Food Shopping For 22 month old

angelicmary85

onlyroz wrote: »

So you cook a separate meal for your nearly two-year-old then?

I've been cooking seperate meals for my DD for almost 2years. It was either give her what she would eat or she'd starve.

Even when we were weaning her she wouldn't eat. I've been exhusted countless times trying to get her to eat a slice of carrot or a bit of apple. All she ate for about 3 months was dairylea triangles. I took her to the doctor to see if there was anything wrong with her but she's as healthy as they come...she just doesn't eat. She won't eat cheese, bread, ham, egg, plain chicken, any fruit or veg, mince, tatties (not even mashed with butter) pasta, rice, beef...would you like me to to go on?! We don't give her sweets (although I did bride her into using the toilet using a ice lolly!!) and she won't drink milk

It's very easy to say that children should eat what their parents are eating but it's not always possible...and it's really frustrating for the parents who can't get their kids to eat, it's worrying and it's exhusting.

I tried starving her but she wasn't bothered,...if you (or anyone else!) can suggest any ideas to get her to eat then I'd be willing to listen!!

We sit down together to eat but she just plays with food, if I take away she'll sit until it's time to leave the table....We've learned not to force the issue but instead to throw plate after plate of food in the bin.

angelicmary85

neneromanova wrote: »

My DD will only eat Fish fingers, cocktail sausage, waffles, smilie faces, spaghetti bolognese, spaghetti strands and hash browns. She's a very fussy little so and so so we just make sure she eats for the time being. We're trying to branch out with things but she's VERY stubborn and I hate her going hungry as she's thin. She loves banana, and apparently eats crackers and jam at nursery. I'm planning on letting her have lunch at nursery soon so she see's the other children eating so she knows she must too.

We've had people in the street comment on how thin my DD is...it's horrible and really judgemental. She's quite tall so obviously that doesn't help. If you find a way to get her to eat, please let me know!!

Baileys_Babe

angelicmary85 wrote: »

I tried starving her but she wasn't bothered,...if you (or anyone else!) can suggest any ideas to get her to eat then I'd be willing to listen!!

When a friend had the same problem she had some sucess of growing fruit & veg with her LO, who was willing to eat anything they had grown and has slow increased the variety of food she will eat. hth

threemuttleys

Im pregnant atm, and like a previous poster, I was a very fussy child, but having said that being made to sit with your sweet and sour chicken till it was eaten (or bed time) didnt help (and I hate sweet and sour sauce to this day!)

However, Im hoping that LO will eat the same as us...with the aid of some serious mashing/pureeing.

Those little baby jars are horrendously expensive, Ive often looked at them and wondered if they are anywhere near enough for a growing baby/child.
If you cant cook, then things like beans on toast/scrambly eggs on toast would be much better and more filling for a LO.

Must cost the Op a small fortune in buying those jars for a 2year old. Even those toddler pots are tiny, and the Annabell whatsherface ones, were recently slammed for being far too high in sugar/salt

angelicmary85

Baileys_Babe wrote: »

When a friend had the same problem she had some sucess of growing fruit & veg with her LO, who was willing to eat anything they had grown and has slow increased the variety of food she will eat. hth

Thanks for your suggestion!

We were going to start growing our own stuff but the snow only melted a couple of weeks ago and now it started snowing again last night so we can't get into the garden to dig it!

How old was your friend's LO when she started growing fruit and veg? I'm hoping things will change when DD goes to nursery in Jan and sees other kids eating!

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

angelicmary85 wrote: »

I've been cooking seperate meals for my DD for almost 2years. It was either give her what she would eat or she'd starve.

Even when we were weaning her she wouldn't eat. I've been exhusted countless times trying to get her to eat a slice of carrot or a bit of apple. All she ate for about 3 months was dairylea triangles. I took her to the doctor to see if there was anything wrong with her but she's as healthy as they come...she just doesn't eat. She won't eat cheese, bread, ham, egg, plain chicken, any fruit or veg, mince, tatties (not even mashed with butter) pasta, rice, beef...would you like me to to go on?! We don't give her sweets (although I did bride her into using the toilet using a ice lolly!!) and she won't drink milk

It's very easy to say that children should eat what their parents are eating but it's not always possible...and it's really frustrating for the parents who can't get their kids to eat, it's worrying and it's exhusting.

I tried starving her but she wasn't bothered,...if you (or anyone else!) can suggest any ideas to get her to eat then I'd be willing to listen!!

We sit down together to eat but she just plays with food, if I take away she'll sit until it's time to leave the table....We've learned not to force the issue but instead to throw plate after plate of food in the bin.

Does she snack throughout the day? I'd suggest doing a food diary of exactly what she eats for a week - include any daily biscuits or snacks, these might be your prob even though you might not realise it at first.

See i was always determined from day one that DD would eat what we eat. She occasionally had jars as a baby, but never the pudding ones (except PlumBaby fruit pots, which are pure and not full of sugar/additives). Usually i just pureed whatever we ate - but i have also never ever fussed over eating. Some days my daughter will not eat at all, maybe cereal for breakfast and thats it. And she is skinny - i am just a UK size 4-6 and she really takes after me. But other days she'll eat and eat - that's usally when she all of a sudden sprouts up too. I don't do puddings, or at least they are very rare.

I dish everything we eat on her plate too even if i know she'll not touch it. For example, day before yesterday we had jacket with tuna mayo and salad with some avacodo and mozerella on the side - i knew full well she wouldn't touch the avocado but i still always put it there. Guess what she ate a peice and decided it wasn't so bad, not a word said from me or daddy - thats after a good year of shunning it, lol! I think it makes a difference when you tell a child what they must eat - it's a rebelion thing, it seems like punishment to them. If you let em get on with it they don't see it as such a big deal.

Have you tried getting her involved in cooking? Big Cook Little Cook do a great recipe book for littleuns, most of the food is decent and quite fun too - just like on their TV show! Also you can make the likes of fish fingers/breaded chicken/chips yourself and at least you'll know they are more healthy.

Another good one is homemade pizzas - buy a pizza base, some tomato puree and topping to include things like sweet peppers, pinapple, ham, mushrooms etc - let her 'decorate' the top and she'll be more inclined to eat it if she created it. I used to do this with my DD!

I'll prob get told off for this but have you tried Krusha? Its a dilute to add to milk to turn it into milk shake...it's what i did with DD when she went off of milk...she is back to drinking milk again now though and doesn't even ask for the krusha any more.

angelicmary85

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle wrote: »

Does she snack throughout the day? I'd suggest doing a food diary of exactly what she eats for a week - include any daily biscuits or snacks, these might be your prob even though you might not realise it at first.

No, she doesn't get snacks. When she does eat, she'll get something as a 'reward' becasue we thought she might learn that eating a meal will get her a treat.

I could tell you now what she eats on a day to day basis....a wee cup of the in the morning and a bite of toast (quite literally, 1 bite) or 2 or 3 teaspoons of bran flakes. Then nothing until maybe 1pm when she'll have 1 turkey dinosaur then nothing until about 5.30pm when it could be 3 cocktail sized sausages.

See i was always determined from day one that DD would eat what we eat. She occasionally had jars as a baby, but never the pudding ones (except PlumBaby fruit pots, which are pure and not full of sugar/additives). Usually i just pureed whatever we ate - but i have also never ever fussed over eating. Some days my daughter will not eat at all, maybe cereal for breakfast and thats it. And she is skinny - i am just a UK size 4-6 and she really takes after me. But other days she'll eat and eat - that's usally when she all of a sudden sprouts up too. I don't do puddings, or at least they are very rare.

I used to spend hours in the kitchen makingher meals and freezing them. It's make sure they were all different i.e tattie & carrot mush, carrot and neep mush or tattie and neep...I'm sure you get the idea! We used jars a couple of times when we were out and about and she used to eat the cow and gate 'Autumn veg' and the Hipp 'carbonara' but she went off them after having them just a couple of times.

I dish everything we eat on her plate too even if i know she'll not touch it. For example, day before yesterday we had jacket with tuna mayo and salad with some avacodo and mozerella on the side - i knew full well she wouldn't touch the avocado but i still always put it there. Guess what she ate a peice and decided it wasn't so bad, not a word said from me or daddy - thats after a good year of shunning it, lol! I think it makes a difference when you tell a child what they must eat - it's a rebelion thing, it seems like punishment to them. If you let em get on with it they don't see it as such a big deal.

Regardless of what we're having for dinner I put 2 kinds of veg on her plate. She picked up a piece of broccoli and said it was a little tree and put it back down again. We thought it was a massive step forward as she used to push it off her plate and leave it on the place mat. She still hasn't tried any of it though!

Have you tried getting her involved in cooking? Big Cook Little Cook do a great recipe book for littleuns, most of the food is decent and quite fun too - just like on their TV show! Also you can make the likes of fish fingers/breaded chicken/chips yourself and at least you'll know they are more healthy.

She does occasionally help me do things like stir a pot or gets things I need out of the fridge. She usually just wants to play with her daddy if I'm cooking. The strange thing is, she runs to the table and straps herself into the booster seat at meal times...she just won't eat!

Another good one is homemade pizzas - buy a pizza base, some tomato puree and topping to include things like sweet peppers, pinapple, ham, mushrooms etc - let her 'decorate' the top and she'll be more inclined to eat it if she created it. I used to do this with my DD!

I'll give this a try, I never thought about letting her do that, thanks!

I'll prob get told off for this but have you tried Krusha? Its a dilute to add to milk to turn it into milk shake...it's what i did with DD when she went off of milk...she is back to drinking milk again now though and doesn't even ask for the krusha any more.

We've tried milkshake, she wouldn't even look at it, let alone try it!

tiamai_d

Angelmaclary, DS2 is like this. He is underweight and his consultant keeps trying to get us to take him to a traditionalist, but it won't help. Some days he eats, other days he doesn't.

I have found that he will eat if he has made it (or helped), which is depending on age. But I help him to cut mushrooms and peel veg and throw things in pots etc.

Like you, I put food down but don't try to force him to eat. They do get used to eating a little and their bodies learn to cope. I don't honestly think they will starve.

angelicmary85

tiamai_d wrote: »

Angelmaclary, DS2 is like this. He is underweight and his consultant keeps trying to get us to take him to a traditionalist, but it won't help. Some days he eats, other days he doesn't.

I have found that he will eat if he has made it (or helped), which is depending on age. But I help him to cut mushrooms and peel veg and throw things in pots etc.

Like you, I put food down but don't try to force him to eat. They do get used to eating a little and their bodies learn to cope. I don't honestly think they will starve.

I'm not so worried about her starving herself, I'm more concerned that she isn't getting enough nutrients. I don't want her to be all brittle boned or whatever as she gets older and tbh, I'm getting really fed up of making her different meals just for them to be thrown out

PurpleJay

Just wanted to add for those not weaning yet, do have a read about Baby Led Weaning cos we found it brilliant. It saves all that mashing, pureeing, doing special meals, buying jars etc and for us at least seems to have been a success. It is good fun if a bit messy!

With BLW, you sometimes think little one is just messing about but then their poo changes (sorry if TMI) which shows you that they are actually eating. Just a thought for those struggling to get little ones to eat - are they pooing ok? If so, something is getting in!

Also suggestions of helping to grow food or get involved with cooking are great. We have a veg box delivery (not every week) and M always helps me unpack it and we talk about the contents. He can name most fruit and veg easily from this approach. Also we make cakes (I never bothered before) and when I am making dinner he will often help me cut up mushrooms (even when I wasn't going to include them in the meal) which we all like just to get him involved. Helping with shopping, meal planning, list making etc all help too.