Recipes for Fussy eater

tillyjane

Has anybody got any recipes that go down well with your little ones? My 14 month has become fussy in the last month or two when used to wolf down anything I gave him.... Now he throws and squishes everything I put in front of him. I'm not grreaat in the kitchen but I am trying but we seem to get in a rut of things I know for sure he will eat ie bananas french toast lasagne and porridge. I'd love to mix things up for him. Any ideas? What do your little ones feeding schedules/meals look like?

bp

Look at the Nevin McGuire first 1000 days book - free online. Also pancakes go down well in our house (eggs get eaten this way - just eggs, flour and milk - you can sneak fruit into them), meatballs and home made chips - just baked spud but can be eaten with fingers.

Also try fish finger or nuggets - very easy to make yourself - just roll them in flour, egg and breadcrumbs. Hope that helps - look up the cook book - very simple but nice for the family and don't forget kids go through phases and they need to taste something a good few times.

Just don't make a fuss (easier said than done) and don't stress. Eat at the table together as toodlers love to copy others

pwurple

This might be silly, but is he full? Does he drink or snack close to dinner time?

My 12/13 month old is going through similar. Doing a lot of messing with the food. But if I just leave her at it, she eats a bit of it. If she loses interest, I assume she's done. Meal times can take a lot longer with her now alright.

I'm not a big fan of nuggets or fish fingers myself, and trying ti aim for the whole family to be eating the same thing, rather than making different meals for everyone. I'd rather plain fish or plain chicken than battered, basted or breaded. I do like to cook, but I don't want to be a slave to the kitchen, or end up eating fish fingers myself.

Eating it myself seems to be the main driver for us still, do you eat at the same time? If there is something on my plate, or going into my mouth... She wants it.

As for what we eat..

Breakfast is porridge and something small like an orange or a bit of small pear.

Lunchtime is dinner, so pasta and sauce, or rice and curry, or meat and veg, or eggs some way.


In the evenings It's lighter. A bit of my Toasted sandwich or salad chopped up slighly smaller for the baby to grab. (Salad is some leaves, chopped cheese/meat/fish, some chopped fruit or tomato or avocado... )


Snacks during the day are a yoghurt, crackers or rice cakes, fruit.

nikpmup

Could have written all of those posts about my boy, who was previously a great eater. Full flavour goes down well - I don't skimp on garlic, pepper, chilli etc - I reckon bland food is boring for them. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches, salmon or tuna with Mayo/sour cream or cheese and avocado sandwiches are nutritious lunches that he'll devour; scrambled eggs with spinach or salmon with wholemeal toast and mascarpone cheese is another. I love my slow cooker - long slow cooking makes for tender meat (he often spits out meat that he thinks is too chewy) and you can cook a big batch; a family meal plus extra portions for freezing for days I'm in work etc. his current favourite is pork shoulder casserole with chorizo, garlic, sage, butter beans, peppers, carrots, tomatoes and various other bits & pieces - put it on in the SC at breakfast and it's cooked by teatime with no intervention! Another is lamb tagine with apricot and couscous.
Snacks are grated cheese, grapes, yogurt, mini rice cakes with peanut butter and banana, blueberries, hummus on toast (anything on toast really!)

tillyjane

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!! I've ordered the nevin mcguire free copy of the book and definitley going to purchase a slow cooker as that would be so handy, silly question but can I leave it on while I go out? I am a total newbie to the kitchen! He loves fruit and would eat it all day but berries and citrus fruit gives him nappy rash and irritates his eczema and he's lactose intolerant... So finding myself stumped alot. He had a peanut butter sandwich and cod (not together hehe) and loved both so hoping thats a good sign that the fussiness is just a phase

Woshy

I leave my slow cooker on if I'm out, yes. When I was working I used to set stuff going in the morning so dinner would be ready when I got home in the evening.

My boy is a pretty good eater but he likes what he likes. As has been said above he likes things now with a lot more flavour in them - so garlic, spices etc.

He'd have toast, porridge or cheerios and a banana for breakfast. Lunch is usually scrambled or boiled eggs with baked beans or a bit of toast depending what he had for breakfast followed by a pear or other type of fruit.

For dinner he eats what we eat - things like lasagne, pasta bolognese, pasta with pesto, goulash, homemade burgers (I grate carrot and stuff into these to get some more veg into him), mince meat pie, meaty curries. He's not great at eating veg - the only ones he will voluntarily eat is peas so we eat a lot of those and baked beans (which I try not to give too often). He likes beans in things too so I put a lot of chickpeas or butter beans in things. Oh and he loves sweet potato so I make wedges from that a good bit.

After dinner he'd usually have some strawberries or other berries. Snacks are rice cakes and raisins and things like that.

pwurple

The fussiness will come and go all the time in my experience, but keep offering the stuff. They have memories like sieves. They don't remember they don't like stuff unless you reinforce it.

My youngest daughter refused bananas for about 2 months, and then one day just started eating them again. My eldest has gone off meat, veg, spuds, crackers, fruit, nuts.... one at a time, but forgets about it and tries them again some time later. Two days ago she refused a slice of lemon cake (!!!) and then the next morning asked for a taste of it with breakfast when she saw it on the table, declared it yummy and wanted it in her lunchbox.

Woshy

We had a no meat phase here for a while too - now it's the first thing that gets eaten off the plate! Like you pwurple, we just kept offering stuff and you'd be surprised what they will start to eat after not liking it for a while

I've been seeing a dietician for myself and I got talking to her about my toddlers no veg issues - she suggested trying raw veg and to keep offering it and he will actualy eat little sticks of raw carrot now so I recommend trying that too! It took a few times of me giving it to him for him to go for them though!

tillyjane

Oh i will defo try that! He's really funny in that he has never been into the meat and two veg style dinner, you know like your typically irish dinner and he hates anything gravyish flavoured! He will eat most veg, courgettes carrots etc if its covered in some form of tomato sauce, pasat bolognese sauce or lasagne etc but I find too much in a week can be tough on his bum but he is very suspicious of anything green and can spot it a mile away the divil

Millem

My 14 month old is a fuss pot too! he loves mash though and won't eat pasta (which he used to love)
I try and give him what we are having! So he will have bolognese but with mashed potatoes, roast chicken with mashed potatoes and veg, stew with mash, shepards pie, bangers and mash. (I swear he is going to turn into a potato!!!)
I also do mini quiche for him which I make in a muffin tin I do pancakes too at the weekend. The mash can be sweet potatoes, butternut squash or normal potatoes!!
I don't eat fish myself but make him poached plaice with a white sauce. I give him toastie cheese sambos or scrambled egg on toast or boiled egg on toast for tea/lunch. On a Sunday I make homemade chicken goujons which we all eat.
Snacks are rice cakes, yoghurts, scones, bananas, kiwi and stewed Apple and pear.

He gets wheatabix and toast for his brekkie. He has gone off porridge!

For the veg...I buy whatever is on special in aldi/tesco and cook it together for him and mash it and then freeze in portions. He won't eat carrots by themselves but if they are mashed he has no probs!

evolving_doors

We've issues with very strong willed fussy eater so we just resigned to spiking food with veg. Grating veg is the way to go!

Home made sausage rolls (puff pastry and sausages,freeze tonnes of them for cheap)... grate in carrots.

Home made burgers.. mince + home made breadcrumbs from breadmaker bread (take a look at the ingredients of shopbought!) + black pudding (clonakilty grated works best)+ grated carrots/apple/mushroom.

Just discovered egg fried rice: mix grated carrots/mushrooms in with beaten egg first (even snuck in some tuna). Some soy sauce will mask the fishy taste (ensure the egg is well cooked though!).

Cheese toasty. you guessed it : some grated carrot with mayo under the cheese.

Whisk up banana/milk/strawberries for smoothie.

For jucing put back in some pulp. you can juice a few carrots too.

I tried the whole 'negotiation' but its outright 'no' and then its a power struggle.

In saying all that the best time to get them to eat certain 'fussy' things is after a long walk or at the beach. Hunger is the best sauce.

bp

Just to offer some some hope....my fussy eater is starting (please don't let me jinx this) to eat more food again - eg back on eggs, tried some green food etc. Just kept putting it on the plate also creche helps...herd mentality!