I would also put “safe” foods on his plate that I knew he liked. The fussiness maybe lasted around 6 months or so, my parents and partner’s parents were far more worried than I was and despaired that I still gave him dessert without eating all his dinner but as I say, he came through that stage and now eats, or at least tries, whatever is on his plate!

Don’t give her extra fruit and snacks all day long if she’s not eating meals though. You can’t complain she won’t eat her meal and then give raspberries and peanut butter 10 mins later, that’s basically a dessert for a baby.

Sometimes the portions they need are really quite small, sometimes they just don’t need much, other times they’re just being fussy but I would still stick to standard mealtimes and snacks rather than giving her ‘nicer’ food right after not finishing something.

Sorry meant following not filling.

With egg, cheese, peanut butter, pasta fruit and veg she'll be fine op.

No, it isn't perfect but almost everything she actually needs at a basic level - fibre, protein, carbs, calcium and lots of vitamins and minerals in the fruit and veg - is in that list. Maybe give her formula in a mug to make sure she is not missing any particular nutrient.

Iron would be on my radar with that diet, but you can find cereals with it in while she is being fussy.

ETA lots of dc don't like cous cous. Mine found the texture really disconcerting.