how much do you worry about the food your dc eat?

[stainesmassif]

ds is 18 months and seems to have settled on a diet of bread, fruit, bread or fruit based food, cheese, or any kind of dessert known to man or baby.

i keep offering alternatives, beautifully hand crafted home made recipes that end up on the floor without being sniffed....should i worry? i really don't know what else to do. i am not ready to send him to bed hungry. it seems like he's only just started sleeping through!

Children like:

• pasta with tomato sauce
• pasta with bolognese sauce
• ham
• sliced cheese
• sausages
• chicken
• mashed potatoes
• sweetcorn
• peas if you are lucky
• strawberries
• raspberries
• bananas
• ice cream

Don't try too hard or you will be very frustrated and disappointed

bonsoir that made me laugh, its DDs dream food list!

Youre right. I spent a year when DD was that age trying to make her eat what we eat.. nothing massively glamourous but all fresh, homemade rustic type dishes, a bit of mediteranian, homemade curries, stews etc... Every day I would read her book from childminder and it was 'DD didnt really eat any lunch today'

I was really worried, in the end my mum said to me that between a year old and 8 years old I lived on fish fingers, chips, waffles, baked beans, crispy pancakes etc and I am and always was the picture of health and have grown up to be an adventurous foodie.

Dont sweat it stainesmassive!

hmmm, i am inclined to comfort myself by considering the average child of the 70's diet. one of my best friends was given a doughnut, jam sandwich and glass of squash for lunch every day when she went home from school. nothing wrong with her!

however, bonsoir, if ds accepted any meat, vegetable or carbs i would worry a lot less. i often pick him up from the childminder and she announces cheerfully 'guess what - he likes bread and butter pudding!'

Wow, your child eats fruit

I would love mine to eat fruit....

After having a horrible time weaning my first I found it a lot easier when I relaxed about it all. I really don't think it matters too much if their diet is restricted to minor variations on a theme. For example, my DS won't eat fruit, but he will eat peas and sweetcorn. So I give him peas and sweetcorn. I try other stuff now and then and if he eats it great, if he doesn't then I try not to stress.

His diet has become a lot more varied as he has got older however (he is now 3).

Yeah well, I thought I was going to bring up an über-cosmopolitan child (she goes to Lo Sushi after Saturday night cinema on the Champs-Elysées, FGS), but reality brought me crashing down to my senses!

thanks though, it does help to hear don't sweat it!

of you DDs life Bonsoir

I haven't met a little boy yet that doesn't like sausages. Even mine likes sausages!

Bread is carbs isn't it?

Really, really don't sweat it!

And remember that a child-sized portion of fruit or veg is two cherry tomatoes, four grapes, two cherries etc - you get to your five-a-day a lot more quickly than you do as an adult!

I agree that simple food is the best for staying sane but I don't think that Bonsoir's list is particularly helpful. Not all children like the same things.

DS still doesn't like sausage and DD still doesn't like ice cream and they are 5 and 7 now and subject to plenty of peer pressure.

I was quite concerned about what my first child ate when he was that age because his diet suddenly got very restricted. I read somewhere that when they are babies, life is quite dull so they enjoy different flavours at meals. But when they are toddlers, there is so much to discover that exploring food takes a back seat.

My advice would be just to cook what you want to eat but make sure there is at least one thing your child likes at each meal. It is true that if you serve up other types of food without pressure, eventually they try them and sometimes they like them!

It was a joke OSOTC - the point was that you keep it s-i-m-p-l-e.

sorry, yes, bread is carbs! durr. the only time ds has shown interest in a sausage was when mil had drizzled maple syrup on them. licked the syrup off. threw the sausage away.

I love Bonsoir's list

In fact this whole thread is great

Makes me feel much better

it is peas and sweetcorn all the way here too

DS1 doesn't like ham or sausages or mashed potatoes but otherwise Bonsoir's list is pretty much spot on! Thank god for peas and sweetcorn!

Btw Bonsoir you forgot fish fingers

I wouldn't worry too much about the meat. Children that age don't need that much protein and if you are concerned about iron, there is plenty in dried apricots, prunes and egg yolks.

One of my DD friend's is not slowed ice cream, sweets, chocolate, crisps and so, except on a Friday.

At a wedding reception she was nor allowed cake and was given tomatoes instead!

Well I said I would never do it, but I make eggy bread into little christmas tree shapes and tell him its a forest and he scoffs them. I swear he would never eat it if I left it with him otherwise.

I also find if I take the pressure away from the food itself he is more inclined to try it. I know its naughty but I will give him a plate of sausage bits to nibble on while he watches telly and I leave him to it.

LOL MegBusset I know! DD likes the fish-shaped ones!

butter16, eating disorder waiting to happen there!

thank god for dried fruit! thanks OTOS

DD is 18 months and her favourite food is potatoes in any form. Oh and cake, she can spot the merest crumb at 10 oaces.

DS is nearly 4 and has recently started trying new foods a little more, becoming a little less entrenched. I try to keep calm and just keep offering a range of things, but always including at least one thing that I know they will eat.

I had a reasonable diet as a child, but it included plenty of fish fingers etc. The way I see it, there were some things that I hadn't even tasted when I left home, that I really enjoy eating now, so the fact that I didn't have aubergines as a toddler obviously hasn't affected my palate in later life...

Mine doesn't like sausages! Or peas, or sweetcorn, or bread, or even yoghurt FGS!

I thought we'd got a little foodie when we first started BLW - but now he won't even let anything green go vaguely near his lips (he's nearly 17 months).

As long as his weight is steady, he's fairly healthy and it doesn't seem to be affecting his sleep, I try and subscribe to the 'don't sweat it school of thought'.

I think it's pretty standard TBH. Some of his friends will still only eat purees out of jars.

I actually think that it is a huge error of judgement for HVs and other early years health practitioners to say that we need to wean children onto "family foods". I want to eat asparagus, Dover Sole, rocket & balsamic and a fig tart for supper, with copious wine. My children (even the 15 year old) want sausages, mash & ketchup, and mini-Magnums. WTF???

I suggest just to keep introducing other foods you want him to try. . .and if he doesnt then just stay cool. Lots of praise though if he tries something new. I think this is the only way he might move on eventually to other foods.
Wishing you luck and hope his little diet varies and grows bigger as he does.