The fussy eater's parent thread

littlemissfixit

How fussy is your toddler/child when it comes to eating?
I was having a chat with a friend of mine recently, moaning about how fussy my toddler is and find quite a lot of comfort in her telling me how fussy hers was, and about children she knows who are even worst. So I thought a thread was in order, no stories of children who eat anything and everything (unless its one of a child who used to be the fussiest of them all!), just stories of all the weird eating habits and very restricted diets to be able to tell ourselves its not something we did its just the way they are!

I will start with a list of what my daughter will accept to eat, don't worry it will not be long, and the habits that go with it:
Breaky: Rice crispies (picks out the darker ones)
Wheetabix or porridge
With bananas (clean ones as she says, no marks on the skin or bruises!)
Lunch/dinners:
*Pasta (only fusilli shape) with homemade bolognese (used to be able to add any veg to the sauce but can't fool her anymore, even pureed she'll notice)
*Mash spuds with mash brocoli and carrots, a bit of gravy and I can normally camouflage chicken/beef/fish in that but she won't eat it in her seat at the table, that one has to be on the floor, the stairs or sitting on our lap
*Brown bread (no seed), cheese (red cheddar only), houmous
*Rice with bolognese or mince and gravy (only occasionally when she is feeling very cooperative)
*Peanut butter sandwiches

Snacks and others:
Pears, strawberries and peaches (only tinned ones)
Yogurt, fruit purees, rice crackers, breakfast cereals

This actually looks very good reading it back, but only most of them its actually a small victory if she does eat them!

At age 1 she stopped eating eggs in any form, vegs and meats in their proper form, any other fruits.
She has always refused sweetcorn, peas, grapes, apples and so many other things.
I have a 10 mth old who eats everything we eat and I am just counting down, fingers crossed, as he approacheshis first birthday and see if he'll be the same.
Only have myself to blame, not because of something I did, but apparently, I was exactly the same as a child near enough down to the same foods

dublinlady

Ok ur scaring me....
My little girl almost 13 months and for last week won't eat at all!!! Especially off a spoon - she'll try a taste of any finger food that's different - so something she has never tried before - take one bite and spit it out! She swallowed some bean sprouts and noodles yesterday which was our only triumph!
W've had to increase her afternoon bottle a little cos of fear she'll starve... I'm not sure if its teeth or personality that's causing or issues!!

pwurple

My youngest brother would only eat weetabix and petit filou for about 3 years when he was small. Eats everything now as an adult though.

I have a niece (3) who will only eat dry pasta at the moment. I mean uncooked. But she drinks 'smoothies', so her mum puts every fruit and vegetable she can think of into them.

Xdancer

My 15 month old is going through a stage of refusing to try anything new. If she hasn't had it before she clamps her mouth shut and shakes her head.
She refuses vegetables in their normal form but for the moment I can get away with hiding them in her dinners thankfully.
She would live on petit filous if I would let her...she is constantly pointing to the fridge to have one. If she sees me taking food from the fridge, she will only eat it if it's a petit filous or other yoghurt. Very difficult when we live in an apartment where the kitchen/living/dining are all one room.

sheikhnguyen

Xdancer wrote: »

My 15 month old is going through a stage of refusing to try anything new. If she hasn't had it before she clamps her mouth shut and shakes her head.
She refuses vegetables in their normal form but for the moment I can get away with hiding them in her dinners thankfully.
She would live on petit filous if I would let her...she is constantly pointing to the fridge to have one. If she sees me taking food from the fridge, she will only eat it if it's a petit filous or other yoghurt. Very difficult when we live in an apartment where the kitchen/living/dining are all one room.

Fairly simple solution to this problem. Don't buy petit filous, they are garbage anyway.
Make her up a fruit yogurt yourself by whizzing up plain yogurt and fruit in a blender, you can add a spoon of honey if you like. I know it is hard but by giving in to the child's demands you are just reinforcing their behaviour.

Xdancer

sheikhnguyen wrote: »

Fairly simple solution to this problem. Don't buy petit filous, they are garbage anyway.
Make her up a fruit yogurt yourself by whizzing up plain yogurt and fruit in a blender, you can add a spoon of honey if you like. I know it is hard but by giving in to the child's demands you are just reinforcing their behaviour.

Don't get me wrong, I don't give into her demands at all. That would be asking for trouble! She gets a petit filous every 2 days or so and I don't always have them in the fridge

sheikhnguyen

Xdancer wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, I don't give into her demands at all. That would be asking for trouble! She gets a petit filous every 2 days or so and I don't always have them in the fridge

Sorry! I have a friend who's girl doesn't eat breakfast and gets fed mcnuggets for lunch and dinner because she just starts screaming if anything else is produced. I have been banging my head against a wall for years and I saw your post and saw red!!
Sorry about that.....I grew up in a house where there was always a 2 item menu. What was in front of you or nothing, there was no negotiation and no compromise it was take it or leave it. I do the same in my house.

littlemissfixit

dublinlady wrote: »

Ok ur scaring me....
My little girl almost 13 months and for last week won't eat at all!!! Especially off a spoon - she'll try a taste of any finger food that's different - so something she has never tried before - take one bite and spit it out! She swallowed some bean sprouts and noodles yesterday which was our only triumph!
W've had to increase her afternoon bottle a little cos of fear she'll starve... I'm not sure if its teeth or personality that's causing or issues!!

Oups! Not my intention at all to scare anyone! She is still very healthy. At least yours is trying new things, keep throwing them at her. Since mine is one (now 2 and half) the only new thing she has tasted is clementine nothing else, even though she sees us eating a whole variety of things, and now even her little brother... doesn't matter she wont budge!

littlemissfixit

sheikhnguyen wrote: »

Sorry! I have a friend who's girl doesn't eat breakfast and gets fed mcnuggets for lunch and dinner because she just starts screaming if anything else is produced. I have been banging my head against a wall for years and I saw your post and saw red!!
Sorry about that.....I grew up in a house where there was always a 2 item menu. What was in front of you or nothing, there was no negotiation and no compromise it was take it or leave it. I do the same in my house.

I wouldn't go for mcnuggets or anything unhealthy for that matter, but I believe that at 2, anything healty is better than nothing, just my opinion. When she is a little bit older, we can start the "whats in front of you or nothing". Dont get me wrong, it is not A la carte as such, if its spuds and veg and she demands pasta, she wont get it, but if I make omelettes and know very well she wont touch it, she gets the bread and cheese that we are all having as well.

As for petit-filou, I use the glenisk baby yogurts which are sweeted with fruit, bit more expensive, but handy when you dont have fruit pureed and plain yogurt.

pwurple

Petit-filou aren't yoghurt at all... that's why kids love them. They are a cheese... so much higher fat than yoghurt.
I find them way too sweet myself, but I am a fan of giving kids cheese in general.

Gatling

Our eldest nearly 4 diagnosed with lactose intolerant after 8 weeks use to eat pretty much every thing lately she's a picker won't eat anything new unless she help prepare it,our 10month eats everything put in front of her especially since everything since we started her on homes made dinners at Christmas ,seems much happier too

littlemissfixit

My daughter has ate nothing but wheetabix today. But then again she's got a bit of a cold.

Cienciano

littlemissfixit wrote: »

Breaky: Rice crispies (picks out the darker ones)

LOL, that made me laugh! How old are they?
My little fella is 15 months, he used to absolutely love homemade beef stew, it was the only solids he would eat. But now it's a struggle to get him to eat anything with meat in it.
When we give him the beef stew now he just does what xdancer says, clamps up and shakes his head.

liliq

Haven't read all the replies, but for anyone worried about how much their kids do (or don't!) eat, 'My child won't eat' by Carlos Gonzales is an excellent read

iCosmopolis

Have to cover everything in gravy for my 14mth old to eat it except chips, she bites off and eats the crispy ends. Or butter-loves a bit of butter, brown bread and strong cheddar. Or chicken/meat if it's heavily flavoured with garlic or thyme. She's hyper, tall and lean (but doc says perfect weight for her age/size). But one day she'll eat it all, 4/5 days you can't get anything into her:(

littlemissfixit

iCosmopolis wrote: »

Have to cover everything in gravy for my 14mth old to eat it except chips, she bites off and eats the crispy ends. Or butter-loves a bit of butter, brown bread and strong cheddar. Or chicken/meat if it's heavily flavoured with garlic or thyme. She's hyper, tall and lean (but doc says perfect weight for her age/size). But one day she'll eat it all, 4/5 days you can't get anything into her:(

Yep, gravy here too in the spuds for my two and half (I get the low salt one and make it very diluted to make me feel less guilty!) If she is in a good mood, butter will do for the mash but thats once in a blue moon.

Cienciano

Does anyone use those ellas kitchen pouches? My son loves eating from them. I reckon if I could get my home made beef stew into one, he'd eat it. He likes it cos he feels like he's feeding himself.
Sometimes we feed him from a bowl and he's having none of it. But we give him his own spoon, which he dips into the food, and he's happy. Once we just gave him an empty bowl and spoon, and him just banging the spoon into the bowl was enough to keep him happy and eating.

Mink

Ok I've a question for parents of toddlers, I've a 7.5mth old and he eats more or less whatever I give him (all home cooked stuff).

But if you get to the point when they are 1, 2, 3 and start refusing something that they used to love or because it's got "bits" in it or other irrational reasons, would they actually just not eat anything if you took it away and let them go hungry til their next meal. In other words, would they realise okay I need to actually eat this as otherwise I'm getting nothing.

Not suggesting they should be starved, just thinking back to how it must have been years ago when you ate what you were given and that's the end of it. Has anyone tried this with a toddler and did they then scoff the next meal out of hunger?

Seriously dreading having a fussy eater in the future!

Rubberlegs

I don't feel so alone after reading this! It's mainly dinner time that's the issue for my 14 month old. She doesn't like spuds at all, or most veg:(. If I give her some meat/fish chopped up, she pretends to eat it, then puts it back on her plate. Or she throws it down to the dog. The dog loves her!
I have tried disguising meat and veg in mashed potatos with baked beans/gravy. This only worked a handful of times. She doesn't even like homemade oven chips. However she'd devour a potato waffle. The only thing she really loves is pasta.
Breakfast is a Weetabix, she's not fond of Ready Brek. She eats my porridge, but if I make her some of her own, she won't touch it. Lunch is usually brown bread and cheese, or toast and beans. She won't eat eggs anymore, has only eaten scrambled egg for me a few times. Luckily she loves every kind of fruit. Basically, she'd live on bread,fruit ,yoghurt and the occasional potato waffle. She's at the stage now where she wants to feed herself, so at dinnertime there is food everywhere bar her mouth:rolleyes:
Oh God, it can be soul destroying!

Xdancer

Well my 15 month old refused to eat her dinner today (how dare I give her potato, carrots, peas and roast chicken!). All she has eaten today is a Weetabix and a few raisins but isn't showing any signs of hunger...I wonder would I get away with offering the same type of meal for her evening meal.....we'll see!

littlemissfixit

Mink wrote: »

Ok I've a question for parents of toddlers, I've a 7.5mth old and he eats more or less whatever I give him (all home cooked stuff).

But if you get to the point when they are 1, 2, 3 and start refusing something that they used to love or because it's got "bits" in it or other irrational reasons, would they actually just not eat anything if you took it away and let them go hungry til their next meal. In other words, would they realise okay I need to actually eat this as otherwise I'm getting nothing.

Not suggesting they should be starved, just thinking back to how it must have been years ago when you ate what you were given and that's the end of it. Has anyone tried this with a toddler and did they then scoff the next meal out of hunger?

Seriously dreading having a fussy eater in the future!

Been asking myself the same question for about 2 years now :P
My opinion, with a 2 and half year old, is that if I rise to the fight it only fuels her strong will and I think its important that mealtime and relation to food is kept as positive as possible. But at this stage, I couldn't just let her go hungry because its me thats going to pay cause she turns into a demon when she hasn't eaten. So what I do is, most meals are something she likes, or a part of it she likes, and if not, I dont make something else specially for her but there is always bread and cheese available. When she is a little older and there is more reasoning with her rationally, I may try more drastic measures, we'll see.

aknitter

This is a relief! I am in the same boat as most of you! My son won't let us feed him (he's 23 months) so unless its finger food forget it. But he is beginning to use a spoon and fork, its slow going but progress. My fella only eats hazelnut yogurt - bizarre cause I hate them but had some craving for them while I was pregnant with him! He won't eat any veg but loves fruit - apples, bannana and strawberries are the favourties but I can throw anything into a smoothie. But he loves chips, would eat chips until he's sick!

Yes I have let him go hungry and if he has not eaten whats in front of him then its tough luck, if he tries it and doesn't like it then fair enough I will give him something else. But I know not everyone will agree with that but I believe that if you start as you mean to go on and be consistent then it will get easier on down the line. My now 15 year old nephew only ate the heinz jars egg custard and rice at my sons age and he is still a picky eater - if he was mine I'd have killed him long ago!!