Ideas please!!!!

[lyndyloo]

Not strictly weaning as LO nearly 20 months but anyway.....

My DD has THE most limited repitoire when it comes to food. She likes Cheerios, yoghurt, toast, bananas and baked beans and thats it! She pretty much eats whatever nursery give her it seems and judging by her poos she has peas and corn at least! At home she is terrible. I have persisted and know you should just keep giving something but it's such a trauma at mealtimes if I give her something new.

I worry for her vit content but she seems fine! I know what she hasn't isn't all bad but so unvaried. Any failsafe recipe suggestions. We are veggies (again limiting I know!). Have tried tons of stuff from kiddy recipe books to no avail. Anyone got ideas for quickish teas that their kids love?

Thanks.

A couple of suggestions - DD1 has always been fussy (she's now 6). These work occasionally for us.

Mini pitta or half a bagel as mini pizzas (thin layer of pasta tomato sauce, 2 slices cheese, slices cherry tomatoes), grill in a couple of minutes.

Colcannon (mashed potato with sliced cabbage mixed in) or champ (dto with diced spring onions), stir in plenty of butter and milk too.

Stir fresh grated carrot or carrot juice into the baked beans (sounds worse than it tastes).

If she likes yoghurt, how about plain yoghurt with unchallenging veg, e.g. cucumber, chopped into it, in a mini pitta envelope (hint - they can pick stuff out but will eat the bread with at least some of the filling still on it)

DD1 likes things separate, so yoghurt with fruit 'on the side', pasta with sauce next to it, and so on.

Plain pasta with melted butter and cheese only.

HTH

why not give her a vit supplement so you're not so worried about that, then encourage her to have what you're having but you won't feel the pressure quite so much?

I back up aitch - I give ds a vit supplement and don't make a fuss at mealtimes. If he doesn't want to eat something, then fine - I don't push it. I introduce something he doesn't like/hasn't tried every day pretty much, the idea being that if it keeps turning up on his plate he might just eat it.
Only now, at 24mo, do I say that if he has one mouthful of something he can have pudding - eg, last night we had mackerel, sweet potato mash and steamed green beans with cheese sauce. He ate none of it. So I told him that if he had a spoonful of sweet potato he could have a banana (not unhealthy and he loves them). He did it, though going by the expression on his face, I could have given him bitter lemons! Later on, just before bathtime I gave him some toast - ompletely disconnected from his meal - just so I knew he wouldn't wake up hungry in the night.
Have a look at this article - it's very good. www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030800.asp (you can skip the sign-up by following the link at the bottom.)

don't forget that full tea after day at nursery is usually too much. They are too tired and have usually had a substantive snack at around 3.30 ish. So just serve what she would normally eat (cherios, toast etc) but add a small portion of plain veg on a seperate plate as well

some hints to making plain veg tastier
peas= keep them frozen, the ice makes them taste sweeter
carrots = sweat in butter till soft rather than boil
pulses/beans: grate beetroot over them and dress with mild dressing. looks v. pretty and again has the sweet and sour taste they seem to like

• serve ketchup as a dip + veg plus ketchup is better than no veg

pear/melon with cheese is good

dd loves a wee bowl of frozen peas or sweetcorn when she comes in from nursery and is watching cbeebies, witchandchips, i didn't know the ice makes them sweeter but i know she loves them.

Mmm - going to try frozen peas when ds gets up from his nap.
Dips are great - ds loves houmous.

just checking he's got a pincer grip, phloss. normally emerges at 8 mos.

I should hope so - he's 24mos!!!! (my dd is the 5mo)

lol! i was wondering...

My DD loves rice and puy lentils, mixed together with a dollop of cream cheese is sticky enough for her to feed herself reasonably well. Pasta she'll always have, likes cheese, quorn ham once in a while, yogurt, custard, rice pudding any time, bananas, humzingers, pretty much any fruit...just back in the shops is Ebly grains, mine love it cooked with chopped veggies. Oh yes, she's quite partial to pancakes and Yorkshire pudding too.

Thanks for the ideas. I think I just need to relax a bit and will def give her the vit suplement.

Have you tried cooking with her?

Dh is a chef and i love cooking so ds has been in a high chair when he was a baby and now runs for his stool as soon whenever he can.

He is 22 months, he gets a plastic knife to chop, mixes pans (with help and off the heat) washes up, sweeps the floor.

But he always has to have a taste of things, so will try things he would never eat at the table.

Eg. He would never touch brocalli, so i let him chop and cook his own, guess what, he ate it.

sympathies lyndyloo, DD is exactly the same (22 months). Sometimes she eats and sometimes she doesn't (although she will eat fruit until it comes out of her ears so at least I don't really worry about her vitamins). But I know how frustrating it is when you put stuff you have cooked in front of them and they just won't touch it.

I have found, as littlepiggie suggests, that if I cook with her and give her the opportunity to "help" she tries a lot more food than if she was sat in her high chair.

No help really, just wanted to offer sympathy!