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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Desperate for meal ideas - 21mo becoming increasingly fussy!

11 replies

ImALittlePea · 15/08/2022 18:16

Really need some help please MNers!

22mo DD has started refusing pretty much all dinners. Her diet has been narrowing for a little while though but we had enough variety in there to get through.

She's never eaten potato (very occasionally in tiny amounts, and offered frequently as it's the basis of most of our meals at home) but has always done well with pasta, sweet potato and rice. She's now started to refuse pasta and sweet potato as well 😭 and I struggle to cook enough rice based meals, especially as it's not something to batch and freeze and it isn't easy to cook in toddler sized amounts.

She's always been quite good with fruit and veg, but is starting to reject more veg now, including baked beans which she's always loved.

She likes fish fingers, but won't eat croquettes/variants of fish that include potato. She's fussy with other meats, sometimes eats nuggets but barely. Used to eat sausages, now won't.

She does like eggs, although only if scrambled with cheese at the moment (she tends to have that for lunch a few times a week so doesn't feel like an option for dinner).

I've also tried kids ready meals (Ella's kitchen etc) which are flatly refused.

We try and eat as a family when we can, but it's hard because of work etc. We serve from the table where possible, so she sees she's eating the same as us. I cook from scratch whenever I can. I hate that my kids eat barely any of my home cooked food (although I know that will come; I was a fussy child, my older DS is fussy-ish but getting better). I just feel so deflated and fast running out of ideas of what to make for her!

Think this is relevant, but we don't offer an alternative if dinner isn't eaten. If either child (or adult 😉) refuse dinner, then dinner is over.

Can anyone suggest any recipes or meal combinations to try? Or any words of wisdom or advice I'm general. I'm open to all suggestions!

OP posts:
AlwaysLatte · 15/08/2022 18:28

We went through a phase of this with both my children. I used to make the Annabel Karnel hidden veg sauce. They'd eat it with rice, pasta, as a dip or hidden in casseroles etc.

AlwaysLatte · 15/08/2022 18:29

I saw that you said she likes eggs. How about eggy bread, with the veggie sauce as a dip?

ImALittlePea · 15/08/2022 18:31

I've got batches of that kind of sauce frozen in portions in the freezer but she won't eat it any more. Maybe a different version might be worth a try though so I'll look up the AK one. Just trying to work out how to cook small portions of rice for her as it can't be reheated etc so makes easy rice-based dishes hard.

I do know it's a phase but it's just the fact she's refusing almost all carbs to go with sauces or anything else that is causing me this headache.

OP posts:
Garman · 15/08/2022 18:32

You can freeze rice, in toddler portions? But tbh I'd just keep serving whatever the majority are going to eat, she's succeeding in making you cut down and change the options to only the ones she wants to eat.

ImALittlePea · 15/08/2022 18:32

Last time I made eggy bread she refused it 🤦‍♀️ but she does eat a bit more bread now than she used to so I'll definitely give that a try! Thank you for the suggestion @AlwaysLatte

OP posts:
ImALittlePea · 15/08/2022 18:38

Garman · 15/08/2022 18:32

You can freeze rice, in toddler portions? But tbh I'd just keep serving whatever the majority are going to eat, she's succeeding in making you cut down and change the options to only the ones she wants to eat.

Can you freeze rice? I always thought it was risky to reheat etc.

We do that whenever we can, but we can't always eat at the same time because of work etc, and DS often has something different anyway which isn't ideal, I know, but he was weaned in hospital as he was very poorly so has always been a bit fussy. Having said that, he is reliable with what he eats and actually gets quite a wide variety of food now. He just doesn't like a few of the meals DH and I go for - but is improving.

OP posts:
MintJulia · 15/08/2022 18:39

I used to make omelettes with grated cheese and veg - halved cherry tomatoes or cubed cucumber or beetroot. DS got to choose the veggies or colours of veggies that I added.

Garman · 15/08/2022 19:52

Yes you can freeze rice, you heat it well when thawing it and you freeze it fresh, it can be dodgy mostly you're reheating rice from an unknown source like a takeaway and don't know when it was cooked, if its previously been reheated, stored correctly, etc.

ImALittlePea · 15/08/2022 21:03

Ahh good to know @Garman thank you.

I've tried that before but worth trying again @MintJulia, thank you

OP posts:
PritiPatelsMaker · 18/08/2022 10:08

Is her not eating dinner a huge problem? Could it just be that she's just not hungry at this time?

I'd be tempted to make sure she's offered plenty for breakfast and lunch and just serve whatever you're having fur dinner with something you know she'll eat, like a couple of fishfingers on the side.

ImALittlePea · 18/08/2022 10:13

Totally get what you're saying @PritiPatelsMaker her lunch tends to be scrambled eggs or sandwich etc so we do feel we want her to have a 'proper' dinner for better nutritional balance.

We did have a think about whether she was hungry enough though, she is a bit of a snacker and that has increased over the holidays with the oldest being home from school, so we've reduced what she's having after her nap and lo and behold - she's eating more at dinner! Feel quite daft for not linking the two before posting on here 😂 I was just at that mental block stage of what to offer her after trying everything for a number of days I suppose.

OP posts:
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